How Good Will the Not-Tanking Jazz Actually Be?

All right, team that, uh, may surprise as well , and maybe won't be a surprise, the Utah Jazz.

My Utah Jazz, Rachel, my Jazz.

I'm embracing the Utah Jazz this year.

The man in the Red Sox sweatshirt.

Keep going.

That's true, yeah, that's, uh, Austin Ainge sent this to me.

No, um, look, they, they mailed in the last couple of years, no doubt about that.

They tried to get Cooper Flag.

That didn't work.

Uh, they tried even harder to get the number 1 overall pick.

They got 2.

They get Darren Peterson.

So mission accomplished.

Utah Jazz.

Along the way, they made some substantive deals.

They got real guys in there, um, you know, most specifically, you've got Jaren Jackson Jr.

now , uh, anchoring your front line.

You just give Kante George a new contract extension.

Like, I look at that roster.

I see a playoff team.

I see a playoff team in the Jazz.

I'm not talking about a play-in team.

I mean, they have to go through the play-in to get there because I don't think they're a top six team, um, but I see a team that is going to make the playoffs in 2027.

What are your expectations for my Utah Jazz?

I would say that there's no way to possibly know.

They're just excellent analysis.

No, dude, I mean, I, I just think that like this is a team that is a mystery box if there ever was one.

These guys largely haven't played together.

We don't know what Darren Peterson's gonna be.

He could be a guy that a lot of people say should have gone number one in the draft, or he could be the guy at Kansas who was sort of, you know, missing games for cramps and other things that the communication between him and the medical staff wasn't satisfactory on the Kansas Jayhawks side.

So I don't know what he's going to be.

On paper, I would say that they are a team that will get, if they get into the postseason, it will be in through the play.

I, I just don't see them finishing top six in the West, um, but this they see that, yeah, you can't go from the last couple of years they've had to, uh, but this is the team where, you know, Vegas puts out the, the line right for overs or unders for wins.

I, I think this is the team with the most variance.

I can see that, um, right now as I'm looking at their depth chart, and this is just an ESPN depth chart, I think get Darren Peterson slotted into that starting spot, um, playing opposite Kante George.

Maybe that happens.

Maybe Ace Bailey gets that spot.

There is, I mean, the unknowns are pretty obvious.

Like, can George and Peterson coexist at a playoff level.

Is Darren Peterson ready to play at that level?

Typically, it's a lot harder for guards to assimilate to the NBA than it is wings and bigs.

Um, it just is.

If you look historically.

Peterson's a great player.

Uh, maybe he's ready to shake off all that nonsense from Kansas last year, whatever it was.

Uh, we'll see if that works.

The front line, how does Will Hardy work that front line?

Because we know Triple J, Darren Jackson.

Can play center sometimes is not a center full-time, which could mean more time for Yusuf Nurkic, which could mean like that jumbo lineup that they may have to run out there with Larry Marketon.

Now Larry Martin has been a small forward before.

He did it in Cleveland with the Cavaliers, but he has thrived.

And grown into an all-star level player, being a power forward, being a front court type of guy.

So for long stretches, you're gonna need to play Jackson and Markinen as your two bigs, I think, in that front court and maybe go smaller with Ace Bailey, Bryce Sensiba, guys, guys like that.

So there's a lot of, you're right, a lot of variants, a lot of moving pieces.

I do think it's a great opportunity for Will Hardy.

To shine like Will Hardy, I think, is the best coach with the crappiest record that's out there.

Like he's, oh, he's, he's a phenomen I think he's a phenomenal X as an O's coach.

I mean, I think he's great too.

Yeah, he's, he's outstanding, um, and I think this is going to be his opportunity to compete for a coach of the Year spot.

I think he might .

Yeah, I'd go as far as to say he is going to be top 3 coach of the Year this year because I think the, the Jazz are gonna be a playoff team, and if they are, he's gonna get a lot of consideration for that.

Yeah, I mean, look, uh, is it the coaches that decide on the coaches, right?

We don't do that.

We do the coaches.

We do the coach.

Oh yeah, we do the coaches.

It's the executives.

We don't do, right?

We as voters love a team.

If you look at past track record of even just the last few years, love a team that doubles or triples its win total, right.

So obviously they're in the running for that.

I was just trying to look up, uh, Larry Markinen's career stats.

So in the last couple of years, he played 42 games and 47 games, um, 55 the year before, so still not close to 80.

Um, he had one season where he played 66, but otherwise it's been lower than that the All-Star season, yeah, I think so.

