Assessing Where Utah Jazz Stand in Western Conference

We'll start this exercise at the bottom because, unfortunately, that's where the Jazz reside. Bolstering one of the youngest rosters in the league, and nine players drafted in the past three years, the Jazz are organically building towards a bright future, though patience will be required.

The Jazz have an All-Star caliber player in Lauri Markkanen, who we should see back at full strength this season. The Jazz tanking efforts, mixed with an ailing back, hurt Markkanen a year ago. With Markkanen and fourth-year big man Walker Kessler consistently in the lineup, the Jazz should be able to improve on their 17-win campaign from a season ago. Add in the development from their other young pieces, and the Jazz should be competitive even if the wins aren't consistent.

Each of New Orleans, Phoenix, and Sacramento have an All-Star caliber player on their rosters with Zion Williamson, Devin Booker, and Domantas Sabonis. Despite this, these rosters underperformed a year ago.

After winning just 21 games last season, New Orleans had an aggressive (and possibly reckless) offseason. Notably, they added two rookies in the lottery as well as Jordan Poole. While talented, they'll face a steep climb in the West just to make the play-in tournament while relying on plenty of young pieces.

The Suns traded Kevin Durant and waived Bradley Beal this offseason after a disappointing two seasons with their "big three." If you wanted to argue that they should be in the next tier and could be in the mix for a play-in spot, I wouldn't push back too much, but with no future assets or financial flexibility, they look to be headed in the wrong direction.

Like the two teams above, Sacramento could challenge for a play-in spot, but they also smell like a team that could pivot hard the other way if things go south.

The Playoff Hopefuls

Portland Trail Blazers, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers

This next group features a bunch of teams further along than the Jazz. Portland, in particular, was in a similar spot as the Jazz a year ago, but, through a nasty defensive identity, started playing winning basketball down the stretch of last season. With the additions of Jrue Holiday and an injured Damian Lillard, they should continue to improve this year.

While injuries to any of the star players on the rest of these teams could push them out of the playoff picture, each of these teams is talented enough to at least push for the play-in tournament.

The Contenders

Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves

The cream of the crop in the conference features the reigning NBA Champion and the 68-win Thunder. After that, the back-to-back conference finalists and three teams made big moves this summer to chase them down.

Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world and took the Thunder to seven games a few months ago. The 52-win Rockets added Kevin Durant to address their late-game offensive woes. The Clippers added Bradley Beal, John Collins, and Brook Lopez to the deepest (and possibly oldest) team in the league.

This is the level that the Jazz hope to get to. It should be fun watching them match up against these giants and seeing how they compete as they continue to build towards the next era of winning basketball.

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