Utah Jazz ready to move up in Western Conference hierarchy

Predictions

The Utah Jazz will most likely start off the season in the middle of the Western Conference as Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley learn how to operate together. Until then, they’ll remain a few games above .500. Once the chemistry sets in, the team will take off and be seen as a formidable opponent.

Joe Ingles and Bojan Bogdanovic will help lead the team into the 3-point age, somewhere they haven’t been able to do for the last few years. The bench is solid and shows promise, especially Emmanuel Mudiay. That allows for Conley to get rest as the season wears down and remain fresh for the playoffs.

Mitchell takes the next step in his game, deferring to his teammates more but still maintaining a nice balance of scoring and distributing, with help from his new point guard.

Rudy Gobert continues making his mark on defense and is in contention for Defensive Player of the Year by season’s end. He nearly sets a career-high in blocks, yet his points per game drop a somewhat significant amount due to more scoring options on the roster.

By the end of the year, the Utah Jazz are firmly the fourth seed, behind the Clippers, Lakers and Rockets.  They face the Nuggets in the first round, and get taken to seven games, yet they prevail at home in the final game. The second round sees them face the Clippers, a series in which they lose, yet fight hard in.

The year, therefore, ends in disappointment for the team. Fans, however, are happy with the effort put forth in the Clippers series and are not upset.