So last year we kind of stunk. After a horrendous start, there were very few of us who were still positive about the season, and the majority started paying close attention to draft prospects very early on, myself included. We then had what seemed to be--although not perfect--an awesome off-season. We drafted Exum and Hood, Ty walked, Snyder and a new coaching staff were put into place, Burks was extended, Hayward was matched, an NBA-DL affiliation was made, Gobert looked like a beast in the World Cup, etc.

Fast forward to today. We are now 29 games into an 82 game season. We've seen some ups and downs, some flashes of brilliance and some boneheaded play, and we've seen some awesome coaching as well as some questionable play-calling and substitutions. While I think most of us can agree that the 2014-15 Jazz are a much funner team to watch than last year's squad, ultimately our record doesn't quite reflect much of an improvement. So I decided to investigate the following questions: Are we in fact better off than last year's Ty-Tanic? And if so, how much better are we? How does this year's first 29 games compare to last year's first 29 games? How do we perform against the West vs. the East?

The Data

This Year So Far

Game-by-Game

UTAH JAZZ POINTS	OPPONENT POINTS	POINT DIFF	CONFERENCE
93	104	-11	w
102	120	-18	w
118	91	27	w
101	107	-6	w
102	100	2	e
82	105	-23	w
97	96	1	e
86	97	-11	e
97	100	-3	e
102	100	2	e
93	111	-18	e
98	81	17	w
88	101	-13	w
94	106	-12	w
95	97	-2	e
82	97	-15	w
96	112	-16	w
101	103	-2	w
104	123	-19	e
93	98	-5	e
92	101	-9	w
100	96	4	w
95	100	-5	e
84	93	-9	e
111	119	-8	w
105	87	18	e
101	94	7	e
86	104	-18	e
97	91	6	w

	JAZZ POINTS	OPPONENT POINTS	POINT DIFF
AVERAGE	96.4	101.2	-4.8
STANDARD DEVIATION	8.2	9.5	12.0

Records

OVERALL RECORD	WINS	LOSSES	WIN %
	9	20	0.310
RECORD AGAINST EAST	E WINS	E LOSSES	WIN %
	5	9	0.357
RECORD AGAINST WEST	W WINS	W LOSSES	WIN %
	4	11	0.267

Last Year After 29 Games

Game-by-Game

UTAH JAZZ POINTS	OPPONENT POINTS	POINT DIFF	CONFERENCE
98	101	-3	w
84	87	-3	w
93	104	-11	w
88	104	-16	e
87	97	-10	e
73	97	-24	e
91	115	-24	e
81	100	-19	w
111	105	6	w
82	91	-9	w
88	102	-14	w
87	98	-11	w
98	105	-7	w
93	103	-10	w
73	95	-22	w
89	83	6	e
101	112	-11	w
112	104	8	w
109	103	6	w
86	95	-9	e
98	130	-32	w
102	112	-10	w
94	105	-11	w
122	101	21	w
103	93	10	w
84	100	-16	w
94	117	-23	e
86	82	4	e
85	118	-33	e

	JAZZ POINTS	OPPONENT POINTS	POINT DIFF
AVERAGE	92.8	102.0	-9.2
STANDARD DEVIATION	11.4	10.4	12.9

Records

OVERALL RECORD	WINS	LOSSES	WIN %
	7	22	0.241
RECORD AGAINST EAST	E WINS	E LOSSES	WIN %
	2	7	0.222
RECORD AGAINST WEST	W WINS	W LOSSES	WIN %
	5	15	0.250

Entire Last Season

Game-by-Game

UTAH JAZZ POINTS	OPPONENT POINTS	POINT DIFF	CONFERENCE
98	101	-3	w
84	87	-3	w
93	104	-11	w
88	104	-16	e
87	97	-10	e
73	97	-24	e
91	115	-24	e
81	100	-19	w
111	105	6	w
82	91	-9	w
88	102	-14	w
87	98	-11	w
98	105	-7	w
93	103	-10	w
73	95	-22	w
89	83	6	e
101	112	-11	w
112	104	8	w
109	103	6	w
86	95	-9	e
98	130	-32	w
102	112	-10	w
94	105	-11	w
122	101	21	w
103	93	10	w
84	100	-16	w
94	117	-23	e
86	82	4	e
85	118	-33	e
88	85	3	e
94	104	-10	w
105	103	2	w
90	98	-8	w
83	80	3	e
96	87	9	e
99	110	-11	w
110	101	9	w
102	113	-11	e
118	103	15	w
105	109	-4	w
110	89	21	e
72	98	-26	w
97	112	-15	w
104	101	3	e
106	99	7	w
90	95	-5	w
87	102	-15	w
79	94	-15	e
81	103	-22	w
94	89	5	e
96	79	17	w
105	100	5	e
99	105	-6	e
94	102	-8	w
104	121	-17	w
110	98	12	e
109	86	23	w
79	99	-20	e
91	94	-3	e
88	114	-26	e
91	104	-13	e
81	108	-27	e
104	92	12	e
110	112	-2	e
101	108	-7	w
87	96	-9	w
104	122	-18	w
86	124	-38	w
86	96	-10	w
89	88	1	e
94	114	-20	e
87	91	-4	w
95	102	-7	w
96	116	-20	w
83	92	-9	e
100	96	4	w
102	130	-28	w
83	95	-12	w
99	111	-12	w
94	101	-7	w
104	119	-15	w
136	130	6	w

	JAZZ POINTS	OPPONENT POINTS	POINT DIFF
AVERAGE	95.0	102.2	-7.2	TOTALS
STANDARD DEVIATION	11.4	11.3	13.1	ST DEVS

Records

OVERALL RECORD	WINS	LOSSES	WIN %
	25	57	0.305
RECORD AGAINST EAST	E WINS	E LOSSES	WIN %
	12	18	0.400
RECORD AGAINST WEST	W WINS	W LOSSES	WIN %
	13	39	0.250

Observations

So the first thing to note is... I'm bad at this. Oh well.

Next thing to note is that we play much better against the East than against the West. That's not really a major break-thru, but it's something.

The next next thing is that we probably are in fact better than last year. After 29 games last year, the average point differential was -9.2 points +/- 12.9 point standard deviation. We were almost averaging a double digit loss. This year, the average point differential is -4.8 points +/- 12.0 standard deviation. a similar standard deviation says were pretty much as inconsistent as last year, but we're keeping games 4.4 points closer than last year. In other words, we're much more competitive this year, despite losing about the same amount.

All that said, it's worth noting that we have played Eastern teams a little more often this year than in last years first 29 games which might be contributing to skewing the results a bit.

Another interesting point last year: the records suggest we never actually improved against the Western teams, but that we did pick it up quite a bit against Eastern teams. Sample sizes and who we were actually playing skew these results, but it's interesting to think about.

We also have slightly better records against both the East and West this year than last year at the same point.

Last point, we are averaging about 4 more PPG compared to last year's first 29 games, and about 1 PPG more than the entire season, and our opponents are averaging about 1 PPG less than least year. So we have very likely already improved on offense as well as defense. I know the eye-ball test clearly shows we're a much better offensive team, but it wasn't so clear about our defense. While our defense is still pretty bad (although improving in the last few games I think), we're still at least better than the Ty-ranny.

Conclusion

A lot of these numbers suffer from many factors that are likely skewing the results, but I think there's still a really good footing here for arguing that we are definitely a better team this year already.

Anyways, share any other insights you have!

And Happy New Year!!!