Typically, when the Jazz have had a good offseason, they have gotten off to a good start. Take the summer of 2010 for example.
The Jazz were fresh off a second-round exit from the playoffs and had been eliminated at the hands of Kobe and the Lakers for the third year in a row. They had also lost their starting center Mehmet Okur to an Achilles injury. Instead of running back the same squad they changed things up a bit, allowing the promising Wesley Matthews to walk, and veterans Kyle Korver and Carlos Boozer to sign with the Chicago Bulls. Kevin O’Connor brought back former Jazzman Raja Bell and traded for Al Jefferson to start at center.
Then, Coach Sloan gave the starting power forward spot to Paul Millsap. They started out 27-14, on pace for a 54 win season and for a while it seemed like the revamped roster built around Deron Williams would work. It ended up falling apart as we all know, but at least they started out strong. And for the sake of this analysis, we are only looking for a strong start.
Another more recent example is the 2016-17 Utah Jazz. They let go of Trey Burke, who the Jazz traded up to draft and was thought to be the next franchise point guard at the time. They also moved on from fan favorite Trevor Booker.
In turn, they added George Hill, Joe Johnson, and Boris Diaw to clearly end the rebuilding era. Those three additions worked wonders with their outside shooting ability and veteran savvy. That team went 25-16 in the first 41 games, and went on to finish the season 51-31, almost identical to the midseason winning percentage.
That consistency was a much-needed breath of fresh air for local fans after the young squad had lost so many heart-breakers in 2015-16. That team had clearly taken the next step.
Does this sound familiar? This summer the Jazz moved on from six notable players on last year’s squad in order to build a contender. They traded for a big piece with Mike Conley, and they arguably made the best free agent signing in franchise history with Bojan Bogdanovic. If history repeats itself, then the Jazz have already set themselves up for a strong start to the season.