PnB Mailbag: Can The Utah Jazz Play .500 Ball Until January?

Welcome to the PnB Mailbag: Edition No. 7. My coffee mug is filled to the brim, my mind is racing and my fingers are properly stretched and ready to fire. Have a question you’ve been itching to get off your mind? Hit me up on Twitter.

Today, we’ll be covering the difficult early schedule, Jazz fans’ grammar problems, Gordon Hayward’s slow start to the season and more.

Will we be lucky to play .500 ball until January? I’d be okay with that. – Sean Neves 

I wouldn’t, because I think this team is capable of better. I said in my last mailbag that I think the Jazz can go 24-17 through the first half of the season. I still think this is possible, give or take a few games.

The schedule isn’t doing them any favors, but if the Jazz want to take the next step, they’re going to have to rise to the challenge.

I also think playing plus-.500 ball is necessary in order to make a legitimate playoff push. Anything less than 47-48 wins and the Jazz will be on the outs. The Western Conference is a mega gauntlet and I think it’s going to take the Jazz winning somewhere around 60 percent of their games in order to get in.

On the other hand, all this competition could lead to Western Conference teams cannibalizing each other and accruing undesired losses. I’m sticking with my original prediction, though. The Jazz need to be better than .500 going into the All-Star break in order to make the playoffs.

Who’s going to win more games the Lakers or the Jazz? – Judy Norton

I would bet my house, my car, my life savings and my unborn children that the Jazz will have more wins. The Lakers are a dumpster fire, wrapped in a trash heap, garnished with a shell-of-his-former-self Kobe Bryant still firing 20-plus shots per game. The Jazz are on the verge of making the playoffs.

The Jazz have chemistry, youth, length, athleticism, a cohesive game plan and a stifling defense. The Lakers have Swaggy P being Swaggy P, Ryan Kelly inexplicably playing over Larry Nance Jr. and the ghost of Roy Hibbert. What’s more, the Lakers are shooting 40 percent every night and losing by an average of 10 points per game. It’s so bad in Lakerland, rumors about fights are already swirling.

The icing on the cake: the Jazz have Quin Snyder, the Lakers have Byron Scott. Check and mate.

It seems like Hayward is struggling a bit to get back into the star groove he had last year. Just a slow start, or are there legitimate chemistry issues going on now? Are teams just keying in on him more? – Justin Swapp

You’re right. Gordon’s first few games looked ugly. And to your question, I think it’s two of the three things you listed—a slow start and teams keying in on him more. Gordon kind of took the NBA by storm last season, en route to his best year as a pro. Throughout, he established himself as a true number one option and a go-to guy. Obviously, this paid huge dividends for the Jazz, but the problem is, that was last season.

Teams and players know Gordon is a legitimate threat to drop 20-5-5 on any given night. He’s not going to shock anyone anymore. Teams are going to game plan for him and come up with elaborate ways to slow his production. Gordon’s new job is going to be elevating his game to a point those game plans can’t slow him down.

To the slow start, that’s just what it is—a slow start. It was a long offseason, preseason is never taken completely seriously and sometimes it takes a few games to fully knock off the rust, get your legs underneath and get ready for the grind of the NBA season.

If the last few games—against the Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies—are any indication of how Gordon will play for the rest of the year, I think we’ve all worried for nothing.

Can we establish home court dominance again? – Chad Meske

If last week’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers is any indication, then I have to surely say no.

The first sign of truly being a good team is taking care of business at home and one of the true advantages in the NBA is being able to play at the Delta Center/Energy Solutions Arena/Vivint Smart Home Arena. In the past, it was one of the most daunting places to play in all of sports, with fans taking advantage of any reason whatsoever to cheer at deafening levels.

The Jazz showed flashes of being dominant at home last season after the All-Star break winning 11 of 16 games. I think all the reasons to be excited about this team will transfer to fans, once again, making it an incredibly tough place for any opposing team to get a win.

Long story short, yes I think we’re going to see the Jazz start winning a whole lot of games at home real soon.

No, it’s not just you, but it sure didn’t matter. Damian Lillard TORCHED the Jazz and unfortunately, I think it’s going to be a recurring theme throughout the season. We saw Russell Westbrook notch a triple-double against the Jazz in the preseason as well. Face is, the Jazz just don’t have the horses to slow down the NBA’s elite point guards.

Trey Burke has been playing better, but his defense still leaves a lot to be desired. Alec Burks and Rodney Hood are playing out of position. As for Raul Neto, he is only six games into his NBA career. He has a lot to learn and get used to.

I shudder when I think about what Steph Curry is going to do the Jazz this year if the defense continues to go under screens.

Next: Now's the Time to Fan Out on Trey Burke

Okay, let me add a some context to this bit of banter. Grammarly, a spell check and grammar website, conducted a study recently and found that Utah Jazz fans are the worst in the NBA when it comes to committing keyboard errors.

The reason behind this? Well, I find that to be pretty simple. We only care about one letter—W. It’s pretty hard to use the remaining 25 letters when the W reigns supreme. So please, don’t bother us with your syntax, grammar, spelling, context or any other technicalities of the written word. It’s winning time!

Ha! N ur face stoopid jode!