Top left: (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez), top right: (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill), bottom left: (AP Photo/Nick Wass), bottom right: (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz have high hopes for this NBA season after recording 50 wins last season, including winning eight of their last 10 ballgames and making the playoffs as the fifth seed in the very tough Western Conference stacked with stiff competition from the Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers.
The Jazz (9-5) used the summer offseason to make significant changes to their roster acquiring point guard Mike Conley from the Memphis Grizzles, signing forward Bojan Bogdanovic, along with veteran forward Jeff Green and center Ed Davis among others. With two legitimate stars — Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Golbert — already in the fold, the roster makeover was the organization’s effort to assemble a team that could compete for the league championship sooner rather than later and hopefully for the next several years.
So far the plan seems to be working relatively well as Utah sits at No. 6 in the Western Conference rankings through 14 games. The Los Angeles Lakers occupy the top spot, sporting a 12-2 record in the early going.
Having missed the playoffs last season, the Lakers were busy in the offseason as well acquiring big men Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard along with signing sharpshooter Danny Green, among others, to go along with superstar LeBron James and young gun Kyle Kuzma to build what they also believe is a team that can contend right away for a title.
L.A.’s other team, the Clippers (10-5), landed Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and all-star forward Paul George in the offseason to be the lynchpins of a potential championship squad. Though both stars have missed games in the early going for rest and injury recovery, the team has shown flashes of being a strong contender when playoff time arrives next spring.
One Western Conference power team that has flown just under the radar so far this season and last has been the Nuggets (10-3), who finished as the second seed last season and currently occupy that same position this season. Denver boasts a strong nucleus of young players. Center Nikola Jokic is an MVP candidate, while guards Jamal Murray, Gary Harris and Will Barton are all solid in the backcourt, with former Jazzman Paul Millsap providing veteran leadership at the power forward. Barring injury, the Nuggets could be a force as playoff time approaches next spring.
The Rockets (11-4) have been among the top teams in the West for the past few seasons, mostly on the shoulders of 2018 Most Valuable Player James Harden, and they seem primed to contend again with the addition of 2017 MVP Russell Westbrook. Currently at No. 3, Houston finished in the No. 4 slot last season three games ahead of the Jazz. After losing to the Warriors in the conference semifinals, they made a big trade swapping point guard Chris Paul for Westbrook in hopes of taking advantage of the new-look conference that saw Golden State part ways with forward Kevin Durant and lose guard Klay Thompson (and recently Steph Curry) to injury. The move seems to be paying off, but time will tell if the Rockets will blast through and make it to the championship promised land in June.
The Dallas Mavericks (9-5) are among the biggest surprises so far this season going from a low-ranking, nonplayoff team last season to the current No. 5 seed in the West. Led by second-year Slovenian sensation Luka Doncic, the Mavs have remade themselves into a strong playoff contender. The team also added power forward Kristaps Porzingis last year and signed him to a five-year $158 million max deal in July, meaning the organization is tying their future to the former all-star and Doncic.
The Phoenix Suns (7-6) have also made significant strides in the early going after winning just 19 games all of last season. Phoenix last made the playoffs in 2010, but the young team is playing much better so far this season and is currently seventh in the West just ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves (8-7) who last played in the postseason in 2004. Both teams have a lot to prove and a long way to go before their playoff dreams are actually realized, but they’ve each shown some promise.
As for the rest of the teams in the West, none look ready to make a significant surge this season anyway. But as Dallas, Phoenix and Minnesota have shown, some shrewd roster moves and prudent player development could shake up the conference once again next season.
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2XzULKO
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