So , obviously a lot of that time.

He was not playing may have been the Utah Jazz being extremely careful about his injuries so as to protect, to protect their draft position.

I'm not blaming him or saying, oh, he's hurt all the time or anything.

However, I'd like to see him play.

I mean, he is going in, in that list of players that you talked about.

Yes, Jaren Jackson Junior is a stud.

But they're gonna need Larry Markinen to be a stud also, and over the wear and tear of 82 games, can he keep up the level he did in that All-Star season?

And can he then we now we really do get to see what's his health like.

Kind of bullish on that though too because he could be great.

I'm just saying it's another mystery.

It is like what I, I I've, I've been to Utah a few times and, and I've done a couple of stories on the Jazz over the years.

One of the things that I picked up about Larry Markinen is like the losing got to him a lot the last couple of years, like really bad.

Like you look at his starts of seasons, they've been for the most part pretty good.

It's like when the team starts to slide.

And when it becomes painfully obvious that they're not going anywhere, nor are they going to try to go anywhere, that has had an adverse effect on Larry Markinton.

A year like this where you've got, you know, 3 guys that could compete for all-star spots, if you threw a market in there.

I'm not saying they're gonna be all-stars, but like Keyonte George kind of sort of competed for an All-Star spot last year.

Jaren Jackson Jr.

is, is a guy that should compete for an All-Star spot.

Um, a team that has this kind of juice, I think that's gonna get more out of Larry Martin.

I, I don't love, again, If they're playing a lot of minutes with Nurkic, Triple J and Markinen in the front court together, that, that's not.

That's not good.

I'd rather see Mark and Jackson against smaller teams at the front line.

I'd like to see more Mets race Bailey.

I think there's another level he's gonna get to, uh, Sensibah maybe as well.

Um, yeah, they've got some guys there.

I, I just, I don't think that marketing playing small forward is, is the greatest idea in the world, but I, I.

I like the Jazz' chances here.

I think they've got a, a really good team.

I think they've got a bunch of guys that are primed to break out.

They've got a bunch of guys with a high ceiling.

And look, it's gonna be tough because what are you looking at?

Like one team, two teams in the West maybe that aren't gonna be all that competitive, Sacramento, and that might be it.

Like Sacramento might be it at this point, um, so it's gonna be tough to, to get in there, but I think this is gonna be a good, good year for , for the Jazz.

I'm interested.

I know Vegas has them as, uh, the team most likely to make the biggest leap.

I think that's true, and I absolutely think what you said about Larry is true.

I can't think of another team, stop me if I'm wrong, that has been in this tanking race for the last 2 to 3, 3+ years that had a star in his prime on the team.

Like when Washington did it, that's the one I'm most familiar with, obviously, you know, they were largely young players or guys who were sort of in other teams might have been the vet at the end of the bench, but they were in a bigger role in Washington, but they certainly weren't.

Man, this is the best it's ever gonna get for me.

I'm wasting my prime.

And I think that, you know, him being lifted of that burden is going to be great for him, and I understand his frustration and why he was so beaten down.

Again, it's just, I think he's, I really like him as a player.

I just don't know how he's gonna hold up for how many games and over that stretch of games, which is another mystery.

Memphis is part of the other team punting in the West, uh, on the season.

Sacramento, they have no choice but to be bad.

Uh, Dallas, they , they don't.

I'm sorry.

Just the way that you said that wasn't a this year thing.

They, they just don't.

They just don't.

It's very bad in Sacramento, um, and look, you gotta leapfrog somebody.

I think the Suns might be primed to take a step back.

I'm very, Portland.

I, I don't know.

I don't know about Portland.

That's, I don't know about Portland.

I don't know about Houston.

I've seen people say, oh, Houston could be 3rd in the West, which I think they could be, but you are depending on Kevin Durant health.

You are depending on Fred Van Van Vleet health, and I'm not saying, and God knock on every surface because Fred Clippers, by the way, such a fun team in our league.

Yeah, that's another big question.

Um, you know, what's gonna happen.

With Fred, is he gonna get to play 80 games, you know, 78 games , or is it gonna be, you know, still dealing with injuries?

It's the same way I feel like with Jayson Tatum.

You know, I was incredibly impressed with his comeback last year.

Obviously flagged a bit at the end, and you just wonder how they're going to manage him this year.

And so I wonder, did you hear my hot take with Evan on the Celtics that the Celtics were the number one seed next year.

I did hear your hot take.

Let's go.

I think the world heard your hot take.

Hot take scalding.