Utah Jazz: Ranking the 5 most important players on the 2021-22 roster

The Utah Jazz enter the 2021-22 season with championship aspirations. After finishing the 2020-21 season at a league-best 52-20, playoff success is suddenly the only meaningful measure of this team’s performance. With one of the deepest rosters in the league, fans of the club deserve to hold high expectations.

In fact, this Jazz team is so deep that identifying its five most important players is a surprisingly difficult task. For many teams, it’s as simple as looking to the starting five. For the Jazz, that’s not necessarily an effective method.

That’s because the Utah Jazz rostered both the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in Jordan Clarkson, and the league’s runner-up in Joe Ingles. Between Quin Snyder’s platoon of wings and guards, the designation of starter is almost arbitrary.

The operative word being almost. 

Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley Jr. are all entrenched in their starter status’. No surprises there. Mitchell is the offensive hub, Gobert is the defensive anchor, and Conley Jr. is the all-important game manager. Outside of Salt Lake City’s big 3, however, it’s hard to make absolute claims about who the most important players to the Jazz’s championship cause will be in the upcoming season.

That won’t stop us from trying.

Here, we’ll rank the 5 most important players for the Utah Jazz heading into the 2021-22 season. We’ll be looking at some of the usual metrics: Box Plus/Minus (BPM), Player Efficiency Rating (PER) and Value Over Replacement Player (VORP). With that said, we won’t strictly adhere to those measures either. After all, numbers can be noisy, and sometimes it can be best to trust your gut.

Or not. Either way, you’re not here for life advice. You’re here to see the five most important players on the Utah Jazz entering the 2021-22 season.