Utah Jazz are rising in the standings, but can they keep pace with major changes ahead?

The Utah Jazz have found themselves nearing the top of the Western Conference standings. With the playoffs still months away, here’s why this early seeding race is important. Plus, will they be able to keep pace with changes ahead?

Winning is fun. Winning a lot is even more so, and the Utah Jazz have been doing quite a bit of it lately. Currently on a nine game winning streak – as well as 14 of their last 15 – the Jazz now find themselves in elite company with powerhouse teams including the Houston Rockets, the Denver Nuggets, and the L.A. Clippers. *Knock on wood!*

In fact, as brief as it was – just after the Jazz beat the Washington Wizards, but before the Denver Nuggets defeated the L.A. Clippers only a few hours later – Utah was officially in 2nd place in the beastly Western Conference.

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The Race for Second Place

Watching the playoff standings before we are even halfway through the season might seem fairly premature, but Jazz fans have good reason to be watching the race for the second seed this early in the season.

Keeping Pace – First, always remember, a win today is just as valuable as a win near the end of the season. Not to mention that winning games you are supposed to win means it’s actually OK to lose a game when you’re not supposed to win.

That might feel a little foreign to Jazz fans since we have found ourselves watching near-impossible yet must-win games at the end of the every season over the past few years. That’s what happens when a team digs itself into a nasty hole early on, needing to accomplish historic mid-season turnarounds post All-Star game and the like.

Keeping pace early means a team doesn’t have to play catch up late in the season, so the more ground we gain today means the less ground we must gain later and the more we likely gain overall.

Two All-Stars – Whether they are officially voted in or not, there are (at least) two players deserving of the All-Star title.

Unfortunately, the All-Star voting process is extremely flawed (and has been for quite some time). Don’t even get me started on that tangent.

The bottom line is that it would be a crime if either Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert we’re snubbed again this year. The problem in voters’ minds, however, is that rewarding any team (ahem… small market teams) with two or more All-Stars is difficult to justify, even if the individual players deserve it.

However, if a team is considered “elite” – such as, perhaps, a top-two team in the West – it would go a long way in helping NBA coaches justify voting for both of Utah’s most deserving players.

On a side note, it must be said that if Bojan Bogdanovic was playing this well on a big market team or if Mitchell and Gobert weren’t so incredibly deserving, he would and should be in the conversation for All-Star reserve.

Changes Ahead

The Jazz have had a rare luxury as of late. The schedule has been quite favorable over the past month or so, with a difficult opponent appearing only once every few games. Considering the situation in early December, it was just what the doctor ordered.

At the time, Utah was still struggling to find its chemistry, identity, and groove. Having so many new players on the roster meant Coach Quin Snyder needed to find an ideal rotation as the players learned his intricate offensive system.

Unfortunately, the first 20 games of the season included the most travel time of any team in the league, no time for practice, and scraping for wins against some of the most impressive teams the NBA can offer night after night. Bottom line – it didn’t leave much room for learning and experimenting with new plays or lineups.

Luckily, once the schedule eased up, the flexibility to experiment (without immediately giving up a loss) presented itself. Throughout this stretch, the players have clearly found their groove. Coach Snyder has found his preferred rotation and the players are clearly playing within a system that relies on team chemistry. Confidence is high as they have clearly found their identity.

Tests Ahead – Practice makes perfect, but the real tests will begin starting January 25th against the vastly improved Dallas Mavericks. Next come the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, and it doesn’t stop there.

The light schedule as of late comes at a cost. Eventually, difficult games will feel as though they have all come at once. At that point, everything the Jazz have been learning will be put to the test. Hopefully, by that point, the players and coaches will have everything in place.

…except for the fact that there is one big factor that is still not ready.

The Return of Conley – As smooth as the team has been playing, it has been without its starting point guard. Mike Conley has been recovering from a hamstring injury that has been plaguing him since early December.

Generally, getting your starting point guard back from a long term injury is great news. For the most part, that is also the case for the Utah Jazz. Though, there are some concerns to be noted.

For one, as great a player as Conley is, he has thus far struggled this season with his new team. Shooting a painful 36.5% from the floor, overall, and only scoring 13.6 points per game has been a significant drop from 21.1 points per game he contributed in his last season with the Memphis Grizzlies.

So the first question is, which Conley will return? Will he continue to struggle in a Jazz jersey, or will we finally see the “Memphis Mike” we all expected when he was acquired via trade in the offseason?

Secondly, I will refer to everything I mentioned before about the team finding their identity. Adding another major player into the mix will require the team to rediscover their chemistry and for Coach Snyder to experiment with various rotations all over again.

It will take Conley some time to get back into game shape. Let’s hope his time watching from the bench has been beneficial in understanding the system and how he can fit in and contribute.

With the team playing as well as they have been, it can be scary messing with their current groove. All the same, there is no doubt that Conley will be an overall positive when he returns. Although it will take some work and a little luck, he ultimately raises the team’s ceiling of potential throughout the course of the season and postseason.

There hasn’t been much news regarding Conley’s progress or any ETA on his return, but if the Jazz can work him back into the system a few games prior to when the more difficult games begin, it would allow some time for him to experience that same flexibility the rest of the team enjoyed (though he would have to return soon for that to happen, however).

With how good the Utah Jazz have been without their starting point guard, just think about how incredibly elite the team could be with an improved Mike Conley at the helm. I dare say the Jazz might just become the team we all had hoped for at the beginning of the season – not underdogs or dark horse contenders, but full-fledged championship contenders riding high with the best of them.

Once Conley returns and the schedule takes a turn, we’ll know for sure. Until then, keep an eye on those Western Conference standings!