Jazz Playoff-Bound? HC Will Hardy Doesn't See Why Not
With 25% of the NBA season in the books, there's finally some light being shed on what path the Utah Jazz may be taking moving forward.
The Jazz record currently stands at 14-12, which puts them in the play-in game if the season were to end today. They’re only a half-game from securing a playoff spot, but also just 1.5 games from being in the lottery.
Tanking the season is most likely out of play, with the fifth-from-the-bottom team trending to have a .292 winning percentage. In other words, the Jazz would have to go 10-44 the rest of the way to have a shot at finishing as a bottom-five team. There’s just too much talent on the roster to hit those numbers.
It also appears that first-year head coach Will Hardy sees the writing on the wall, and a playoff run may be in the cards. Hardy shared his thoughts with NBA insider Michael Pina of The Ringer.
“I would never put a ceiling on a team that hasn’t gone through a full season yet,“ Hardy told Pina. “I mean, I would say to this point, you know, we have a top-10 offense. I know it’s not 82 games, but it’s not two games. I think we’ve shown that we can play on any given night with anybody. So I think if we stick together as a group, and get some good health and, you know, if their coach doesn’t get in the way, I don’t see why not.”
Nobody would've thought that Utah would have a top-five offense in the league, but here we are. The Jazz rank third in the league in offensive rating and show zero signs of slowing down.
Utah’s kryptonite this year has been on the defensive end, and if there’s one metric that needs to be improved moving forward, it’s the points Utah is relinquishing in the paint. The Jazz rank dead last in the NBA, with opponents scoring 56.1 points per game in the paint.
The good news is Utah is trending in the right direction and may have solved the problem. In the last three games, the Jazz have improved that number to 44.7, and this has a lot to do with the strides that rookie center Walker Kessler has been making, paired with more time on the court.
The first-round pick out of Auburn is already the NBA’s most prolific shot blocker, swatting 4.3 blocks per 40 minutes. Just to put that in perspective, Kessler averages more blocks a game (1.7) than ex-Jazzman Rudy Gobert does (1.3) but also plays 15 fewer minutes per contest.
Look for Kessler to get an uptick in minutes as the Jazz tweak their rotation and make a run at a playoff berth. Kessler and Gobert will face off this week in the final game of Utah’s homestand on Friday night at Vivint arena.
Tip-off for the much anticipated Gobert homecoming is at 7:00 pm MDT on Friday.
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