The Utah Jazz, along with all four of their Northwest Division opponents, have gotten off to an interesting start to the 2017-18 season and each still has plenty to prove.
With the first few weeks of the 2017-18 NBA season in the books, I figured it was high time to get back to one of my favorite series of articles from last season – a look at each of the Utah Jazz’s Northwest Division foes and how they’re stacking up against one another. Heading into this season, the Northwest Division was pinned as one of the deepest and most talented divisions in the NBA and given all the star power they acquired this offseason, it’s not hard to see why.
The Denver Nuggets added All-Star Paul Millsap to their ranks. The Minnesota Timberwolves pulled off a shocking trade to land Jimmy Butler while also bringing in the likes of Jeff Teague, Jamal Crawford and Taj Gibson. They also have several promising young players that appear poised to break out this season.
Average of NBA players' ranks from ESPN/Sports Illustrated/Bleacher Report/etc. for the Northwest Division... https://t.co/mVBmFSZ6Mj
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) October 31, 2017
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder perhaps had the most impressive offseason of the bunch as they added two big-time stars in Carmelo Anthony and Paul George. Last of all, the Portland Trail Blazers didn’t do much to improve this summer, but they were red-hot to finish off last year and will be the beneficiaries of 82 games with their late acquisition from last season Jusuf Nurkic.
Then there’s the Utah Jazz who most NBA aficionados would say took a step backwards this summer after losing their two leading scorers from 2016-17 and adding some guys who are unarguably solid role players, but not necessarily construed as game changers.
Nevertheless, it’s been an odd start in many ways for each member of the division, the Utah Jazz included. With that being the case, let’s take a look at how each team has fared thus far and what we can expect for them in the month and season ahead.