The Utah Jazz are working their way into the playoffs

The Utah Jazz are dominating teams in a way Jazz fans never expected. There was a point where the Jazz were on track to have a top 5 pick in the lottery. Oh how things can change when Rudy Gobert is playing at his peak.

The best part is that the Jazz are doing this sooner rather than later. It isn’t even all-star break which means there’s plenty of time to work their way up the playoff standings. Right now the Jazz are three games out of the 8-seed. Considering their incredible play, they could find themselves higher than that.

Maybe we should have seen this coming when the Jazz were struggling. Rudy certainly did.

So what happened to the Jazz that made them so good? Probably a combination of a few things. They’re finally healthy, they’re making shots and things have “clicked.”

Here’s a fantastic Twitter thread showing some of the different things that are going so well. Here are some of my favorites parts of the thread.

Royce O’neale is becoming a serious weapon for the Jazz! In the month of February he’s hitting 71% of his threes. That’s pretty good.

His recent fantastic play shows in an awesome February statline of 13 pts, 5.7 rbds, 4 asts and 1.7 steals. This is probably a good time to remember that O’neale is a rookie that Lindsey brought over from Europe. In case you didn’t know, his contract is also an incredible bargain.

Hoops Hype

Royce O’neale is going to be with the Jazz for the next three years with an incredibly affordable contract. Dennis Lindsey is a wizard.

Rodney Hood has been involved in a lot of trade rumors. Whatever happens, Rodney has been a classy member of the team and has represented the Jazz, and Utah, very well. It’s no wonder when you learn more about his upbringing and his great family.

Eric Woodyard, of the Deseret News, has done fantastic work covering the Jazz this season and posted these videos from Rodney’s father, Ricky Sr., and Rodney’s high school coach giving him encouragement.

Sometimes we forget that these players have families that will be affected by trades to players. It’s not just the player that goes, but also their wives, families, children etc.

For me personally, my daughter has been in the same elementary school class as Rodney’s nephew. Every day she talks about him and how much he loves the Jazz (she has a very obvious crush). When the trade rumors started I talked to her to explain it she got really sad and told me how sad Rodney’s nephew would be. It’s one of the first times I’ve ever felt the emotion of a trade, and I’m not even involved or related to the Hood family. I can’t imagine what it’s like for the player.

This is all just a good reminder to be civil online and understanding of the feelings the players might be going through. Yes they make a lot of money, but their lives can be uprooted at any moment without any sort of warning, something I never have to worry about.

If you haven’t heard, Donovan Mitchell will be in the dunk contest. But it may be time to consider another Jazzman to join him.