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SALT LAKE CITY — Almost as if on cue, as the Jazz began the NBA season this week, the weather in Salt Lake City has turned from glorious to gloomy.
Are the skies a harbinger for the team’s forecast? For the short term, yes it is.
The new-look Jazz enter the season facing long odds to make the playoffs, with predictions ranging from bad to literally the worst. Most experts rank the Phoenix Suns, coached by former Jazz great Jeff Hornacek, and Utah as the Western Conference bottom feeders.
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As crazy as it sounds, this is great news. To achieve long-term success, the Jazz need endure a range of growing pains.
Those struggles are expected to begin immediately. Five of the first seven games are on the road, where teams grossly shy on experience traditionally fail to have positive results.
No worries, though. For the rare time in team history, winning won’t define success.
This season is about developing the young players, primarily what Jazz management hopes will be the foundation pieces. Those would be Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward, followed by Enes Kanter and Trey Burke.
With a talented class of college players expected to enter next summer’s NBA Draft, one theory is the Jazz should lose as many games as possible to improve the odds of securing a high lottery pick. Don’t buy into that line of thinking.
To classify this season as anything close to a success, the Jazz need Favors to emerge. The former No. 3 pick of the 2010 draft has to double his career averages of 8.3 points and 6.3 rebounds a game.
While the Jazz obviously would want a high pick, there’s a downside. If the team wins in the range of only 15 games, it probably would mean the young core failed to meet expectations.
The better scenario is to win closer to 30 games and then let management figure out ways to draft a quality player. The risk factor is too great to rely almost exclusively on the draft.
To classify this season as anything close to a success, the Jazz need Favors to emerge. The former No. 3 pick of the 2010 draft has to double his career averages of 8.3 points and 6.3 rebounds a game.
At 6-foot-10, 263 pounds and possessing an incredible amount of athletic ability, Favors will give Utah its best rim protector since Mark Eaton’s heyday 20 years ago. Thankfully, the Jazz want their big men to focus on defense and rebounding rather than floating around the three-point line.
Even on off nights, Favors ought to grab at least 10 rebounds. There’s no question he has the ability to lead the league in rebounding this season.
Related:
Jazz preview: Grading the upcoming season
A long and eventful offseason has passed and it is now time for the Utah Jazz to start playing basketball again.But to be an elite player as opposed to strictly a defender, the soft-spoken Southerner has got to show enough promise on offense. And it’s highly possible, as the 24 points he scored against the Los Angeles Clippers last week proved.
Hayward also must take a quantum leap this season. Shoot-first veterans Al Jefferson and Mo Williams are gone, meaning there’s no more reason for Hayward to constantly defer to his teammates. He could be the best player in team history filling up a box score with points, assists and rebounds.
For the first time since entering the league two years ago, Kanter will get consistent playing time. And with that time, he’s got to show enough potential to be considered a bona-fide starting NBA center. He will pass the test.
When he returns from a finger injury in several weeks, Burke will be in for the ride of his life. Unless your name is Magic Johnson, rookie point guards can expect to struggle. But there also needs to be more than one shining moment, which should happen.
Except for Alec Burks and possibly Rudy Gobert, the other Jazz players are roster fillers. If the Jazz can’t figure out where Burks fits in the league, this season will be a waste for him.
As long as Favors and Hayward draw rave reviews, this team has a shot at 27-30 wins. If that’s the case, the rebuilding plan will successfully move forward.
