Utah Jazz ‘09-10 NBA season preview
Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…
Added: Eric Maynor, Ronald Dupree
Lost: Brevin Knight, Jarron Collins
Ceiling: Western Conference Finals
The Jazz just don’t get this whole “offseason” thing, do they? During the time of year when everyone wants to talk about changes and roster upheaval, Utah keeps rolling out the same guys over and over again. Newsworthy? No. Sticking to a cohesion and familiarity that breeds playoff advancement? Definitely … Barring a Carlos Boozer trade, Utah has arguably the deepest and most talented frontcourt in the League with Booz, Paul Millsap, Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko. Each of them can play a couple of positions … Deron Williams is a star without the All-Star status, who has established himself as the focal point of the franchise and its go-to guy in crunch time. Whether he’s the best PG in the game is a moot argument: He is the best PG for Jerry Sloan’s system and for this team’s personnel … Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Miles are maturing into solid contributors on the wings who can produce in the half-court or in an up-tempo setting. Brewer has lock-down potential on defense and is an efficient scorer (13.7 ppg, 50% FG) despite his broken jumper, and Miles’ comparitivly smooth-looking stroke is starting to find the bottom of the net more often (9.1 ppg, 35% 3PA) … Miles is one of a cast of long-range gunners along with Kyle Korver and Okur, and rookie PG Eric Maynor is another smart playmaker who can find those guys when they’re open … Utah has the talent, depth, defense, versatility and coaching to advance a couple of rounds in the playoffs, but just like their surprise Western Conference Finals run two years ago, they’re not ready to win it all yet.
Basement: Best Lottery team ever
Utah barely squeaked into the ‘09 playoffs as an 8th seed. Granted, that was mostly due to them being racked by injuries, but Utah also had some stretches during the season where they were just awful on defense and seemed to lose focus. Who’s to say that won’t surface again with Boozer’s trade/free agent status as a distraction and the sometimes-mercurial Kirilenko expected to play a big role? … Other than that, health is the biggest issue. Deron’s ankle is reportedly going to nag him for the foreseeable future, Okur is good for a hamstring issue or something like that once a year, Miles and Korver have already been dealing with injuries during the preseason, Matt Harpring’s body is more beat up than Rudy Ruettiger’s was on the Notre Dame scout team, Kirilenko isn’t exactly the most durable guy around, and Boozer is called “Mr. Glass” in some underground Mormon circles.
*** *** ***
10/22 — Orlando Magic
10/22 — Phoenix Suns
10/21 — Charlotte Bobcats
10/21 — San Antonio Spurs
10/21 — Miami Heat
10/19 — Oklahoma City Thunder
10/19 — Milwaukee Bucks
10/15 — Portland Trail Blazers
10/14 — Chicago Bulls
10/13 — Golden State Warriors
10/12 — Toronto Raptors
10/9 — Houston Rockets
10/8 — Detroit Pistons
10/7 — Memphis Grizzlies
10/6 — New York Knicks
10/5 — New Orleans Hornets
10/2 — Atlanta Hawks
9/30 — Sacramento Kings
9/29 — New Jersey Nets
9/28 — Denver Nuggets
* Follow Austin Burton on Twitter: @AustinatDIMEmag
* Follow Dime on Twitter: @DIMEMag
* Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE
October 22nd, 2009 at 7:43 pm
dreams says:
Utah gonna be BIG this season
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Mr. Wang says:
ya, a BIG reason to change the channel.
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Chris says:
Come on Dime, Ronald Dupree was let go today and Wes Mathews is still hanging around.
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:55 pm
brado says:
If healthy Utah will surprise.
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:25 am
Borgs says:
Another team is going to have to knock GM Kevin O’Connor’s socks off with its proposal for Boozer. The owner has already suggested he’ll keep Carlos and let him walk for nothing if this season is a successful one for Utah. With a renewed commitment to defense, I think it will be. Western Finalist is the floor; ceiling’s the whole shebang.
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:46 am
alf (from melmak) says:
Pre-season showed some positive signs on the defensive end.
However, injury remains a very big concern to the Jazz. And, yes, they have frontcourt depth, but they are not as long as the other elite teams in the league.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:43 am
cbil01 says:
sometimes-mercurial = crybaby. utah’s a 5 seed at best it’ll be first round and out again for d-will until they find him a good 2 guard and a big man who plays D
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:45 am
KenAdams says:
They also lost Morris Almond, he was going to take Brewers place, but Brewer started playing better. It is sad to loose Almond because he was dropping 50 in the D-League. Isn’t he with the Magic or where did he end up? The Jazz will be a surprise this year and go for the Wesrern Confrerence Title.
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:42 am
fred a stair says:
the jazz just need some1 in the sg\sf they have maby the best PG and depth @ PF\C maby trade boozer for shane battier that would be sweet
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Aubrie says:
NO DUPREE! Matthews still with team.
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Carlos Boozer says:
I have something called Osteogenesis Imperfecta. It’s a genetic disorder. I don’t make a particular protein very well and it makes my bones very low in density… very easy to break.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Dave says:
so remember the Olajuwon Rockets in 96 when they came from nowhere to win it all? That’s the comparison I’m going to make with this Jazz team. They definitely have the pieces in place to make a serious run at the title, and with a few breaks here and there, and if they can stay healthy and other teams struggle with injuries it could happen. If everyone is the league is healthy the Jazz are a top 5 team, but they are good enough to sneak in and take it from someone and this could be the season.
Regardless I’m saying they’re the 3 seed in the West behind SA and LAL and will win the NW.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Utah Jazz Blog says:
Nice summary, Austin. I agree with most of what you said, although I’m not quite as high on Utah’s frontcourt as you seem to be. They have talent, but they don’t complement each other. You can check out my assessment on the upcoming season if you’re curious:
Utah Jazz Season Preview 2009-10