The Utah Jazz face ample competition in a loaded Western Conference. Here’s a first-look at how the regular season standings could stack up in 2019-20.
In the latest rendition of The J-Notes Blast Podcast, I took some time to measure the Utah Jazz’s competition in the Western Conference and predict how each opponent would stack up. It was an extremely difficult exercise given the talent and depth found in the Western Conference, particularly with there being several teams likely worthy of a playoff spot but, of course, only eight openings.
Because it was so much to unwrap, I wanted to be sure to also get my thoughts down on paper, so to speak, by dissecting the Western Conference even further and aiming to project just how the standings will play out come season’s end, which is exactly what I’ve done here.
With that said, it should be noted that this isn’t a power ranking or an order of which teams I believe will be best come playoff time (mild spoiler alert – the team I have at number one here isn’t even close to my favorite to qualify for the NBA Finals from the West). This is my projections for how the seeding will look on the final day of the regular season heading into the playoffs.
A lot of elements can affect regular season performance and some teams are simply built better for the 82-game haul than they are for the ever-important grind of the postseason. As such, I’ve attempted to take all factors into consideration when putting this together. Obviously, one that remains unknown at this point (until Monday, that is) is the specific intricacies of each team’s regular season schedule.
Nevertheless, while certainly a lot could yet change between now and the start of the season, based on what we know now, here are my predictions for how the regular season standings will ultimately shake out in the West.