What if all these Utah Jazz need is good health?
Utah Jazz fans probably didn’t expect a single stretch of this season to be as rough as the last one got. This team is supposed to be in the thick of competition for the NBA championship. As it currently stands, they look the part of also-rans.
Luck factors into almost any conceivable outcome in which humans are involved. Professional sports are no exception. It may be the one variable most responsible for the Jazz’s misfortune this season.
Utah Jazz stars regularly injured
As a general rule, it’s hard to win games in the NBA without your best players. The Utah Jazz provide a perfect illustration of that rule.
The Jazz are 53 games into the 2021-22 season. Rudy Gobert has missed 11 of those games. The team is 3-8 in his absence. To make matters worse, even his backup Hassan Whiteside has had to sit 12 games.
They’ve fared a little better without offensive engine Donovan Mitchell, but they’re still a losing team in his absence. He’s missed a dozen games, and the Jazz 5-7 without him.
Again: injuries are a part of life in the NBA. They’ve just bit the Utah Jazz particularly hard in 2021-22. Some nights, that’s meant starting players who ordinarily don’t see 10 minutes of action. Others, it’s just meant forging on without one or two of their stars.
Neither endeavor is easy.
Utah Jazz may still need a minor adjustment
Speaking of the injury bug, it bit Joe Ingles tragically hard recently. We can only hope that he’s able to resume his playing career.
In the meantime, it may benefit the Jazz to trade his contract (along with a pick or younger player) for a good player on a bad team. The Jazz could still use that 3-and-D wing: that was true before the Ingles injury.
Questions about Jordan Clarkson’s fit with Donovan Mitchell remain as well. Will Danny Ainge look to flip the reigning Sixth Man of the Year for a more functional floor spacer?
It remains to be seen. The Jazz may opt to gamble on Clarkson’s three-point shooting regressing to the mean and use Ingles’ deal to match salaries with a wing. There are options, but the fact remains: this Jazz team may be better than its record.
Utah Jazz luck is bound to change
If that’s true, Jazz fans don’t need to worry as much as many of them probably have. We are just over halfway through the 2021-22 season. It’s entirely possible that we’ve seen the worst of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell’s injury luck.
It’s also possible that we haven’t. That’s the thing about luck: it’s completely unpredictable.
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Hopefully, it changes for the better for the Utah Jazz. It seems apparent that when it’s on their side, they remain a bonafide NBA championship contender.