Can the Utah Jazz make the playoffs in the NBA’s Western Conference?
The Utah Jazz are a team of multiple possibilities. With their dynamic roster and differing collection of talents, they are a team that could compete with the roster they have, end up finishing near the bottom of the conference, make major trades to improve their roster, and go for broke to try and win a title this year or sell off even more older talents for draft picks.
The directions the team can go are seemingly endless. So it’s unsurprising that anyone, including the YouTuber 3 Cone (aka Connor), is unsure how the Jazz will finish this season. The team could end up in first, just as they were for a while last year, or they could end up at the bottom of the standings. It’s an unpredictable mess.
This is something that he touches on in the video down below, the idea that the Western Conference, which includes the Utah Jazz, is unpredictable.
And he’s not wrong. The West is in this weird flux state. The top names like LeBron James and Steph Curry are on aging rosters, while the younger guys like Luka Doncic are on teams that didn’t really have the most help.
So the Jazz really do stand a chance to take over the conference and lead the way. That is if they don’t trade away guys like Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson. The new rules that force teams to play healthy players may affect the Jazz. They’ll be unable to keep their better players from year to year, as well as contend for high draft picks at the same time. Since players like Markkanen and Clarkson have to play, the Jazz run the risk of winning too many games.
This means they’ll be forced to play their better players, and in turn, potentially miss out on top draft picks, trade away their better players, get high draft picks, and prolong the rebuild.
So to say it’s a bit unnerving to be a Utah Jazz fan would be an understatement. It’s impossible to know which way is up with this club until things get underway. Hopefully, the team will have a clear direction on where they want to go.