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Utah Jazz: Four Bold Predictions Before the Trade Deadline

By Jared Woodcox

Nov 2, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz guard George Hill (3) reacts after a play in the fourth quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at Vivint Smart Home Arena. The Utah Jazz defeated the Dallas Mavericks 97-81. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 2, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz guard George Hill (3) reacts after a play in the fourth quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at Vivint Smart Home Arena. The Utah Jazz defeated the Dallas Mavericks 97-81. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports /
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Utah Jazz Gordon Hayward
Feb 9, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward (20) celebrates with guard Rodney Hood (5) and forward Derrick Favors (15) after making the game winning shot in overtime to defeat the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /

A 12-5 Run Will Put the Jazz in 4th Place

This could very well be the boldest of these four predictions. Nevertheless, when looking at Utah’s schedule between now and the trade deadline it really is possible.

Yes, there are some tough teams in there such as the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder, but the Jazz won’t face any of the top five teams in the league over that stretch and will also have quite a few favorable match-ups that should make for very winnable games.

And now that Utah is entirely healthy, as long as they can get their rotations figured out, repair and maintain some of the cohesion that was shaky on their five-game road trip and avoid any surprising slip-ups, a 12-5 record over that stretch looks very possible.

Don’t get me wrong, it won’t be easy in the least, but I truly think the Jazz are capable of it. Such a streak would put Utah at 36-21 going into the All-Star Break, 15 games above .500. To put that in a little perspective, the Jazz went on a phenomenal run last season where they won seven of their last eight leading into the All-Star Break, but even that still only put them at exactly .500 with a mediocre 26-26 record.

And while the 6.5-game gap between Utah and Houston may still be a little hard to catch up to even with a 12-5 stretch, if the Jazz can truly accomplish that kind of run, surpassing the injury-riddled Clippers who hold a narrow 1.5-game lead would be very doable and it would thrust the Jazz into an impressive fourth place in the Western Conference.

So if the Jazz can string together wins against beatable opponents and prove themselves against at least a handful of their tougher foes, that fourth place spot and a 36-21 record will be well within reach by the All-Star Break and trade deadline.

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There’s no denying that the Utah Jazz have been an incredibly fun and exciting team to follow this year as they’ve gone from playoff hopeful to now a true playoff contender. Now that they’re finally healthy, it’s quite likely that they will continue to impress even more.

And hopefully that will result in some of my bold predictions, especially the final and most important one, truly coming to fruition.

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