The Utah Jazz have a shot at winning the In-Season Tournament’s Group Play but they have to go through these three teams first.
The Utah Jazz are just 3-7 but they have a very big opportunity ahead of them. The In-Season Tournament is raging on, and while it’s nothing more than a gimmick, this part of the schedule seems to have come up right when the Jazz need it the most. The In-Season Tournament is forcing the Jazz to take on the Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazer, and Los Angeles Lakers in essentially back-to-back-to-back-to-back games.
And luckily for the Jazz, all four teams are .500 or worse on the season. The Jazz already knocked off the Grizzlies to move their season record to 3-7, but 1-0 in Group Play. Now the Jazz have three more opponents to go through over the next four games, and three of those games will count towards the Group Play section of the tournament. But who among the teams are the most daunting to topple?
We’re ranking all three from worse to first.
3. Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are 4-6 on the season and an utter mess. Despite years of proving the exact opposite, teams perpetually think that throwing two or three high-profile players together will result in a championship. It rarely does, in fact, and yet teams keep doing it. The Suns gave up a lot of great players to get Kevin Durant, which is fine. Durant is dropping 30 a night on solid efficiency and Devin Booker, when healthy, is right there with them.
But they gave up a lot of depth and mobility by trading for Bradley Beal, who has only played three games and is shooting terribly. He’s only shooting 39% from the floor and 33% from three. Not to mention that Booker has missed all but two games this season.
Durant has had to play a lot of games with either just one of his big-name colleagues or neither. And that trend may persist in back-to-back games against the Jazz. Only one of which is for the In-Season Tournament.
The Suns have the least impressive depth of the three squads the Jazz have to face and maybe the easiest of the four teams they face due to that fact.
2. Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers are a rebuilding squad that may be as easy an out as the Memphis Grizzlies, but maybe not. The Blazers took the Los Angeles Lakers to the limit recently and despite not having Damian Lillard anymore, the Blazers still have some stellar scorers on the team, like second-year guard Shaedon Sharpe.
That isn’t all they have, as Jermi Grant is having a solid year offensively, and Malcolm Brogdon is someone who is putting up stats everywhere on the stat sheet. If Brogdon could improve his shooting figures, he’d probably have a first-round pick or two offered up for him by now.
Not to mention, that guys like DeAndre Ayton and Scoot Henderson are on the team. While both men are just treading water for right now, both could have breakout games at any point, and considering how bad the Jazz’ defense has been, it could be against Utah.
By no means is this intended to say that the Blazers are a good squad, they aren’t and they shouldn’t be. They’re very young and most of their players over 25 will likely get traded if a deal is offered. But as long as they have these pieces in place, they are going to be able to match the pace of most teams offensively.
1. Los Angeles Lakers
Of course, it’s the Los Angeles Lakers taking the top spot. They have LeBron James and Anthony Davis, so they’re automatically the top dogs in the group. Now, neither man is a top player in the league anymore, with Davis being closer to the Top 10 or 20 than James, but both together make for a formidable duo.
At least compared to the Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, and Suns. The Lakers are just 5-5 and one of the most average teams in the league. They’re also one of the least intimidating three-point shooting teams in the NBA, with James and Davis shooting well under 38% from above the arc.
That said, they can still get inside and score, and they have a solid pick-and-roll game that the Jazz will have to counter. Arguably the most dangerous scorer on the team is Austin Reeves, who can shoot from anywhere on the court if given a chance. He’s not posting the most efficient figures to start the season but if he gets hot, he’ll be a problem for the Utah Jazz’s poor perimeter defense. And while the Lakers boast two future NBA Hall of Famers on their roster, while featuring a dynamic shooter like Reeves and an under-appreciated forward in Rui Hachimura, this is not a great team. Just the best in this group. That makes them very beatable.