The Jazz have quickly emerged as the trendy sleeper pick for the 2015-16 season, and for good reason. They went 19-10 down the stretch last year, following their decision to send human turnstile Enes Kanter to Oklahoma City. The trade opened up playing time for Rudy Gobert and soon after the Stifle Tower was born.
Utah Jazz 2015 roster: Jazz hope a young roster can take the next step
With Rudy Gobert and Gordon Hayward, Utah has one of the more intriguing young rosters in the league. But will that be enough in the powerful Western Conference?
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In those 29 games, Utah held opponents to a minuscule 94.8 points per 100 possessions, the top mark in the league over that span. Prior to the Kanter trade that number was a 106.1. That defense, paired with an offense led by Gordon Hayward and the creative mind of second-year head coach Quin Snyder, has many believing the Jazz could sneak into the Western Conference playoffs.
But questions abound. For one, who’s to say that results from a 29-game sample are ones we can expect to see replicated over an 82-game season? Gobert is fantastic -- players shot 11.5 percent worse than they normally did from within six feet when Gobert was guarding them -- but he still has to prove he can avoid many of the pitfalls that younger centers often fall victim do, like foul trouble.
There's also the problem of point guard, namely, who's going to be running the Jazz's offense. Utah scored just 102.5 points per 100 possessions last season, and it's hard to see how that number improves this year. Perhaps Hayward, who averaged 19.3 points and shot 45 percent from the field last season, can continue to improve. But it certainly seems as if he's hit his ceiling. Derrick Favors had his best year as a pro last season, but he doesn't have much range on his jumper which creates spacing issues when he and Gobert share the court.
And of course there's the Dante Exum injury, which robbed Utah of one its best athletes and talents. Now there will be even more pressure on third-year point Trey Burke, who has yet to prove that he can connect on enough jumpers to warrant major minutes at the NBA level.
If the Jazz were in the Eastern Conference they’d likely be a lock for the playoffs based on their defense alone. Unfortunately for them, they play in the tough and crowded West, where championship contenders have to fight just to make the postseason. Utah knows this, and that’s likely the reason they stayed quiet this offseason. This year is a transition one for the Jazz. A trip to the playoffs would be nice, but it’s also not needed for the season to be considered a success.
LAST YEAR
RECORD: 38-44 (11th in Western Conference)
OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY: 105.1 (17th)
DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY: 104.9 (13th)
ROSTER
No. | PLAYER | POS | HEIGHT | WEIGHT | AGE | COLLEGE |
| 2 | Joe Ingles | SF | 6'8 | 226 | 28 | Australia |
| 3 | Trey Burke | PG | 6'1 | 191 | 22 | Michigan |
| 5 | Rodney Hood | SG | 6'8 | 206 | 22 | Duke |
| 8 | Bryce Cotton | PG | 6'1 | 166 | 23 | Providence |
| 10 | Alec Burks | PG | 6'6 | 212 | 24 | Colorado |
| 11 | Dante Exum | SG | 6'6 | 190 | 20 | Australia |
| 13 | Elijah Millsap | SG | 6'6 | 225 | 28 | UAB |
| 15 | Derrick Favors | PF | 6'10 | 265 | 24 | Georgia Tech |
| 17 | Grant Jerrett | PF | 6'10 | 233 | 22 | Arizona |
| 20 | Gordon Hayward | SG | 6'8 | 226 | 25 | Butler |
| 22 | Tibor Pleiss | C | 7'3 | 190 | 25 | Germany |
| 24 | Jeff Withey | C | 7'0 | 231 | 25 | Kansas |
| 25 | Raul Neto | PG | 6'1 | 179 | 23 | Brazil |
| 27 | Rudy Gobert | C | 7'1 | 245 | 23 | France |
| 33 | Trevor Booker | PF | 6'8 | 228 | 27 | Clemson |
| 41 | Trey Lyles | PF | 6'10 | 234 | 19 | Kentucky |
| 45 | Jack Cooley | SF | 6'9 | 260 | 24 | Notre Dame |
Coach: Quin Snyder
Assistant coaches: Johnnie Bryant, Alex Jensen, Brad Jones, Igor Kokoskov, Antonio Lang, Mike Wells
OFFSEASON CHANGES
IN: Trey Lyes, Raul Neto, Joe Ingles, Tibor Pleiss
OUT: Jeremy Evans, Patrick Christopher, Jerrelle Benimon
Not much action from the Jazz this offseason. The plan is to let the team's young players develop.
DEPTH CHART
POINT GUARD | SHOOTING GUARD | SMALL FORWARD | POWER FORWARD | CENTER | |
STARTER | Trey Burke | Alec Burks | Gordan Hayward | Derrick Favors | Rudy Gobert |
RESERVE | Bryce Cotton | Rodney Hood | Joe Ingles | Trevor Booker | Tibor Pleiss |
RESERVE | Raul Neto | Elijah Millsap | Trey Lyles | Jeff Withey | |
RESERVE | Dante Exum |
PREDICTIONS
BEST CASE: Rudy Gobert emerges as the best defensive player in the league, Gordan Hayward and the rest of the team's young guards continue to improve and the Jazz grab the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
WORST CASE: The Dante Exum injury derails the team, no point guard emerges from the pack and Gobert turns out to be a one-year wonder.
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