Season Predictions 2016
Current seeding: 8th
Projected seeding: 9th
The intense battle for the final couple playoff spots out West -- between Portland, Dallas, Houston, and Utah -- could likely very well be decided by strength of schedule. It’s hard to imagine a team being led by superstar SG James Harden and star C Dwight Howard will end up missing the playoffs, and Portland already has a few-game cushion over the rest of the field. Thus the only team that the Jazz really have a shot at could be Dallas, but the remaining schedules aren’t looking so great: Utah has dates scheduled with LAC, SA, GSW, HOU, OKC, and CHI remaining on their short schedule, whereas Dallas’ only really tough matchups are against CLE, and GSW (twice), with many cupcakes along the way as well. Couple that with the Mavs finally being at full health, and you realize that it hardly matters whether or not Utah has a superior roster. Life just isn’t fair.
Not to fear, Salt Lake, for this is an incredibly promising young group that is bound to be back. This year was proof that the PF Derrick Favors-C Rudy Gobert as an offense-defense sort of thing truly does work. Also, this was another year of improvement from star SG/SF Gordon Hayward and his wing running-mate, SG/SF Rodney Hood. Yes, SG Alec Burks’ season-ending injury was unfortunate, and yes, the point guard position is still a mess -- both Trey Burke and Raul Neto failed to impress -- but this team still has the pieces to be a legitimate contender in no time flat. Just not yet.
Current seeding: 8th
Projected seeding: 9th
The intense battle for the final couple playoff spots out West -- between Portland, Dallas, Houston, and Utah -- could likely very well be decided by strength of schedule. It’s hard to imagine a team being led by superstar SG James Harden and star C Dwight Howard will end up missing the playoffs, and Portland already has a few-game cushion over the rest of the field. Thus the only team that the Jazz really have a shot at could be Dallas, but the remaining schedules aren’t looking so great: Utah has dates scheduled with LAC, SA, GSW, HOU, OKC, and CHI remaining on their short schedule, whereas Dallas’ only really tough matchups are against CLE, and GSW (twice), with many cupcakes along the way as well. Couple that with the Mavs finally being at full health, and you realize that it hardly matters whether or not Utah has a superior roster. Life just isn’t fair.
Not to fear, Salt Lake, for this is an incredibly promising young group that is bound to be back. This year was proof that the PF Derrick Favors-C Rudy Gobert as an offense-defense sort of thing truly does work. Also, this was another year of improvement from star SG/SF Gordon Hayward and his wing running-mate, SG/SF Rodney Hood. Yes, SG Alec Burks’ season-ending injury was unfortunate, and yes, the point guard position is still a mess -- both Trey Burke and Raul Neto failed to impress -- but this team still has the pieces to be a legitimate contender in no time flat. Just not yet.