Jazz Predictions, Jazz Questions

I'm not at all ready to make predictions about the Western Conference. There has been so much movement, it hasn't sunk in. And the Jazz have changed so much, I'm not even ready to express an opinion on how I think they will do this year.

I think the biggest questions are about how our trades will play out. None of them are blockbuster, but seem to be improvements. Moe at starting PG could be off the charts good for the Jazz. Pretty much, everyone agrees we never should have let him go in the first place. But, with our team, he could be a top seven pg, or a top 25 pg depending on how things play out. Foye, I think, would help any team he plays on-- but, I'm not sure how much. I don't think Foye is a "game-changer" (the way I think Moe could be); I just think he will make the Jazz better. And, Marvin Williams is a guy I've been waiting on way too long to become a "game-changer." I don't want the Atlanta Hawks' version of Marv, I want the early Lottery pick Marv to finally show up. He's not Kevin Durrant, but, really, he was supposed to be that good!

The Jazz are loaded with returning players we all pretty much want to root for. Even when talking about trades, none of us are saying, "That guy sucks and we need to get rid of him now." We're young and have a seriously good "working class" team. And, even at our best over the years (with Stockton Malone, Horny and others) we were still a "working class" team whose players rose above their expectations. I'm looking forward to this season with a lot of optimism. Am I deluded?

When I look at other teams, particularly in the Western Conference, I have to take a step back and say, "Oh, can we really compete and overcome those teams?"

Solid questions Saint.

At first I was super confident this team could be a top 4 team in the west, but when I really got down to looking at it I wasn't so sure.

The problem once again in the west is that while the East is super top heavy and maybe slightly more competitive in the cellar, the West has basicly the entire upper-middle class of the NBA. If I am power ranking the NBA, probably 7 of the top 10 are from the west.

Let's break this down a bit shall we?

**The Thunder will be just as good as last year, when they destroyed the Mavericks, Lakers, and Spurs in route to the sting of a lost championship. They have to be considered the #1 team in the west.

**The Spurs basicly checked this offseason and didn't make any major moves. They should be just as good as last year though, even with Duncan and Manu aging fast, because of good depth and quality young players like Splitter and Leonard. Still, one can't help but think that without any moves this will be another regular season juggernaught that just doesn't have enough star power left to win in the playoffs. Wouldn't be suprised to see this team be #1 or #2 in the west, again, but falter in the playoffs.

**The Lakers added Dwight Howard, Antawn Jamison and Steve Nash in place of Andrew Bynum, Matt Barnes and Ramone Sessions. Somewhat surprisingly, in spite of all of the star power, on paper that doesn't really make them that much better a team, and I actually don't think they will be that much better in the regular season than they were last year. I don't think they will win the west, and I don't think they will win more than 57 games. I do, however, think that if they are healthy they will be MUCH better come playoff time, and may be the only team in the west that can challenge OKC in a 7 game series.

**The Grizzlies continue to be sort of like the Boozer/Williams Jazz teams, sneaky good but not quite good enough. They finnished 4th in the west last year and probably would have finished 3rd without serious injuries to Aurthur and Randolph. They lost OJ Mayo and added a bunch of second rate guys to replace him. I think they continue to be good-but-not-good enough, and should win 50+ games.

**The Clippers are one of the more interesting and difficult to predict teams here. They added Lamar Odom, Jamal Crawford, Grant Hill, Willie Green, Ronnie Turiaf and supposedly will have Billups healthy and ready to go. They lost Mo Williams, Randy Foye, Nick Young, Kenyon Martin, and Regie Evans. So what does all of that mean? Got me, I honestly don't know. Do we see good Lamar or bad Lamar? Can Hill and Billups (or Paul and Griffin for that matter) stay on the court? If it's good Lamar and everybody stays healthy then look out, this is a team to be reckoned with. If not, then they are basicly back to were they were last year, a 50 win team that gets swept out of the playoffs by a top tier team.

