Overview of last season
The Utah Jazz finished fifth in the West last season with a 49-33 record. Their season ended with a disappointing first-round exit at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks.
The massive offseason changes that ensued were a result not just of last season but a culmination of disheartening playoff runs. They’ve been a playoff contender for several years and even had the league’s best record in the 2020-2021 season. But even then, when they were posturing as a legitimate challenger for the title, they ended up losing in stunning fashion to the LA Clippers in a second-round battle.
The core group of Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Royce O’Neale, Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson, and head coach Quin Snyder plateaued and change was needed.
What’s new this season?
Maybe the better question is “What’s not new this season for the Jazz?” Let’s start at the top with Quin Synder stepping down as head coach after eight seasons. Replacing him is the league’s youngest current head coach, 34-year-old Will Hardy.
The Utah overhaul snowballed with a ton of trades. Former franchise player Donovan Mitchell is now a Cleveland Cavalier. Three-time Defensive Player of the Year Robert Gobert and 3-and-D guy Royce O’Neale are now in different cities. Utah received a handful of players and a ton of draft picks in the process. And just when you thought the front office was done wheeling and dealing, sharpshooter Bojan Bogdanovic went to the Detroit Pistons by late September.
Among the new faces that the franchise will parade are Collin Sexton, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, Talen Horton-Tucker, and Lauri Markkanen. Talk about rebuilding.
THE guy
With the departures of stars, new players will definitely take up the scoring opportunities. The Jazz still have former Sixth Man of the Year Jordan Clarkson, who you know will have the green light to shoot. The Filipino-American is still a streaky shooter who can quickly rack up 15 to 20 points a game.
Collin Sexton is also in the lineup and he also has the offensive arsenal to take over games. His 2021-2022 season was cut short (11 games), but he was already blossoming as one of the East’s top playmakers. The season before, he averaged 24.3 points and 4.4 assists. Hopefully, he’s fully recovered from his torn meniscus injury.
The Jazz are obviously in full rebuilding mode and it’s hard to determine how they’ll look this upcoming season. Are they even done making changes? Having a superstar emerge from the roster probably isn’t the main concern of the franchise at this point. Sexton and Clarkson can certainly get points on the board, but they’ll most likely look for their new “guy” later on down the road.
Sneaky fun guy
Sexton might be worth the price of admission for Utah. He’s a rising star, plus it’s always nice to see someone wearing a different uniform.
It’ll be cool to catch him on League Pass chopping it up with Clarkson and just putting up gaudy numbers. In any case, he’s a player worthy to be on Fantasy rosters.
The Jazz might not have a winning record this season, but at least Sexton’s continuing development will be fun to watch.
Vibe check
The Jazz now have a whopping 18 first-round picks up to 2029. The vibes heading into this season won’t be as good as their previous seasons because they’ll only use those assets in the coming years. The franchise has a promising future despite the myriad of changes.
At the end of the day, they still have Filipino-American and Gilas Pilipinas guard Jordan Clarkson that fans from the Philippines can tune into. We’ll be watching closely as we prepare for the FIBA World Cup 2023 hosting where Clarkson is expected to represent the country.
