SB Nation prides itself on getting the right people for the job. The people who write articles that persist on their servers are excellent basketball minds. I still don't know how I got here, there must have been some mistake or something. Anyway, one thing that you'll see here at SB Nation is that there's a better understanding of just what the Utah Jazz are doing, this season and in the future. Drew Garrison leads off the SB Nation NBA Power Rankings to start this season, and you will be pleased to see our Utah Jazz aren't at the bottom -- like so many other more visible agencies feel the team will be.
23. Utah Jazz (last season's record: 25-57)
The Jazz put their eggs in the Gordon Hayward basket, rewarding their franchise perimeter player with a four-year, $63 million contract. Utah's roster is brimming with talent across the board. Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter are a physical frontcourt, with 7'1 Rudy Gobert spelling them. Trey Burke and Dante Exum can split point guard duties or play together. Rodney Hood might be the steal of the 2014 NBA draft, dropping to No. 23 for Utah. All that means the Jazz should be significantly better this year under the care of new head coach Quin Snyder.
Furthermore, the Jazz are ahead of the following Western Conference foes: Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Respect is given here, suggesting that our Jazz are starting this season off as the 12th best team in the West. (N.B. That's where the Jazz were placed before their #playoffpush years ago.*) Anyway, check out the full Power Rankings here.
* We know that we made the playoffs that year not because of our playoff push, but because we ended up leap-frogging 3 of the 4 teams because they started to tank. And because the team made the playoffs that year the front office was not allowed to can their coach, because it would have looked really, really bad. As a result, the team stuck with a guy they were ready to move away from for another two years . . .