**The Nuggets are another team that had a really interesting off-season. They added Iggy and Anthony Randolph and lost Aaron Afflalo and Al Harrington. That is a massive upgrade in my opinion, but I still think the Nuggets fall into the should win around 50 games good-but-not-great category.

**The Mavericks went into full on rebuilding mode and then changed their mind mid stream and slapped together a pretty decent squad. They added Kaman, Mayo, Collison, Dantay Jones, Elton Brand, and some realy decent draft picks. They lost Kidd, Odom, Terry, and Haywood. So ya, I'm thinking they will be at least as good as they were last year, which means they win 45-50 games and probably make the playoffs...



So that is the 7 teams that went into the playoffs ahead of the Jazz last year...and I'm not seeing a lot of oportunities for advancement. And I didn't even get to the non-playoff teams form last year that are looking for a seat at the table, namely the T-Wolves, Trailblazers, Suns, and Warriors. Of those teams I think the T-Wolves are the best, and perhaps only, legitimate playoff contender.

I do think that the Jazz will be better than the Mavericks, and that they will move into the same good-but-not-great category as the Nuggets and Grizzlies, but in terms of playoff position that could mean anything from 4th to 7th.

Regardless, it should be a lot of fun and interesting to talk about all season!

Yeah I was and still am really excited about the moves the Jazz made, but it seems like everyone in the west got better. The Jazz could be a much better team and not see much improvement record wise.

I still think 50 wins is in the cards, but that might get you a 7th to 8th seed in the west. The east should have a horrible record against the west this season. The thing is the top teams in the east are gonna win so many games against the bottom of the conference that they are gonna almost certainly get home court for the finals.

Hollinger has Jazz ranked 4th in Future Power Rankings? Anyone with Insider access give a little blow by blow on that one? What is a Future Power Ranking, anyway?

MTJazz wrote:

Hollinger has Jazz ranked 4th in Future Power Rankings? Anyone with Insider access give a little blow by blow on that one? What is a Future Power Ranking, anyway?

I asked the same question awhile back in another thread.....

https://jazznation.forumotion.com/t184p15-record-with-current-roster

TheMagnus wrote:

Solid questions Saint.

At first I was super confident this team could be a top 4 team in the west, but when I really got down to looking at it I wasn't so sure.

The problem once again in the west is that while the East is super top heavy and maybe slightly more competitive in the cellar, the West has basicly the entire upper-middle class of the NBA. If I am power ranking the NBA, probably 7 of the top 10 are from the west.

Let's break this down a bit shall we?

**The Thunder will be just as good as last year, when they destroyed the Mavericks, Lakers, and Spurs in route to the sting of a lost championship. They have to be considered the #1 team in the west.

**The Spurs basicly checked this offseason and didn't make any major moves. They should be just as good as last year though, even with Duncan and Manu aging fast, because of good depth and quality young players like Splitter and Leonard. Still, one can't help but think that without any moves this will be another regular season juggernaught that just doesn't have enough star power left to win in the playoffs. Wouldn't be suprised to see this team be #1 or #2 in the west, again, but falter in the playoffs.

**The Lakers added Dwight Howard, Antawn Jamison and Steve Nash in place of Andrew Bynum, Matt Barnes and Ramone Sessions. Somewhat surprisingly, in spite of all of the star power, on paper that doesn't really make them that much better a team, and I actually don't think they will be that much better in the regular season than they were last year. I don't think they will win the west, and I don't think they will win more than 57 games. I do, however, think that if they are healthy they will be MUCH better come playoff time, and may be the only team in the west that can challenge OKC in a 7 game series.

**The Grizzlies continue to be sort of like the Boozer/Williams Jazz teams, sneaky good but not quite good enough. They finnished 4th in the west last year and probably would have finished 3rd without serious injuries to Aurthur and Randolph. They lost OJ Mayo and added a bunch of second rate guys to replace him. I think they continue to be good-but-not-good enough, and should win 50+ games.

