B/R snubs Utah Jazz in staff NBA Finals predictions
The Utah Jazz will enter the 2021-22 NBA season with championship aspirations, but apparently the staff at Bleacher Report are not generally high on their chances. They released their official season staff predictions today, and the Jazz did not fare well in the Larry O’Brien portion of their forecasts.
Utah Jazz receive zero votes from B/R staff in NBA Championship predictions
The Milwaukee Bucks received the lion’s share of the staff’s picks for the NBA Championship with 4 votes. Otherwise, the Brooklyn Nets, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers split the remaining votes at 2 apiece.
At first glance, that voting breakdown may not seem unreasonable. The Brooklyn Nets were widely regarded as title favorites before Kyrie Irving’s status came into question. They’ll still undoubtedly be in the mix with an offense built around two elite weapons in Kevin Durant and James Harden.
The Los Angeles Lakers sport a significantly starrier squad than the Utah Jazz, but questions surrounding their fit have been prevalent. Conventional wisdom dictates that surrounding LeBron James with floor-spacing is the optimal strategy for building around him. The Lakers chose to fly in the face of convention by signing Russell Westbrook, an incredible talent who does virtually everything on the offensive end besides space the floor.
The Utah Jazz do not have to contend with such concerns. They’re retaining the vast majority of a group that paced the NBA in wins and Net Rating in the 2020-21 regular season. The structural changes they did make were the result of marginal upgrades. We’re not saying they’re a safer bet to make a Finals appearance than the Lakers, but we’d argue that they’re (at least) not far off.
Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns are fresh off of an NBA Finals appearance, which certainly bolsters confidence in their team. However, it is worth noting that they bested a series of injured teams on their path to the big dance. They do have a nice, balanced roster that should be highly competitive in 2021-22.
However, we just finished arguing at-length that the Utah Jazz boast a better team than the Suns heading into the 2021-22 season. We’re sticking to our guns on that front. The Jazz had a better offensive rating and defensive rating in 2020-21. With better health for starting point guard Mike Conley, they might not have any trouble dethroning the reigning Western Conference champions.
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Regardless, it’s understandable that each of those teams received votes ahead of the Utah Jazz. Nobody has the Jazzmen entering this season as overwhelming championship favorites. However, they do have more-than-enough potential to make these predictions look like oversights in hindsight.