Four reasons why the Utah Jazz will make the playoffs in 2018

Although the Utah Jazz will have to make some major adjustments in 2017-18, the playoffs are still very much within reach.

After narrowly missing the playoffs in 2015-16, the Utah Jazz bounced back in a big way by not only qualifying for the postseason as the fifth seed in 2017, but also by winning a first round series against the Los Angeles Clippers. Their return to the second round of NBA playoff action was a huge step forward and one that many fans suspected would be merely the tip of the iceberg in Utah’s impending improvement.

Unfortunately, then the offseason and its associated free agency period occurred in which Gordon Hayward opted to sign with the Boston Celtics and the Utah Jazz took a major hit. Hayward’s departure certainly seems as though it will cause his former team to take a step backwards and some have surmised that the loss of the All-Star will result in the Jazz missing the playoffs entirely. In a recent return of win/loss projections, SportsLine had the Jazz at a meager 38.3 wins.

Fortunately, ESPN was somewhat kinder to the Jazz, but there’s still no shortage of doubters when it comes to predicting where Utah will end up.

However, until the season actually gets under way, even the most advanced of projections are little more than guesswork, and quite honestly, given how well the Jazz were able to recover this offseason all things considered, even in the Wild, Wild Western Conference, I still expect them to be a playoff team.

It’s going to take a ton of hard work, no small amount of luck and some things that went wrong last year (namely all the injuries) can’t repeat themselves this year, but the Jazz still truly ought to find themselves well in the thick of playoff race. And while that may seem like a tall task, these four reasons are precisely why I believe the Utah Jazz will still flourish.