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Jazz – 10th Best NBA Team?
Posted by: Jared Jardine on October 30th, 2012
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Our Utah Jazz generally don’t get a ton of love from the national sports writers, so I was surprised to see we sit at #10 in opening week’s power rankings.
ESPN- Power Rankings (click here)
My main beef with these power rankings is that the hated Nuggets are listed higher than us. I hope we settle that score on the court.
Where would you rank the Jazz and why?
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Well, its worth noting that once again, the West is stacked and is the much tougher conference. Jazz are ranked 10th overall by Marc Stein there, but 7th in the West (Dallas is behind us).
I think we’re real close to Memphis and the Nuggets and maybe even include the Clippers in there. But the tier up is Lakers/Spurs/OKC and I don’t know if we’re to that level yet. But hey, if we win out in ‘our tier’ of Memphis/Dallas/Clippers/Nuggets, we could be looking at a fourth place in the West finish, which is kind of the ceiling as I see it, unless one of the top teams falls apart (like due to injuries to key guys).
Go Jazz, I’m excited to see them this year and I’m hoping for progress from last year. Something better than 8th seed and a sweep.
I completly agree with KCJones. I could honestly see us suprising people and pulling out a fourth/fifth seed. It all depends on if our Youngsters play consistently and that all depends on if they get the minutes they deserve.
I don’t know why the Nuggests are getting so much love. I don’t think they’ve proved much.
Until our defense improves we will not be a top 6 team in the conference. You can hate all you want on the Clippers,Denver and Memphis but the fact is all three of those teams when they step on the floor with us have the better player right now. The best player on the court just does things other can not. Until we consistently have the best player on the floor or even the 2nd best player we are not going to be a top contender that is just how the NBA works. It also does not help most of the time the best player of combo of players run the P&R. Which to our disadvantage is our largest issue on defense.
Dennis Lindsey himself said to Locke the defense starts in the middle it has got to be strong there or it does not matter how good other defenders are. He said basically no we do not have the personnel to play top 10 defense. So if our own GM knows we can not play defense you do not think other teams know this as well. It is very hard to be any type of contender when you allow over 50% shooting especially in the 1st and 3rd quarters. We can have all the depth we want but if it is not used correctly it does not matter.
The team that stands out to me on that list is the Clippers. In my opinion #6 is way too high for them. I think the Jazz and Nuggets will both finish with a better record at the end of the year than the Clips.
Contrary to other posts, I’m on-board with the Nuggets. I think they are solidly put together. The Jazz will be in a dog-fight with them all year.
I think this is a good young team… and I dont care about ESPN articles…
@Dallan
I agree. I think Favors will improve our defense, but we have to have that second defender who can help him so he doesn’t wear himself out guarding everyone else’s man.
@Shane
I agree about the Clippers as well. I think they have the same problem as a lot of other teams, where they have zero depth when the starters need a break. If they have one significant injury, I think they miss the playoffs easily. People get so caught up in the whole Chris Paul/Blake Griffin names, that they fail to see that there’s no one else. DeAndre might be decent especially with his slimdown, but Crawford and Billups will not carry a team.
I really hope Corbin getting the extension will help him become a head coach; in other words, I hope he understands that he has a longer contract than Al and Millsap. So no need to worry Corbin, you have a longer guarantee than Al and Millsap, so once opposing PGs P&R crush us like in 3 plays in a row, first quarter or whatever, Corbin needs to pull the plug right quick, and let them watch from the bench. If they complain, I am sure Lindsey will oblige and get the phones working.
I always hear that Favors and Kanter have not proven themselves, but hasn’t the combo of Al and Millsap proven that they are a bad defensive duo?? I really really get scared when I hear the words “resign” and “Al” in the same sentence?!! WHAT?! I won’t get into that here, but I’ll just say we know what we have in Al and Millsap combo, and it did not work for 60 plus games. Kanter is already a better defender than Al, and Favors is already near 7′0 ft with a monster wingspan and agility, Millsap is not. Winning and playing Favors and Kanter more are not mutually exclusive: its not one OR the other, it can be both. In fact I belief winning goes hand-in-hand with playing Favors and Millsap.
Come on, Corbin its time to step up and make the next move. Lets go Jazz, we have the potential to have historic season and do some real damage, but I am sorry it doesn’t begin with Al and Millsap. The sooner Corbin realizes that, I think Jazz are just as good as SA in a 7 game series, and better than Lakers, OKC, Clips, and the rest.
*playing Favors and KANTER
From the outside looking in at the Jazz, our 4 bigs log jam looks like a chemistry problem or team shake up if there is a trade. In turn keeping us from climbing too high in the rankings. But as usual Jazz get the shaft in the polls.
Were going to be good, maybe real good. go JAZZ!!!
They nice thing is that they all have to play the games.
Personally I believe the Lakers will not nearly have as successful season as everybody thinks. They will have to make a decent late-season run to land somewhere between 5 and 7.
The Jazz could end up somewhere between 3 and 5, if things gel. I am saying that because of the depth – even if we lose a player or two for a while due to injuries, there are enough high quality players eager to pick things up.
I am very excited for this season!
Lakers have lost 11 games in a row now going back to last season and including preseason. Just thought I’d mention that.
12 now. Not that I’m counting