The 2021-22 NBA season is underway, and the Utah Jazz are off to a somewhat conspicuous 2-0 start. Despite a pair of wins, Head Coach Quin Snyder’s offense has not flowed as expected against two subpar opponents. Their Offensive Rating of 109 ranks 12th in the league so far. The Jazz instead bludgeoned the Thunder and Kings with a fifth-rated 94.4 Defensive Rating.
All of which is good reason for optimism in Salt Lake City. This team’s offense is all-too-likely to regress to its 2020-21 mean, and its defense is likely to hold. Any time a team shows room for improvement and starts its season 2-0 anyway, fans should celebrate.
Indeed, we’re comfortable with one large-scale, overarching prediction: the Utah Jazz will be better than they’ve shown themselves to be so far in an extremely young 2021-22 NBA season. The real question is, how will that improvement look?
Here are 3 bold predictions for the Utah Jazz in 2021-22.
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert leads the NBA in rebounds
In terms of sheer boldness, this is the safest prediction you’ll read in this article. Through the first two games of the season, Rudy Gobert is comfortably on track to make good on this prediction. He’s averaging an other-worldly 20.5 rebounds per night.
While that number is virtually assured to regress, look for the Utah Jazz star to lead the NBA in rebounds per game. Often, the Stifle Tower is more readily associated with shot-blocking, as the NBA’s premier rim protector. However, the notion that elite rim protectors are necessarily league-leading shot-blockers is actually misguided.
Gobert takes the “stifle” portion of his nickname quite literally. He’s more prone to disrupting shots with maximum effectiveness, and collecting the rebound afterwards. It’s a more effective defensive play, insofar as it transfers possessions back to the Jazz.
Rudy Gobert ranks within the NBA’s top 5 in rebounds per game on a virtually annual basis, but he’s never led the league in the category. Look for that to change in 2021-22.