If you could have any team's current roster going forward for building a franchise, what team would that be? Ben Golliver makes his list. It's a solid list with the usual suspects at the top. The Jazz clock in at #12,
2011 NBA Roster Rankings - CBSSports.com
12. Utah Jazz Assets: Derrick Favors, Paul Millsap, Enes Kanter, Alec Burks, Gordon Hayward, Mehmet Okur’s expiring contractAnchors: Al Jefferson, Devin Harris Questions: Experience, positional balance Analysis:
Quietly, the Jazz have taken major steps to assemble young pieces in the wake of the Deron Williams trade. Favors, Millsap, Kanter, Burks and Hayward all pencil in as rotation players for the long haul, and Favors, Kanter and Burks each has a chance to develop into something special. Jefferson's injury history and contract size are a major drag on the overall plan; shipping him out however possible to free up frontcourt minutes and touches makes a lot of sense. Harris, too, is not a fit, as he's shown he's not reliable and, frankly, good enough to carry a young, developing team towards its future.
This isn't a list of what teams are best right now, but if you wanted to take over a team going forward, this list shows that.
The Jazz likely to make the playoffs for the next couple of seasons, let alone contend. However, with the roster they have, and if players pan out the way they should, the 3-7 window for this team looks good when you compare it to the rest of the league. The key will be keeping all of them together in that time frame and hoping that one-two of them turn into superstars.
The Western Conference teams that are ahead of the Jazz include Golden State, Los Angeles (both teams), Portland, Dallas, Memphis, and Oklahoma City. That's a lot for the Jazz to overcome and compete against going forward. However, the Lakers should start to fall a bit provided they don't land Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, or some other MVP-type player. You could argue that the Jazz should be listed ahead of the Warriors. Portland played well without both Greg Oden and Brandon Roy.
If the players come together though, I like what the Jazz could do in that 3-7 year window coming up.