John Hollinger ranks the Western Conference in his latest and has this, in part, to say about the Jazz (Insider),
Long-term, I love what the Jazz are doing. Love it, love it, love it. This team is my early favorite to be my go-to late-night League Pass fix.
Here's why: The Jazz are set up to become a major force about three seasons from now. Nobody has caught on to this nationally, but they're positioning themselves to be the next Oklahoma City. Utah has four lottery picks from the past two drafts -- Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter, Gordon Hayward and Alec Burks -- and are likely to have two more (their own and Golden State's) in the 2012 draft. That six-man group will give the Jazz a five-year window to win big in the middle of the decade.
Of course that's going to take a couple of season to pan out and in the meantime, the team will be in a state of flux for at least this season. That's nothing we haven't talked about here before here at SLC Dunk.
There are three parties that will be responsible for making sure this happens. First, the front office will need to be shrewd in their dealings and making sure the right players are with the team. Second, Tyrone Corbin and his staff is going to have to mold this team into a contender. Finally, it's going to come down to the players to execute, put in the work to get better, and buy in.