Ranking the NBA’s small market teams

#3: Utah Jazz

If we decide to ignore the NBA Finals, one could argue that the Utah Jazz are the greatest team in NBA history. However, no one in their right mind would ever do that, so the Jazz fall to number three because they have only made two Finals and lost both of them.

If you really wanted to, you could argue that John Stockton is the best point guard ever. You could make the same case for Karl Malone at power forward, and you could say that Jerry Sloan was the best coach ever. I think all those points are absurd, but I would certainly put all of them in the top five.

Three top five basketball minds in one small town, and they were never able to win a title. That’s not entirely their fault, as they ran into Micheal Jordan. That seems to be the main flaw with a lot of teams on this list, doesn’t it? The Jazz have the fourth-best win percentage in the NBA, sitting at .545. That’s a tough number to beat, but I can’t get over the fact they don’t have any titles.

Their main flaw is drafting. The Jazz are terrible at drafting, taking Gordan Hayward over Paul George, Enes Kanter Freedom over Jonas Valančiūnas, Trey Burke over Giannis, Dante Exum over Marcus Smart, Trey Lyles over Devin Booker, Tauren Prince over Pascal Siakam, and Darius Bazley over Jordan Poole.

All of that was in the last decade, too. Utah’s two best players as of late were Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, both of whom were traded for on draft night. If the Jazz could find good players on their own, maybe they’d be a slot higher. As for now, the lack of rings holds them back, despite the winning numbers.