Are the Utah Jazz an exciting team to watch heading into the 2023-2024 season?
By Chad Porto
Are the Utah Jazz expected to be an exciting team to watch this season?
The Utah Jazz are looking to be a good team for the 2023-2024 season. They have a lot of talent that is just developing. Young guys who have experience, like Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler are looking like stars on the rise. Then you have three rookies, two unknowns, but one potential standout in Keyonte George, plus the shooting potential of Ochai Agbaji.
The team has talent and could very well compete to some degree in the West this year. But will they be exciting? It’s a fair question, while sports are about competition, sports at this level are also about entertainment. And excitement matters when we talk about teams getting prime-time games and being featured in promotions.
It’s not a bad thing if the Jazz don’t appeal to outside fans, but with their current roster and style of play, what should non-fans expect out of the Jazz? Well, one YouTuber, a very prominent name in the non-cable media NBA scene dubbed A Funky Diabetic, took to ranking all of the teams by how exciting or “watchable” that team is heading into the season.
For the video, the Jazz land in the “B” category, with Markkanen, Kessler, George, and Jordan Clarkson all getting name-dropped.
Now it should be noted the idea was which teams would be the most fun to watch, but he does also include the idea of intrigue. The Jazz aren’t going to be an overly flashy team, and they don’t have the star power to draw eyes on them like the Phoenix Suns or have a young player that the media is gushing over, like the San Antonio Spurs.
So if we’re just talking about name-brand value, the Jazz is absolutely a “B-team”. However, if we’re just talking about intrigue? The Jazz is at least an “A-team”. The development of Markkanen and Kessler, the trio of rookies, the long-term questions about Clarkson, Collin Sexton possibly finding a role as the team’s point guard, Agbaji’s development as a shooter, John Collins and the expectations around his arrival.
There are so many storylines worth watching that it’s not fair to say this team isn’t intriguing. Maybe not flashy, but certainly worth keeping an eye on.