**The Clippers are one of the more interesting and difficult to predict teams here. They added Lamar Odom, Jamal Crawford, Grant Hill, Willie Green, Ronnie Turiaf and supposedly will have Billups healthy and ready to go. They lost Mo Williams, Randy Foye, Nick Young, Kenyon Martin, and Regie Evans. So what does all of that mean? Got me, I honestly don't know. Do we see good Lamar or bad Lamar? Can Hill and Billups (or Paul and Griffin for that matter) stay on the court? If it's good Lamar and everybody stays healthy then look out, this is a team to be reckoned with. If not, then they are basicly back to were they were last year, a 50 win team that gets swept out of the playoffs by a top tier team.

**The Nuggets are another team that had a really interesting off-season. They added Iggy and Anthony Randolph and lost Aaron Afflalo and Al Harrington. That is a massive upgrade in my opinion, but I still think the Nuggets fall into the should win around 50 games good-but-not-great category.

**The Mavericks went into full on rebuilding mode and then changed their mind mid stream and slapped together a pretty decent squad. They added Kaman, Mayo, Collison, Dantay Jones, Elton Brand, and some realy decent draft picks. They lost Kidd, Odom, Terry, and Haywood. So ya, I'm thinking they will be at least as good as they were last year, which means they win 45-50 games and probably make the playoffs...



So that is the 7 teams that went into the playoffs ahead of the Jazz last year...and I'm not seeing a lot of oportunities for advancement. And I didn't even get to the non-playoff teams form last year that are looking for a seat at the table, namely the T-Wolves, Trailblazers, Suns, and Warriors. Of those teams I think the T-Wolves are the best, and perhaps only, legitimate playoff contender.

I do think that the Jazz will be better than the Mavericks, and that they will move into the same good-but-not-great category as the Nuggets and Grizzlies, but in terms of playoff position that could mean anything from 4th to 7th.

Regardless, it should be a lot of fun and interesting to talk about all season!

Excellent response. I've got one thing to add to this: with the youth of the Jazz, we have a buffer against injuries most other teams don't have. And, looking at our team, we also have a team that is less-likely to sustain team-changing injuries. We aren't relying on any players with a history of injuries.

We all saw what happened to Chicago in the playoffs once Rose went down. No one was expecting an injury to Rose, but, once it happened to keep him out of the playoffs, they were shut down. Injuries will hurt any team, but, the Jazz have depth other teams can't match. Last year, Indy stepped up a few notches just by having a healthy team playing most of the season, and being there come playoff time. The Jazz have the same possibilities. The only spot I see as seriously exposed by injury is at center. If Kanter or Big Al goes down, we might have to reinvent ourselves. Otherwise, we have a bunch of players that have the potential to compete against any other team.

Could we beat any of the NBA elite teams if one of their elite players went down? I think yes is the answer. On any given day, we could beat the NBA elite teams with all their elite players-- but that would be much harder, and more unlikely in a playoff series.

Not that I wish injuries on anyone, but, look at any NBA elite team without one of their elite players, and try to predict who would win. OKC without Durrant, we should win. LAL without MJ wannabe, we should win. Miami without LeBron, we should win. SA without Duncan, we should win. Dallas without Dirk, we should win. Clippers without CP3, we should win. Chicago without Rose, we should win. Any team without their best player, we should win. Memphis without Gasol, we should win. Who is better than us if they lose their best player? Our Center position is the only position I see as being seriously vulnerable to injury. There aren't other teams that could sustain a major hit in the injury department the way we could.

Saint Louis wrote:

Excellent response. I've got one thing to add to this: with the youth of the Jazz, we have a buffer against injuries most other teams don't have. And, looking at our team, we also have a team that is less-likely to sustain team-changing injuries. We aren't relying on any players with a history of injuries.

