Jazz Rise From 'Cellar' in Latest NBA Rankings

The Utah Jazz have undoubtedly had a bumpy season up to this point, lingering at the bottom of the league standings since the year started in October, suffering from countless injuries, and enduring the ups and downs that come with a lineup with tons of youth, inexperience, and need for development.

However, in the eyes of some, the Jazz are quite the worst team in the league following their most recent win against the NBA's worst Washington Wizards.

One of those optimists surrounding the Jazz is The Athletic analyst Law Murray, who placed Utah at a better rank of the 29th-best team in the NBA, ranking just a hair ahead of the still-bleak 15-56 Wizards.

"For as bad as Utah has been this season, the roster has been relatively stable. No player who has played more than 600 minutes joined the team after Week 1 or left the team since Week 1," Murray wrote. "The first major injury of the season was to second-year power forward Taylor Hendricks, who broke his leg; John Collins was coming off the bench to begin the year. Keyonte George now comes off the bench behind rookie Isaiah Collier, who was injured to begin the season. Utah has been aggressively tanking, with Collins, Walker Kessler and Lauri Markkanen being rested often over the last several weeks. But the Jazz were unable to lose to the Wizards, so they get out of the cellar for now."

While beating the Wizards this past week might effectively make them the better team on paper for this season, it could be something to inevitably transpire into bigger implications down the line –– perhaps with Washington getting an edge when it comes to this summer's draft lottery.

The Jazz also have had their considerable lapses when compared to the rest of the league, which may still put them near that league-worst category. Utah is a bottom-ten ranked offense and bottom-two ranked defense, paired with the most turnovers per game in the NBA.

Pair that with a rotating, heavily-adjusted lineup through the course of the year, and it doesn't make for much success for wins and losses.

If it isn't clear by now, the Jazz still have a ton of work to do before reaching the top of the mountain, but the light at the end of the tunnel is near with the offseason less than a month away and the draft soon approaching. Then, this team can begin to find their routes towards moving the needle forward.

But for the next nine games ahead, it could be a safe bet to expect more of the same from this Jazz team to close out the regular season campaign.

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