Thee Jazz Fan
Well-Known Member
I remember winning the 4th seed vs the Rockets in 06/07. But they had home court. They won the first two the Jazz won the next 4.
ESPN predicts Jazz finish 5th.
- Thread starter MrMojoRisin
- Start date
I remember winning the 4th seed vs the Rockets in 06/07. But they had home court. They won the first two the Jazz won the next 4.
Becoming their equal is as easy as changing our 1-3 record against them to 3-1. That would have put both teams at 42 wins last season.
We were only the 4th seed because we won our division and the rule at the time was that the division winner couldn't have lower than the 4th seed. Houston had a better record than us but was the 5th seed, they had home court because of the better record. If the rules then were the same as today we would have been the 5th seed
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Jazz have 8 of the top 10 players imo of the 2 teams.
1. Lillard
2. Hayward
3. Favors
4. Gobert
5. McCollum
6. Hood
7. Johnson
8. Hill
9. Burks
10. Lyles
11. Exum
The blazers next tier could be an argument with Burks Lyles and Exum, but I like the potential of Lyles and Exum over their players. Crabbe might jump into the 9-10 slot. Jazz add 4 guys without losing anybody and have 3 of their top 6 players (mpg) from last year that missed 20+ games. Blazers had only 20 games total missed from their top 6 players in mpg.
I think Blazers might be better as a team, but I think the WC as a whole will be improved with Memphis being healthy (compared to last year), Jazz improving, Minn improving. I don't buy that their guys will do much more than last year (Harkless, Aminu, Crabbe) and think the Turner/Henderson swap is a wash. Just my opinion.
1st fault: It was his 2nd year('14 draft) and he isn't even 21 yet. I think he's got some room to grow left. Who of the Jazz other than Dante and Lyles is pre break through? I'd even argue that a real breakthrough w/o injuries of others(which would in turn mean a worse record) is unlikely for both of them because of the minutes that Derrick and George Hill will get.
2nd issue I got: Even if their frontcourt is mediocre, it's okay right now. They follow their scheme, they play hard. And we're talking about a projection until next April. They're further ahead, I don't think they have a higher ceiling than the Jazz. But I don't think it's unreasonable to project them slightly ahead of Utah next season.
Gobert has a lot to improve on, so can Burks, and I see this being a breakout year for Hood (similar to McCollum last year). Hayward and Favors have improved every year, no reason to think they can't this year. Hill over Burke is a great improvement, and Johnson over Ingles is a great improvement. Jazz got better with adding good players. Blazers are hoping all their blue collar guys improve to become white collar guys. I don't think they are further ahead at all, they were just healthy last year and the Jazz weren't.
Small increments =/= huge jumps.
Hood, Burks have already produced high stats over a full season. Burks was very productive before he got injured. I'd be very surprised if Hood went from 15 to 21 ppg with a good efficiency next season.
Also think Rudy is already playing at a VERY HIGH level. Don't see a gigantic breakthrough. He already did that.
The Jazz were a better team than the Blazers last year. The Blazers were just lucky enough to avoid the injury bug for the most part while we weren't.
Look at the depth charts
Jazz
C- Rudy Gobert/Boris Diaw/Jeff Withey/Tibor Pleiss
PF- Derrick Favors/Trey Lyles
SF- Gordon Hayward/Joe Johnson/Joe Ingles
SG- Rodney Hood/Alec Burks
PG- George Hill/Dante Exum/Shelvin Mack/Raul Neto
Blazers
C- Mason Plumlee/Meyers Leonard/Festus Ezeli
PF- Al Farouq Aminu/Ed Davis/Noah Vonleh
SF- Evan Turner/Moe Harkless/Luis Montero/Jake Layman
SG- CJ McCollum/Allen Crabbe/Pat Connaughton
PG- Damian Lillard/Shabazz Napier
We have better balance, more depth, more versatility, and more growth potential in our roster. Nobody should be thinking the Blazers finish ahead of the Jazz next year.
Look at the depth charts
Jazz
C- Rudy Gobert/Boris Diaw/Jeff Withey/Tibor Pleiss
PF- Derrick Favors/Trey Lyles
SF- Gordon Hayward/Joe Johnson/Joe Ingles
SG- Rodney Hood/Alec Burks
PG- George Hill/Dante Exum/Shelvin Mack/Raul Neto
Blazers
C- Mason Plumlee/Meyers Leonard/Festus Ezeli
PF- Al Farouq Aminu/Ed Davis/Noah Vonleh
SF- Evan Turner/Moe Harkless/Luis Montero/Jake Layman
SG- CJ McCollum/Allen Crabbe/Pat Connaughton
PG- Damian Lillard/Shabazz Napier
We have better balance, more depth, more versatility, and more growth potential in our roster. Nobody should be thinking the Blazers finish ahead of the Jazz next year.
Hood didn't have a big jump until January, where he averaged about 5ppg more than Nov/Dec. He also slowed down at the end of the year. He could have a big jump, similar to what McCollum had last year. Who on the Blazers is going to have a big jump? Burks hasn't been healthy, so his normal production on the court makes the Jazz better too. I just don't see anyone on the Blazers making a big jump. Most of their guys are hustle guys that can play defense and/or rebound. None are dynamic offensive player other than McCollum/Lillard who already had their "huge jumps"
framer
Well-Known Member
Every time I see this it still looks like one of those depth charts somebody would have been mocked for making at the end of last year.
"Hey guys I think we could make enough moves and have THIS roster!"
"LOL, Hill isn't available for our Trash and no way do we get Johnson and Diaw to come off our bench."
"Yeah, check out THESE guys in the D-League. . ."
ncoloradojazz
Banned
Blazers finish better then the Jazz, Just like I predicted last year. Whats funny is so many of you use injuries as an excuse but Memphis was injured also and still made playoffs. Yet you think Jazz are going leap frog them? Jazz finish from 6th to 9th in Western. Book it. I was right last year and ill be right this year. With a healthy Russ OKC is the better team...