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SALT LAKE CITY — Jeff Green answered before the question was even finished.
“You have said that you joined this team because of its championship potential,” a reporter began.
“I stand by that,” Green said, cutting the reporter off.
That’s the type of belief the 2019-20 Utah Jazz will begin the season with. Green said it. So has Ed Davis, Mike Conley, Rudy Gobert, and the list goes on. No matter how high the outside expectations are for this team, they won’t top the ones coming from inside the Jazz’s own house.
Does that mean Utah expects to come out like a juggernaut Wednesday night when they open the season at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder (7 p.m., AT&T SportsNet)?
Well, not exactly.
“I know firsthand that it takes time when you add a lot of guys to the team,” Green said. “When I was in Cleveland, to start the season we added at least five new faces and we made a trade in the middle of the season, which added another five. So it takes time and that season we made it to the finals."
Green said the team went through its "ups and downs," but "we got to our main goal and I know that's what this team is about.
"We are going to fight until we get to where we want to be, and we want to be playing in the finals and all that stuff takes time.”
A similar journey — maybe not the midseason roster overhaul — could await the Jazz.
Utah head coach Quin Snyder likened the process to building a house. You may have all the architectural plans, the samples, and know what you want the end result to be, but things don’t always come together as you envision — or as quickly as you’d like.
“Once you start the actual building process you have to access the raw materials, (but) they may be in short supply,” Snyder said. “You have to hire a contractor, there's weather, there are so many different things.”
There will be plenty of ups and downs this season for the Jazz. Metaphorical storms will no doubt come in the shape of losing streaks, shooting slumps, injuries, etc., but Snyder is confident in his team’s foundation.
“We have great plans,” Snyder said. “As far as implementing and evolving as a team, that analogy is a pretty good one because we’re not going to become who we are overnight. That’s the nature of building.”
Case in point, Snyder has already made small changes — or at least some minor tweaks. The Jazz went winless against NBA competition in the preseason, and while the record didn’t matter, Snyder saw enough — particularly on the defensive end where the Jazz were consistently gashed — to alter some things heading into Wednesday.
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Snyder’s not alone in that belief. Even with the rocky preseason at times, there’s still an aura of confidence surrounding the Jazz. It’s why Joe Ingles could, in the middle of a post-practice interview, playfully yell across the Utah practice facility simply to see if Conley had nerves leading up to the season.
Conley shook his head no (though he did seem a bit confused about the entire interaction). He might as well have been speaking for the Jazz as a whole, though.
On Wednesday night, Donovan Mitchell will place his arms on his teammates’ shoulders as the National Anthem echoes through Vivint Arena. That’ll be the only time the third-year guard will get nervous. Other than that, he’ll just be excited.
Excited to see what he and Conley can do as a backcourt pairing. Excited to see how all the new pieces fit in a real game. Excited to see how far this team can go.
“I was more nervous through the press conference (on Monday), to be honest,” Mitchell said. “I just get more nervous in a closed setting as opposed to in front of fans and playing basketball. I couldn't explain to you why. It's just how it is.”
The Jazz are ready to get things going. Not only because they know how good they can be, but because they know it might be a long journey to get there; it's time for the journey to begin.
“It's exciting because we got a good team, but we're about to play one game of 82,” Ingles said. “So yeah, just step by step for us.”