We all saw what happened to Chicago in the playoffs once Rose went down. No one was expecting an injury to Rose, but, once it happened to keep him out of the playoffs, they were shut down. Injuries will hurt any team, but, the Jazz have depth other teams can't match. Last year, Indy stepped up a few notches just by having a healthy team playing most of the season, and being there come playoff time. The Jazz have the same possibilities. The only spot I see as seriously exposed by injury is at center. If Kanter or Big Al goes down, we might have to reinvent ourselves. Otherwise, we have a bunch of players that have the potential to compete against any other team.

Could we beat any of the NBA elite teams if one of their elite players went down? I think yes is the answer. On any given day, we could beat the NBA elite teams with all their elite players-- but that would be much harder, and more unlikely in a playoff series.

Not that I wish injuries on anyone, but, look at any NBA elite team without one of their elite players, and try to predict who would win. OKC without Durrant, we should win. LAL without MJ wannabe, we should win. Miami without LeBron, we should win. SA without Duncan, we should win. Dallas without Dirk, we should win. Clippers without CP3, we should win. Chicago without Rose, we should win. Any team without their best player, we should win. Memphis without Gasol, we should win. Who is better than us if they lose their best player? Our Center position is the only position I see as being seriously vulnerable to injury. There aren't other teams that could sustain a major hit in the injury department the way we could.

Good points all-around. Although I think the loss of Al or especially Kanter wouldn't be as big of a blow as you are saying. If Al goes down, then Favors slips into the starting center spot next to Millsap, Marvin plays more PF & Evans gets some PT. Not the worst thing that could happen to the Jazz. The loss of MoWill would probably be the biggest injury issue if it were to come up. I like Tinsley & Watson as back-ups, but not long term as a starters.

zero24gravity wrote:

Good points all-around. Although I think the loss of Al or especially Kanter wouldn't be as big of a blow as you are saying. If Al goes down, then Favors slips into the starting center spot next to Millsap, Marvin plays more PF & Evans gets some PT. Not the worst thing that could happen to the Jazz. The loss of MoWill would probably be the biggest injury issue if it were to come up. I like Tinsley & Watson as back-ups, but not long term as a starters.

Don't forget about Foye. He's a capable backup PG, and if (when) Mo gets hurt I would hope to see him filling major minutes at PG. The fact that he can play PG was probably the best part of that signing for me.

TheMagnus wrote:

Solid questions Saint.

At first I was super confident this team could be a top 4 team in the west, but when I really got down to looking at it I wasn't so sure.

The problem once again in the west is that while the East is super top heavy and maybe slightly more competitive in the cellar, the West has basicly the entire upper-middle class of the NBA. If I am power ranking the NBA, probably 7 of the top 10 are from the west.

Let's break this down a bit shall we?

**The Thunder will be just as good as last year, when they destroyed the Mavericks, Lakers, and Spurs in route to the sting of a lost championship. They have to be considered the #1 team in the west.

**The Spurs basicly checked this offseason and didn't make any major moves. They should be just as good as last year though, even with Duncan and Manu aging fast, because of good depth and quality young players like Splitter and Leonard. Still, one can't help but think that without any moves this will be another regular season juggernaught that just doesn't have enough star power left to win in the playoffs. Wouldn't be suprised to see this team be #1 or #2 in the west, again, but falter in the playoffs.

**The Lakers added Dwight Howard, Antawn Jamison and Steve Nash in place of Andrew Bynum, Matt Barnes and Ramone Sessions. Somewhat surprisingly, in spite of all of the star power, on paper that doesn't really make them that much better a team, and I actually don't think they will be that much better in the regular season than they were last year. I don't think they will win the west, and I don't think they will win more than 57 games. I do, however, think that if they are healthy they will be MUCH better come playoff time, and may be the only team in the west that can challenge OKC in a 7 game series.

**The Grizzlies continue to be sort of like the Boozer/Williams Jazz teams, sneaky good but not quite good enough. They finnished 4th in the west last year and probably would have finished 3rd without serious injuries to Aurthur and Randolph. They lost OJ Mayo and added a bunch of second rate guys to replace him. I think they continue to be good-but-not-good enough, and should win 50+ games.

