The Utah Jazz are coming off of a 2018-19 NBA campaign in which they won 50 games and were bounced out of the first round of the playoffs by the Houston Rockets.
It marked the second straight year the Jazz fell to the Rockets in the playoffs, and both times, it was blatantly obvious that Utah was overmatched in terms of raw talent, particularly on the offensive end.
That's why the Jazz made it a point to use their cap room to bolster their offense this offseason, swinging a trade for Mike Conley and signing Bojan Bogdanovic in free agency.
Suddenly, Utah has gone from an offensively-starved team to one of the most dangerous offensive ballclubs in the Western Conference, as a trio of Donovan Mitchell, Conley and Bogdanovic is nothing to sneeze at.
As a result, many have the Jazz pegged as one of the top teams in the league heading into the 2019-20 season, and with good reason.
While the two Los Angeles clubs are generally regarded as the two scariest squads with the highest probability of reaching the finals, Utah is right there with the Denver Nuggets as a legitimate threat.
All the Jazz really needed was some more weapons and some floor spacing, and with the moves they made over the summer, they now have that.
Yes, Utah may have lost something defensively with the departures of Ricky Rubio and Jae Crowder, but Rudy Gobert is still anchoring the interior, and it's not like Conley and Bogdanovic are bad defenders.
As a matter of fact, there was a time when Conley was one of the best point guard defenders in basketball, but injuries have slowed him down a bit.
Plus, the Jazz have one of the more underrated defenders in the NBA in Joe Ingles, a tough, hard-nosed guy who can guard multiple positions and is great at getting under the opponent's skin.
You also have to love Utah's depth.
Dante Exum is actually a premier perimeter defender (when healthy), Ed Davis is a solid big man off the bench, Jeff Green is big enough and athletic enough to switch almost anything and Royce O'Neale can flat out shoot the ball.
The Jazz could use another shooter off the pine, but there is plenty of time between now and February for them to find that, and they have enough shooting in their starting lineup to compensate for their lack of bench marksmen.
Realistically, Utah should be one of the top seeds in the Western Conference.
If the Jazz won 50 games last year, they should win in the neighborhood of 55 this coming season, and while there may be growing pains and all of that, this team should be very menacing once it hits its stride.
Of course, the main question when it comes to any of the West contenders is whether or not they can beat the Clippers or the Lakers, and while I'm not sure Utah has enough to top the Clips, I do think the Jazz could present a matchup problem for the Lakers.
With Gobert up front to neutralize the Lakers' frontcourt and some long, rangy guys who can rotate in and out on LeBron James, Utah has enough to at the very least put a serious scare into the Lakers.
And when it comes to the Nuggets? I actually like the Jazz better, because I think their ceiling is higher. Yes, Denver may have the best player in Nikola Jokic, but I favor Utah's defense and toughness, and with Mitchell, Conley and Bogdanovic, I actually think the Jazz have more consistent offensive weapons than the the Nuggets overall.
It's really hard not to like what Utah has done this offseason, and you have to figure that Dennis Lindsey will actually be in contention for Executive of the Year assuming all of the pieces fit together.
Obviously, we have seen teams who looked to be improved fall flat on their faces before. It happens. But I don't think that's going to happen with the Jazz.
Barring injuries, Utah should be one of the top three or four teams in the West, and the Jazz have a very real chance of making it all the way to the conference finals and crashing a potential Clippers-Lakers matchup.
Again, Utah still probably needs another piece or two to truly complete its roster. Another bench scorer would be nice, and an extra three-point shooter would also do the Jazz a world of good.
But teams rarely stay the same between October and February, so, chances are, Utah will make a move to better itself at some point.
All I know is the Jazz look really, really good.
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