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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz have been pretty fun to watch so far.
They've generated the most points off turnovers in the league, have shot the most 3-pointers in the league, and have embraced a chaotic pass-happy, team-oriented play that's made them easy to root for.
Oh, and at 6-2 they also have one of the best records in the league. That said, two weeks isn't the best indicator of a full season's worth of success.
After the first couple weeks of last season, the Phoenix Suns were 2-3 and in 10th place in the Western Conference (they ended up with the best record in basketball), the New Orleans Pelicans had just one win (they made the playoffs) and the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers were in playoff positions (they did not).
In fact, it's fairly common for NBA squads to have surprising starts only to come crashing down to earth later.
In 2020-21, the Orlando Magic jumped out to a 6-2 record, and went on to finish with the second-worst record in the East.
In 2017-18, the Memphis Grizzlies came out swinging with a 5-1 mark, and finished the season with just 22 wins.
A lot can change from now to April.
So is Utah's current start sustainable? If you ask them, it sure is.
"I don't think it's a surprise to anybody in the locker room that we started this way," Jordan Clarkson said. "We all came here with a chip on our shoulder — 'Man, they just think we are washed or a throwaway.' I don't even think we are playing our best basketball right now. ... If we keep playing with the same energy, come with the same fight, this is a team that can continue to win games."
He said that before the Jazz played on Monday night. And, well, they continued to win games.
Monday's blowout victory over the Memphis Grizzlies might provide the greatest hope for fans that this isn't a flash in the pan start. Before that, Utah had mostly been surviving late in games.
The Jazz are 4-1 in games decided in "clutch minutes" and 2-0 in overtime games. Yes, they deserve credit for pulling those out, but there's a lot of randomness involved when things are that tight — one shot, one foul call, one turnover can flip a result. There was no random luck involved on Monday.
Memphis even had a couple extra days to prepare for Utah's all-out effort attack, and still ended up on the wrong side of a blowout.
"On the inside, we always thought that we were going to compete," Kelly Olynyk said. "That was from training camp and media day and even before I was here. Guys believed that we had talent and bodies and the ability and experience, as well. We have some experience on this team and we mixed in with the young guys and we think we can compete at a high level. You kind to let everybody else think and say what they want"
Olynyk nailed what's worked so far. The Jazz are deep — really deep. There's legitimate NBA rotation players up and down the roster and they've all bought into a team-first mentality. Six players are averaging double figures, led by Lauri Markkanen who has simply been a revelation.
At this point of the season, most pundits, experts and even fans, would have guessed the Jazz would have one or two wins on the season — not six.
That's partially because of the apparent tanking job the organization looked to be a part of (if that was the plan, the players and coaches sure didn't get the memo), and also because of the schedule.
The Jazz have faced six projected playoff teams already, and are 5-1 in those games.
"We've got a great coaching staff, we've got great players on this team; we can beat anybody when we play our best basketball," said Markkanen, who scored 31 points on Monday and needed just 15 shots to get there.
And if their best basketball is yet to come, as Clarkson believes, the surprise Jazz may be around for a while.