**The Clippers are one of the more interesting and difficult to predict teams here. They added Lamar Odom, Jamal Crawford, Grant Hill, Willie Green, Ronnie Turiaf and supposedly will have Billups healthy and ready to go. They lost Mo Williams, Randy Foye, Nick Young, Kenyon Martin, and Regie Evans. So what does all of that mean? Got me, I honestly don't know. Do we see good Lamar or bad Lamar? Can Hill and Billups (or Paul and Griffin for that matter) stay on the court? If it's good Lamar and everybody stays healthy then look out, this is a team to be reckoned with. If not, then they are basicly back to were they were last year, a 50 win team that gets swept out of the playoffs by a top tier team.

**The Nuggets are another team that had a really interesting off-season. They added Iggy and Anthony Randolph and lost Aaron Afflalo and Al Harrington. That is a massive upgrade in my opinion, but I still think the Nuggets fall into the should win around 50 games good-but-not-great category.

**The Mavericks went into full on rebuilding mode and then changed their mind mid stream and slapped together a pretty decent squad. They added Kaman, Mayo, Collison, Dantay Jones, Elton Brand, and some realy decent draft picks. They lost Kidd, Odom, Terry, and Haywood. So ya, I'm thinking they will be at least as good as they were last year, which means they win 45-50 games and probably make the playoffs...



So that is the 7 teams that went into the playoffs ahead of the Jazz last year...and I'm not seeing a lot of oportunities for advancement. And I didn't even get to the non-playoff teams form last year that are looking for a seat at the table, namely the T-Wolves, Trailblazers, Suns, and Warriors. Of those teams I think the T-Wolves are the best, and perhaps only, legitimate playoff contender.

I do think that the Jazz will be better than the Mavericks, and that they will move into the same good-but-not-great category as the Nuggets and Grizzlies, but in terms of playoff position that could mean anything from 4th to 7th.

Regardless, it should be a lot of fun and interesting to talk about all season!

Been saying the same thing, just in less words. The west is so much better, its not even funny. West wins about 70 more games than the east. The fact that ESPN picked the Pacers to be 2nd shows you how bad it is. Not that I think ESPN is all that great, but they do have credibility. (Who are the top 4 in the East? Ill give you Boston, Miami, and Indy, and then, ummm.... Brooklyn? NY? Come on now.)

I see this year as 07-08 all over again. Look at the lopsidedness of the conferences. GS gets 48 wins and dosent make the playoffs!!!! I still say the Jazz are just under 50 at 49-33. However, that is 7th. This really sucks. I have wished they were in the Leastern COnference for the past 10 years. It is so freaking lopsided up and down the conference.

I dunno, I'm still sticking to my prediction from the other thread (Jazz 4th). I'm not buying the Lakers are any better - it was a Bynum for Superman swap, not that big of difference IMO. Yes, Nash, but I'm not the only one wondering how that show is going to mesh. I'll skip how I feel about the other teams other than to say that the Jazz will be a better team than Memphis and not as good as OKC and barely a notch below the Clips.

ok if I had to guess:
1. OKC ( just top team without questions and now coming of finals experience)
2. Lakers ( hate them or love them they will be there )
3. Spurs ( best coach in NBA, will get it done even with aging big three, Leonard is their future face of franchise )
4. Clippers ( if Odom plays like Odom and not like Odumb)
5. Nuggets ( crazy fast and athletic team, will be fun to watch for sure)
6. Dallas ( Nowitzki was tired of playing in Eurobasket and lockout schedule was brutal for him, expect him to be his old dominant self and he still has good supporting cast )
7. Minesotta ( as long as they injury free)
8. Jazz - ( a bit of a homer guess here and I do not think we improved that much compared to last season)
Memphis and GSW will be in close race for that last spot all season as well.

Blazers, Houston, Suns, Kings, NO will fight for lottery picks.

