Next up are the Utah Jazz on the NBA carousel of previews. Jerry Sloan will keep them competitive. Will they be a contender?
The Jazz still have one of the best offenses in the league. Three seasons ago when they went to the WCF, they had the third-best offensive rating. The year after that they were first in that same category. And last season, with injuries littering the Salt Lake valley, they were still a respectable 8th.
While it comes at a very, very high cost (almost $50 M), the Jazz have one of the best front-courts in the league in Okur, Boozer, Millsap, and Andrei Kirilenko. That gives you three former All-stars and at least half of them play respectable D.
3- What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?Defense. I don’t even wanna get into this again, but I guess I’ll give it a shot. The starting bigs don’t play any. The wings gamble a bit too often, though they do end up with a couple of steals here and there. What that gives you is a combo where opponents don’t face much opposition when they try to drive in, and then face a couple of bigs who’s concept of defense seems to have been cultivated by watching Jarron Collins defend Shaq (aka… hack away). And there still isn’t a tall guy who seems like he’ll be able to get minutes behind Okur.
