Don’t Give Up on the Utah Jazz

It’s been a disappointing first half of the season for the Utah Jazz, but it’s still much too early to count them out.

Heading into their 45th game of the season, the Utah Jazz currently hold a 19-25 record. After the strong finish and potential that the team showed at the end of last year, this certainly wasn’t where Jazz fans expected the team to be at this point of the season. The slumping Jazz have now fallen to tenth in the Western Conference, below the Portland Trail Blazers and now a game and a half behind the Sacramento Kings.

It’s easy to pin the blame on injuries. Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors have barely seen the floor together and Alec Burks’ leg injury has certainly been a detriment to the team. While these are valid struggles, the Jazz nevertheless have not appeared to play with the same edge that they had early in the year. Losers of five of their last seven, it’s hard to not be discouraged with the direction that the Jazz seem to be going.

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Nevertheless, there are still plenty of games to be played this year with the season slightly more than half over. Despite the frustrations that have mounted over the course of the year, here are five reasons to keep on believing in the Utah Jazz.

1. Derrick Favors is back

Despite being limited to just over 19 minutes in Utah’s most recent contest against the Detroit Pistons, Favors still managed to put up a solid game logging 14 points on 5 of 8 shooting. As he works his way back into the rotation and gets back into a starting routine, his return to the floor alongside Rudy Gobert should help propel the Jazz back to the stifling defense force that they were at the end of last season and early this season.

2. The defense is still formidable

Despite all the injury issues with the Jazz’s bigs and the indisputable lack of depth at the four and five spots, the Jazz still hold the fifth stingiest defense in the league, giving up an average of just 97.4 points per game. Utah certainly has had its share of struggles particularly on the offensive end, but despite some moments of inconsistency the Jazz have been able to maintain a solid defense that can only improve as the team gets healthier.

3. The month of February

Not only will the Jazz enjoy some time off to recover during the All-Star Break, but they have a relatively favorable schedule during the month of February. Aside from a tough match-up at home against the Chicago Bulls on February 1st and against the San Antonio Spurs on February 25th, the rest of Utah’s opponents over the course of the month are very beatable. While it’s true that the Jazz did not take advantage of the favorable schedule opportunity that they had during a long stretch in January, that doesn’t mean that they can’t and won’t capitalize this time around. Last season, February was the Jazz’s first month with a winning record that would eventually propel them to a 15-9 finish over the final two months.

4. The Jazz are well ahead of last season

While this year definitely hasn’t gone as well as hoped, it’s important to put things in perspective. With a win over the Hornets on Wednesday night, the Jazz can log their twentieth victory of the year. Their twentieth win last season didn’t come until February 20th, almost a month later. This puts the Jazz about 10 games ahead of where they were last season. Ten more victories in the 2014-15 campaign would have been enough to put the Jazz in eighth place in a much deeper Western Conference. Sure, that doesn’t change the fact that Utah has gotten off to a disappointing start, but it’s reassuring to know that with a second half surge similar to last season’s, the Jazz will be in a good position.

5. The Western Conference is much weaker this time around

The West might boast the top three teams in the league, but overall the Western Conference isn’t the powerhouse that it was last year. While the middle-of-the pack Eastern Conference teams all have above-.500 records, it looks like the final playoff spot in the West this year could likely go to a team with a losing record. With the bar for playoff qualification in the West significantly lowered, this will further increase the Jazz’s chances of salvaging the season’s disappointing start.

Therefore, it’s far too early to give up on the Utah Jazz. Yes, inconsistency has been an enormous problem so far this year, but injuries and constant lineup changes have been a contributing factor to that. Utah currently trails Sacramento by just 1.5 games for eighth place. As Favors’ return sparks momentum and the Jazz take advantage of a light February, there is potential to quickly make up ground. We all know that the Jazz have broken hearts in the past, but maybe, just maybe, things will be different this time around.

Don’t give up just yet.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com/stats.