:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46114440/usa-today-8514307.0.jpg)
Past Rankings! Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12, Week 13, Week 14, Week 15, Week 16, Week 17, Week 18, Week 19, Week 20, Week 21, Week 22, Week 23
The Utah Jazz are finishing this season as a very competitive team. They won a home and home set against the Sacramento Kings -- something previous Jazz teams were incapable of doing. Then they lost to the Memphis Grizzlies at home -- and ended up tying the season series with the playoff squad. That game was one where both teams were missing players and pretty even in terms of who had an advantage. Utah could have won that one, but fighting hard against a playoff team trying to get as many wins as possible is awesome. Utah flew out to play in the SEGABABA game @ the Portland Trail Blazers and won there. So three wins, and one loss -- barely, at that.
I'm very happy with this team, they are playing hard and finishing this season better than expected. But that's what I thought. What about the National writers? Well . . . .
| 1 | Site: | CBS Sports | Record: | 37-43 | I want to believe based on their talent, style, and approach, that they'll make the playoffs next season. But who do you believe will drop out? Either way, Utah's path for the next five years is tremendous. |
| Author: | Matt Moore | This Week: | 13 | ||
| Date: | 4/13/2015 | Last Week: | 19 | ||
| 2 | Site: | ESPN | Record: | 37-43 | Rating: 101.223 |
| Author: | Hollinger | This Week: | 14 | ||
| Date: | 4/13/2015 | Last Week: | 13 | ||
| 3 | Site: | ESPN | Record: | 37-43 | This battle for the West's No. 8 spot is going down to the last ticks of the regular season. Have to figure Utah will be right in the heart of the same battle in 2015-16 with the way its Hayward/Favors/Gobert core has blossomed ... and with so many contributors who haven't even turned 25 yet. |
| Author: | Marc Stein | This Week: | 13 | ||
| Date: | 4/13/2015 | Last Week: | 12 | ||
| 4 | Site: | FiveThirtyEight | Record: | 37-43 | OFF RTG: -1.8, DEF RTG: +2.4, TOT RTG: +0.6, Expected Wins: 37.9 |
| Author: | Neil Paine | This Week: | 17 | ||
| Date: | 4/13/2015 | Last Week: | 11 | ||
| 5 | Site: | NBA.com | Record: | 37-43 |
Pace: 92.5 (30) OffRtg: 102.7 (15) DefRtg: 102.0 (12) NetRtg: +0.7 (15) The big story out of the Jazz's season the breakout of Rudy Gobert, who promises to be a defensive monster for years to come. But Gordon Hayward also had an under-the-radar big year. He saw another increase in his usage rate, but got back to being rather efficient. He ranks ninth in true shooting percentage among the top 50 guys in usage rate. |
| Author: | John Schuhmann | This Week: | 14 | ||
| Date: | 4/13/2015 | Last Week: | 14 | ||
| 6 | Site: | NBC | Record: | 37-43 | The Jazz and their fans need to consider this season a success — they found a front line that might really work for them in Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors. They need to find more offense, but if history is an indicator expect patience from the Utah front office this summer. |
| Author: | Kurt Helin | This Week: | 15 | ||
| Date: | 4/13/2015 | Last Week: | 15 | ||
| 7 | Site: | Nylon Calculus | Record: | 37-43 | Not Up Yet |
| Author: | Hal Brown | This Week: | 9 | ||
| Date: | 4/13/2015 | Last Week: | 9 | ||
| 8 | Site: | SB Nation | Record: | 37-43 | The Jazz ended the season well out of playoff position, but they shouldn't be confused with the other non-playoff teams in the Western Conference. Utah has everything the teams below them lack: A head coach to grow with, young big men to build around in Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors, a super-versatile wing Gordon Hayward and a duo of guards to develop in Trey Burke and Dante Exum. Those are reasons to be excited about what the Jazz are marinating. |
| Author: | Drew Garrison | This Week: | 17 | ||
| Date: | 4/13/2015 | Last Week: | 15 | ||
| 9 | Site: | Sports Illustrated | Record: | 37-43 | A list of playoff teams that have a worse record than the Jazz since the All-Star break: Hawks, Pelicans, Grizzlies, Blazers, Bulls, Mavericks, Wizards, Raptors, Celtics, Nets and Bucks. |
| Author: | Matt Dollinger | This Week: | 15 | ||
| Date: | 4/13/2015 | Last Week: | 15 | ||
| 10 | Site: | Yahoo! Sports | Record: | 37-43 | The Jazz have the talent to contend for the playoffs next season after a strong second half, but they need help at point guard. |
| Author: | Marc J. Spears | This Week: | 20 | ||
| Date: | 4/13/2015 | Last Week: | 17 |
Man, I don't know. For most of these guys this is the last Power Rankings of the season, and there's good and bad here. The Jazz had an average ranking of 14.0 last week, and after nearly going 4-0 (MEM game end) they end up having a current (until Nylon Calculus gets theirs up) ranking of 15.3, dropping for some reason. Still, the overlying idea is that this Jazz team -- by merit -- is a Top 16 team, and thus in a non-conference based playoffs would be in. Matt Moore has our squad going up 6 spots, and for the vast majority of the year he's been very kind to the Jazz. Neil Paine of FiveThiryEight has the Jazz dropping by 6, but by the numbers that's fair. They haven't been playing all of their best players and let bad teams stay in games. Those two cancel out.
Five national writers have the Jazz staying put or dropping one spot, and while I'm not a fan of dropping the Jazz I can understand why someone would want to do that. That leaves out SB Nation's Drew Garrison and fellow Cali West-coast-er Yahoo! Sports' Marc J. Spears who drop the Jazz 2 and 3 spots respectively. Spears believes that there are 19 teams better than the Jazz in the NBA. I could argue that there are at least 15. But 19 is a bridge too far for me.
What did YOU think?