2015-16 NBA Season Preview: Utah Jazz

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Utah Jazz

2014-15

Offseason Roundup

Projected Starting 5

• PG Trey Burke
• SG Alec Burks
• SF Gordon Hayward
• PF Derrick Favors
• C Rudy Gobert

MVP

Derrick Favors may be the team's best all-around player and Gordon Hayward may have the ball in his hands with the game on the line, but the biggest impact should come from the man in the middle, Rudy Gobert.

Gobert was one of the major breakout players of the 2014-15 season, emerging as a defensive force and averaging 8.4 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks while shooting 60.4 percent from the floor. Those averages are strong but actually understate Gobert's influence on the Jazz, who became one of the league's best defensive teams after jettisoning Enes Kanter and freeing Gobert for major playing time.

For the season as a whole, the Jazz were 7.2 points per-100 possessions better on the defensive end when Gobert took the floor. Every Jazz player to play at least 1,000 minutes was better off defensively sharing the court with "The Stifle Tower" (save for Rodney Hood).

Breakout Player

With Alec Burks on the comeback trail from season-ending shoulder surgery, the door could be open for Rodney Hood to lock down the starting shooting-guard spot he manned from mid-March onward last season.

The No. 23 pick in 2014, Hood came out of the gate slowly, but really picked things up after the All-Star break. "The Lethal Weapon" began to look like the long-range threat the spacing-starved Jazz had envisioned him as, perhaps even a little ahead of schedule.

Entering the season fresh off his 23rd birthday, Hood's role may initially be reduced with Burks' return, but he should emerge as the team's most deadly spot-up shooter, whether off the bench or with the starters.

Season Expectations

A 38-win team making the jump to the playoffs in the Western Conference may seem unlikely, especially without a marquee offseason acquisition - that's banking on roughly eight additional wins from internal development.

It seems far less unlikely, however, considering Utah's 21-11 record to close the season - a 54-win pace. Also consider: Not a single rotation player last season was older than 27; Favors, Gobert, Hayward, and Hood could all take steps forward; and they're getting Burks back for wing depth. Factor all that in, and it's easy to picture the Jazz playing the role of a plucky - and annoying - first-round opponent for one of the West's elite.

The season-ending injury to Dante Exum stands as Utah's most obvious obstacle, leaving Trey Burke with a heavy load, but the Jazz are still in good shape and have plenty of flexibility if they need to supplement the backcourt midseason.