Jazz have played the most games in the league at 15 and the most on the road at 10. Their record at the moment is not a indication of how good they are.
Which they were last year as well. They play at the slowest pace in the league. If you do pace-adjusted they are closer to middle of the pack instead. Writers thought they would make the jump on the Offensive side apparently but that has yet to happen. I think without the injuries they are better than they have shown so far but that doesn't mean they are as good as most analysts predicted.
They were top 3 in defensive efficiancy after the all star break last year and had a losing record (14-16) then, too. Exactly what team stat are you using to claim they are top 5 in defense? They are currently 12th in Def Rtg. Sure, they are 1st in Opp PTS/G, but that's only because they are, once again, dead last in pace. And, Quinn McSnyder's 20 seconds or more offense has them at 28th in PTS/G. For all the so-called roster improvements, so far, they are EXACTLY the same team they were last year - decent, but highly overrated defense, slow, plodding offense with no go to guy. And, they are still injury prone, which the "experts" will use to justify them failing to meet expectations, yet again. BNM
Yeah, their Opp shoooting percentages are only slightly better than middle of the pack, nowhere near top 5. Just like last year. How many years in a row are we going to hear the injury excuse? If a team has an injury prone roster, the "experts" need to start factoring that into their predictions. BNM
We're ahead of them in the standings and 1-0 in head-to-head match ups, but I think the real point is many (most) experts picked them to finish ahead of us. Many of those same experts had them winning 50+ games, winning the NW Division and being the 3rd or 4th best team in the West. Many of those same preseason predictions also had OKC and/or MIN finishing ahead of us. Yeah, it's still early, but right now, UTA is looking like exactly the same team they have been the last couple years, not some breakout team that's a lock to get HCA in the West. BNM
I love that the original post called it "laughable" Same guy who said we'd win 64 games and end higher in the west than the Warriors.
They haven't had George Hill for 8 games. If he stays healthy, they will be back on track. The Blazers don't have an excuse like that for their awful play.
Hayward and Favors have been injured, too. But, isn't that the way it always is with UTA? When Hill was healthy, he was playing so far above his previous career best (a career 11 ppg scorer suddenly averaging over 20 ppg for the first time at the age of 30) that it hardly seemed sustainable. And, even with Hill balling out of his mind, UTA was only 4-3 in those 7 games. BNM
We've also played 15 games. We haven't had our best defender/rebounder, Aminu, and those have been our two weaknesses.
Jazz have a decent record given their best players have missed the bulk of their games so far..I never got the hype preseason but they're sort of playing the way I thought they would...we should beat them
Unlike Portland or Houston they don't have a top calibre star carrying the team. Offensively I don't think they even have anyone as good as our second star CJ, maybe Hayward. Obviously their defense is good, especially in the frontcourt where Gobert and Favors frankly rock, but that is not enough to challenge.
