The Jazz made it to the Western Conference finals last year.
They didn’t make too many off-season moves, but they didn’t really need to make too many either. They have a nice core of Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, and Mehmet Okur, and some other great players including veterans Matt Harpring and Andrei Kirilenko, and second round surprise Paul Millsap.
The big question that every Jazz fan is asking himself or herself this year is “Will the Jazz be better this year?”
Acquisitions verses Losses
Jason Hart and Ronnie Price are likely to be better than Deron Williams previous backups of Derek Fisher and Dee Brown, but not by too much. They could grow into excellent backups, but they are not likely to be much better than Fisher was backing up Williams (when he wasn’t starting at shooting guard). It’s not likely that their play off the bench will influence games that much anyway, except by giving Deron long enough breathers that he can be effective at the end of games.
Rookies Morris Almond and Kryrylo Fessenko are not likely to play at all, unless you happen to be attending the Development League games 50 miles to the south of Energy Solutions Arena.
Current Player Improvement
Deron Williams, Mehmet Okur, and Andrei Kirilenko played over the summer. Deron Williams probably gained the most from this, and that should be a real asset to the Point Guard Heavy offense of Jerry Sloan. Okur didn’t play well over the summer. Kirilenko was fantastic, but he didn’t really do anything that we didn’t already know he could do.
Gordan Giricek, likely to be the starting shooting guard, is said to be in great shape. Whether this translates into more consistency or not remains to be seen, but he has always been a good shooter, at least in spurts. A more consisten Giricek would be a very good thing. Add to that the fact that he is in his contract year, and we may be fine even though we missed out on picking up Morris Peterson.
Ronnie Brewer, the likely backup to Giricek, is said to have made the largest improvement in the offseason and all Jazz fans hope that to be the case. Whether coming off the bench or starting at shooting guard, Ronnie Brewer could potentially provide the atheletic scoring the the Jazz have long tried to acquire — but never successfuly.
Paul Millsap already played very well in the Rocky Mountain Review, garnering MVP honors. He is likely to be even better this year than he was last year, and that would be extremely helpful.
Answering the Question
Will the Jazz be better this year?
Yes. The Utah Jazz should be a much improved team over a stellar year last year, especially assuming that they can give Kirilenko some love.
Will that translate into a 60+ win season and an easy return to the Western Conference Finals?
Not necessarily.
The Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs are likely to still be better than the Utah Jazz.
The Phoenix Suns should still be extremely potent. The Jazz didn’t have much trouble with them last year and are likely not to have any more trouble this year — even though just about every other team in the league will not be quite so fortunate.
The Houston Rockets made some significant improvements as well, and they were pretty even with the Jazz last year. Whether they leap-frogged the Jazz in the standings remains to be seen, but they should make it difficult for the Jazz to even be in the top 4 (record-wise) in the West. Of course, everybody is still going to wonder if Tracy McGrady can win a playoff series.
Other teams in the West also made improvements, but none are likely to be significant enough to have overtaken the Jazz.
Conclusion
The Jazz should be much better this year.
Their bench, if nothing else, should be much improved with the development of Brewer and Millsap, the additions of Hart and Price, and the continued hard work of Matt Harpring and Jaron Collins anchoring it.
Whether that translates into a more successful season than last year’s miracle run remains to be seen.