Hey moderators, can we consolidate this thread with the previous predictions thread so we can go to one place later in the season to check how right or wrong we were. plus, keep all the chatter on this topic in one spot? Thanks!

MTJazz wrote:

I dunno, I'm still sticking to my prediction from the other thread (Jazz 4th). I'm not buying the Lakers are any better - it was a Bynum for Superman swap, not that big of difference IMO. Yes, Nash, but I'm not the only one wondering how that show is going to mesh. I'll skip how I feel about the other teams other than to say that the Jazz will be a better team than Memphis and not as good as OKC and barely a notch below the Clips.

he Laker's with Nash are without a doubt a much improved team the guy just know's how to get everyone involved in the game and make's everyone around him a better player, they are going to be a very hard team to beat. I think that the Nash pick-up is a much bigger deal to the Laker's this season than the Howard trade, he is at the top when it comes' to the PG position even at this stage of his career.

I have to agree that the Western Conference as a whole got better over the summer but I think everyone is selling what the Jazz did short, they went out and found player's that filled some of their biggest needs hitting outside shot's and a PG that can run the team.

The guy's they picked up are all known to be guys that hit from the outside at a very good % witch will help improve the inside game for the Jazz by stretching the floor, giving their big's more room to operate in the paint and will make the Jazz a lot better team who will be able to score with anyone in the League.

Mo Williams I think fits into the kind of PG that today 's NBA game best fit like Rose, Parker and most of the Younger PG's that have came into the league in the last few drafts, Guys that hit from the outside and penetrates to the basket and kick's the ball out these type of PG's seem to be doing the best in today's game and now the Jazz have guys to kick the ball out to that will hit those shot's.

Foye shown that he is also that type of player over the last two season's who can also move over to the SG position and play well, I think he is a lot better player than most people think he is with the way he played last season with the Clipper's. He was playing well enough that people where picking him up off the waiver list in fantasy basketball, he was one of the best guards at hitting the 3 pt shot and was putting up very good assist numbers. The Jazz has improved a lot but are not getting any respect for it just like always happens nothing has changed.

Maybe this should go back to ol' backup PG threads but the topic of Predictions and questions seem to fit my personal question..

I don't believe Foye will be playing too much backup pg, with that in mind is there a slight possibility we go to Michael Stockton? I really enjoyed his play.

I bring this up since I just saw that Blake Ahearn is about to sign with the Pacers: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsjazznotes/54810012-62/ahearn-jazz-utah-blake.html.csp

Thoughts, thanks!

Calgary Jazz wrote:

ok if I had to guess:
1. OKC ( just top team without questions and now coming of finals experience)
2. Lakers ( hate them or love them they will be there )
3. Spurs ( best coach in NBA, will get it done even with aging big three, Leonard is their future face of franchise )
4. Clippers ( if Odom plays like Odom and not like Odumb)
5. Nuggets ( crazy fast and athletic team, will be fun to watch for sure)
6. Dallas ( Nowitzki was tired of playing in Eurobasket and lockout schedule was brutal for him, expect him to be his old dominant self and he still has good supporting cast )
7. Minesotta ( as long as they injury free)
8. Jazz - ( a bit of a homer guess here and I do not think we improved that much compared to last season)
Memphis and GSW will be in close race for that last spot all season as well.

Blazers, Houston, Suns, Kings, NO will fight for lottery picks.

Haha, good pull Calgary.....right after Popovich said the exact same thing!! Hah.

And I love your "homer" pick for Utah "8th, and not that much improved".......lololol, that would be a homer pick for you!!

MTJazz wrote:

Hey moderators, can we consolidate this thread with the previous predictions thread so we can go to one place later in the season to check how right or wrong we were. plus, keep all the chatter on this topic in one spot? Thanks!

I started one West Predictions thread, should really just delete that one since there's been so much movement, and start another. Or I may just add Calgary's post to it.

Actually just did. Lets keep West predictions on that thread.