Utah Jazz: Newest players have championship on the mind

Ed Davis and Jeff Green have made it clear – the Utah Jazz are set to compete for a championship during the upcoming 2019-20 season.

When two of the newest Utah Jazz players, Ed Davis and Jeff Green, were officially introduced, they made their reasons for joining up with the squad extremely clear. One, as discussed here on The J-Notes just last week, was to team back up with former teammate and friend Mike Conley. The other, which should excite Jazz fans to no end, was to win a championship.

As quoted in a recent article by Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune, when Davis was asked about his main motivator for joining the squad, he had the following to say:

"“At this stage of my career, I wanted to play on a veteran team, a team that has a chance to contend for a title at the end of the year. That was the main thing for me.”"

Jeff Green immediately echoed the sentiment, clearly exhibiting confidence in the Jazz being a team that is built for a deep playoff run. Perhaps even one that will take them all the way to the finish line.

Along those same lines, both players made it evident that they’re excited about the make-up of this current roster that has a great blend of young talent infused with experienced and successful veterans. Green figures to add to that experience as he mentioned that one unique aspect he’ll bring to the table is his knowledge of arriving at the NBA Finals and being able to share what it took to get there. He, of course, knows firsthand as he was a member of the 2018 Eastern Conference Champion Cleveland Cavaliers.

While most NBA fans tend to overlook the Jazz as any sort of real threat and will likely continue to do so, it’s actually hard to argue that the feelings of Green and Davis are misplaced. This Jazz team as currently constructed has all the makings of a potential powerhouse that can compete with and potentially topple any team in the West.

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It starts with a rising star in Donovan Mitchell, who has almost single-handedly managed to keep the Jazz relevant the past two seasons. It continues with a defensive anchor and star in Rudy Gobert, who has been the backbone of Utah’s defense the past two seasons. Naysayers may try to discredit Rudy and claim he isn’t truly a star. But his back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year Awards would say otherwise.

The other encouraging makings come from Utah’s flashiest new additions Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic, providing the Jazz with two more electrifying scorers who both bring a no-nonsense, unrelenting work ethic and determined attitude to a Jazz team that already enjoyed one of the best cultures in the league. Conley patches up a significant void the Jazz have had of a secondary scorer, ball-handler and creator to take pressure off of Mitchell while Bogdanovic represents a fix to Utah’s lack of shooting which has been a major Achilles heel.

Last of all, Utah has role players and reserves that absolutely hit the mark when it comes to guys who can round out a championship-level team. This includes a steady and reliable Joe Ingles, a rising 3-and-D extraordinaire in Royce O’Neale, the ever-promising Dante Exum, a young and high-potential guard in Emmanuel Mudiay and an encouraging diamond in the rough prospect in Georges Niang.

And not to mention, of course, that group also includes the newly introduced Jeff Green and Ed Davis, who are prolific role players that figure to fit the Jazz like a glove and seamlessly play much-needed roles as well.

Green obviously realized these aspects of this exciting Jazz team very quickly, as he stated the following in the recent press conference:

"“There’s a lot of guys that open space, it’s gonna create a lot of shots for everybody. There’s gonna be a lot of opportunities for people to have great games. And I feel like with an unselfish group, we have a lot of guys who can be proud of that. That’s what you look forward to — a team that’s very unselfish and gonna play for each other.”"

Utah’s well-rounded, deep and unselfish group may very well be what most sets them apart. In a Western Conference that’s absolutely loaded with dynamic duos such as Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, James Harden and Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum and Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, to name a few, you could argue that Utah’s starting five is as complete and talented as a whole of any group in the conference.

Not only that, but they’re loaded with exceptional bench pieces at every position, including guys who have started very frequently throughout their careers as has been the case for Ingles, Green (who both figure to be reserves with O’Neale projected to start at the four-spot) and Davis.

Last, but certainly not least, this is a Jazz team that has long been known for playing stellar defense, which is a trait that isn’t likely to fade away any time soon. And as the old adage goes – defense wins championship.

In short, it isn’t hard at all to see why Utah’s newcomers Green and Davis are thrilled about their odds as members of this new-look Jazz team. A quick perusal of the roster – analyzing the talent the Jazz added and realizing the specific glaring weaknesses they patched up – makes it all too clear.

The Utah Jazz truly are a potential championship contending team next season.