Originally Posted by
NMThreeMVP
You present two options as if those are the only options. I never said the Warriors wouldn't face competition, or that they were significantly better than Rockets, Spurs, or Cavs. I only said they're better. All 3 of those teams will be competitive with the Warriors. The Jazz were not competitive at all with the Warriors.
Blake Griffin is more important to the Clippers, because the Clippers lack the depth that the Jazz do, than Gobert is to the Jazz. This was an even series in a 4/5 seed matchup, before Blake went out. The Jazz needed a Joe Johnson buzzer beater to win game one and loss a closeout game on their home court in game 6 to a team missing an All NBA player. I expect Jazz fans to be fooled and impressed by this, but I'm struggling to see why an objective Pel's fan is.
I understand it's easy to fall back to "they were a 5th seed and made it to the 2nd round" as evidence that their system works. But look beyond their regular season success against non playoff teams (which is why they were a 5th seed), and look historically at the last decade of basketball and the current state of the NBA. You can't win against the best teams with their offense, because they will always outscore you over a 7 game series. When Quin Snyder's teams get into a shootout, the fall apart. They're not much different than Toronto in the East.
Hood is the one they need to make a leap. If he can do it, they'll exceed all my expectations. But I'm not holding my breath at all on Lyles and Favors. In fact, I could see them trying to trade Favors, because I doubt they can resign him next summer.
Be patient. That massive improvement the Jazz saw from year 1 to year 2 of their system was 2 wins. Over Gentry's first 2 years Del has given him zero continuity, but going into year 3 he has the chance to demonstrate whether or not he can make a similar leap in improvement to what the Jazz did in year 3. My bet against the Jazz is obviously somewhat based on the uncertainty of their roster. They have 2 starters and a key contributor off the bench as free agents, and it's Utah. I mean, to be honest, if Hayward were black would anyone assume he's resigning in Utah? The only reason we don't think he's going to play for Spoelstra and Riley in Miami, or his former college coach in Boston, is because he's a white dude. Nothing wrong with that, but I'm trying to be objective! The Jazz jerked him around the last time he was a free agent and Hayward could make more endorsement money if he got out of Utah. This Jazz team has a better chance of losing one of those 3 free agents than they do of getting better, but I wouldn't bet my house either way.
Regardless of what the Jazz do, if the Pelicans get the PG position figured out, I think they'll finish ahead of the Jazz in playoff seeding next year, and be a more a dangerous playoff team.