Utah Jazz: Top 3 reasons to look forward to 2017-18

Team should finally be healthy

Quick! Everyone! Run grab some wood to knock on!

All jokes aside, though, the Utah Jazz really should be a much healthier squad than they were the last two seasons. Not only have their been signs and declarations that guys like Derrick Favors, Alec Burks, Dante Exum and Rodney Hood are putting in work this offseason and looking great, but Utah couldn’t possible be as hampered as they’ve been by injuries for a third year in a row, could they? COULD THEY?

While of course there’s always some amount of unpredictability and randomness to injuries, one of the more low-key but important moves the Utah Jazz made this season was to do something about their notable injury issues by retooling their training and sports science staff. Some amount of injuries each season are expected and unpreventable, but when a team suffers as much as the Jazz have for two straight seasons, it’s certainly time for some changes.

And hopefully the recent addition of Mike Elliott as Vice President of Performance Health Care and Eric Waters as head athletic trainer will make a big difference. Elliot comes over from the Phoenix Suns who just so happened to be one of the least injured teams in the league last year and have long been renowned as having one of the top training staffs in the league.

Waters comes over from the Washington Wizards, has been USA Basketball’s lead trainer and is a former recipient of the NBA Athletic Trainer of the Year Award. If each of their reputations hold and the Jazz players can have some luck this year, we could see a dramatic improvement in overall health.

And that’s great news for a team that, according to ManGamesLost.com, lost the most games due to injury of any other team in the league in 2016-17. If the Jazz were fully healthy last season, there’s no telling how great of heights they could have reached and if they’re fully healthy this upcoming season, the loss of Gordon Hayward could end up being little more than an after thought.

As I mentioned formerly, there’s loads of talent across this roster, and if they’re all able to remain on the floor for the majority of the season, then this could be a team that surprises a lot of folks that are sleeping on them. And that prospect is certainly a reason that I’m looking forward to tuning in next year.