How do the Utah Jazz currently stack up against the best squads in the Western Conference? Will the same roster yield better results?
August is upon us and the NBA’s free agent frenzy is in the rear-view mirror. Of course, if you’re a fan of the Utah Jazz, there was never any frenzy to speak of.
In the end, the Jazz band stood pat. Derrick Favors, Dante Exum, Thabo Sefolosha, Ekpe Udoh and Raul Neto will all be back next season. In fact, the only new face on the team’s 15-man opening night roster figures to be rookie Grayson Allen. Clearly, continuity was the keystone for the team’s offseason plans.
Meanwhile, the rest of the West saw some major changes; none bigger than the Los Angeles Lakers’ move to bring LeBron James into the fold. Elsewhere, in San Antonio, the Kawhi Leonard situation came to a close with the Spurs moving the former NBA Finals MVP to the Toronto Raptors for DeMar DeRozan.
So, given the new landscape of the conference, where do the Jazz sit among the West’s pantheon of teams? For my money, their spot is right near the top.
Here’s how the Western Conference looks to me in the wake of all that went down last month…