Utah Jazz starting lineup: Ranking their projected starting five

Starter No. 3: Bojan Bogdanovic.

Last season was Bojan Bogdanovic’s first with the Jazz and he was simply tremendous for the offense. He averaged 20.2 points per game with shooting splits of .447/.414/.903, taking on his role as floor-spacer with vigor.

Next season could be even better for the sharpshooting small forward. As he has had a year in the Quinn Snyder system, Bogdanovic will have a greater level of comfort meaning he can get to his spots and his teammates will know where to look for him.

Starter No. 4: Derrick Favors

Favors was acquired last offseason from the New Orleans Pelicans for a second-round pick and showed that he is still capable of playing a good, complementary role. He averaged a career-high 9.8 rebounds per game last season and shot a career-high 61.7 percent from the floor.

Favors returns to the system he knows well. He played with the Jazz for nine seasons before his brief sojourn with the Pelicans. The fact that he can defend the center position when Gobert sits down moves him ahead of Mike Conley in the rankings.

Starter No. 5: Mike Conley

Despite being the highest-paid player on the Jazz roster this season, Mike Conley would be the easiest to replace in the Jazz system. When he was injured last season, Joe Ingles showed that he could come in and take over the production of Conley and the team would still succeed.

However, Conley is also an excellent defender at the point guard position. When you combine that with his offensive prowess, it is an easy decision to keep him as a starter. For the Jazz to move up to the next tier of teams, Conley needs to step it up.