1975-76 New Orleans Jazz record: 38-44, missed playoffs
The 1975-76 Jazz made a significant improvement from their debut season, increasing their win total by a healthy 16 wins. Nonetheless, this was another season during which New Orleans fell short of the playoffs despite stellar play from Pistol Pete Maravich.
He contributed an impressive 25.9 points per game during this season, but once again, his supporting cast fell short of sufficient. The next leading scorer for the Jazzmen was Nate Williams at 12.8 points per game.
The super team era may have been decades away, but there has never been a point in NBA history where 12.8 points per game qualified as a strong secondary scorer.
Louie Nelson contributed 12.5 per, and Ron Behagen added 11.5 to the ledger, and nobody else on the 1975-76 New Orleans Jazz cracked double digits in scoring.
2014-15 Utah Jazz record: 38-44, missed playoffs
Fans of the Utah Jazz may not have realized they were witnessing the beginning of an era in 2014-15, but they were. That season marked the debut of two men who have been instrumental to the club’s recent era of success in Head Coach Quin Snyder and Utah demigod Joe Ingles.
At 27, Ingles was an older NBA rookie, having spent his professional career in Australia and Europe to that point. His maiden campaign may not have garnered Rookie of the Year consideration, with humble averages of 5.0 points and 2.3 assists per game. However, as any Utah Jazz fan will enthusiastically tell you, Jingles impacts the game in ways that go beyond traditional stats, and that was apparent from the onset.
Meanwhile, 2014-15 also marked the sophomore season of Rudy Gobert, and the Stifle Tower took a significant step forward from his debut. He averaged 8.4 points, 9.5 rebounds and an impressive 2.3 blocks per game for the Jazzmen that year, eventually claiming the starting center position that he still comfortably holds today.
With a 38-44 record, Coach Quin Snyder wasn’t necessarily able to put his coaching mastery on full display in his first go-round. In retrospect, this was clearly a team in transition. Gordon Hayward was still the team’s leading scorer at 19.3 points per game, and perhaps even more tellingly, Derrick Favors finished second with 16.0 points per contest.
A 22-year-old Rodney Hood looked like a future All-Star, and Gobert had to spend half the season wrestling his starting gig from Enes Kanter. This team clearly didn’t know who they were yet, and Utah Jazz fans didn’t know who they’d become.