The Jazz from the outside

I’m not a Jazz fan. I bleed Celtics green instead. Those two inclinations place me in an interesting spot here in Utah. The only ‘Big 4’ professional sports team in the state receives a massive amount of attention from everyone around here. I’m subject to all of that still, regardless of my rooting interests. The benefit of this, however, is that all fans view their team either with rose-colored glasses or a doom-and-gloom perspective. In other words, it’s insanely difficult to objectively and fairly view how good or bad your team is. It’s true with Jazz fans in Utah. It’s true with the Celtics and me. But a non-fan can be almost completely unbiased. If a team is good, they recognize it. And if a team is bad, they admit that, too.

That’s why throughout this NBA season, I’ll be your Jazz judge. Every few weeks, I’ll take a look at the Jazz without any doom-and-gloom and without any rose-colored glasses. Will the Jazz make the playoffs? Will they have home-court advantage? Will Rodney Hood make the next step? Can Boris Diaw give good minutes outside of the Spurs at age 34 and 250 pounds? Will they survive the first few weeks of the season without Gordon Hayward?

Sure, you probably answered all of those questions yourself. And sure, you probably won’t listen to my answers anyways. But let me say this: when people wonder who will step into the playmaking role off the bench that Evan Turner played last season for the Celtics, not too many people believe me when I say that Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier are perfectly capable of doing so. And I can tell you that not too many people outside of Vivint Smart Home Arena have a ton of faith in the Jazz maintaining full health throughout 82 games, even beyond Hayward’s finger injury.

Rest assured, I don’t hate the Jazz. This won’t be a monthly mud-slinging directed at the Jazz. Let it be known that I predict the Jazz to be the second  or third seed in the West, health permitting, and staying neck and neck with the Spurs throughout the season. I promise to be completely fair about this. If the Jazz perform even better than predicted, I’ll be the first to admit it. But if they suffer injuries and greatly underperform, I’m not going to sugarcoat it (unlike if the Celtics underperform, then I most certainly will sugarcoat it like a bowl of Cheerios).

So, every few weeks, after watching the Jazz and wondering if the NBA Finals might be near or if the Jazz should think about tanking for a draft pick, I’ll be here for a reality check. Whether good or bad.