A look at where the Utah Jazz and the rest of the teams in the NBA’s Northwest Division stand heading into training camp.
What a difference a year makes. Entering the 2015-16 NBA season, the Utah Jazz were in a weird place. Expectations were heightened following the team’s epic run after the 2015 All-Star break, but the playoffs remained a lofty goal.
Even before Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert missed a quarter of the season, Dante Exum‘s ACL injury had dealt a major blow to Utah’s postseason cause.
One year later, Exum is back, the Jazz are crazy deep and anything less than a return to the playoffs would be considered failure. Of course, to avoid that fate, they’ll have to survive the Murderers’ Row that is the Western Conference.
In doing so, they’ll face stiff competition from the rest of the Northwest Division.
After years of dominance by the Oklahoma City Thunder, the division is suddenly one of the deepest in the NBA. The Jazz will have to contend with the Portland Trail Blazers, who won a playoff series last year, and two talented young squads in the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets.
Then there’s the Thunder, who still have Russell Westbrook leading the charge and will continue to be a factor in the Western Conference playoff picture.
So while the Jazz have elevated their stock, the road to success is more trecherous than ever. But how do the teams in the Northwest Division stack up today with training camps tipping off in the coming days?
This is how I see it as of this moment–
Next: No. 5