alt=Ryan McDonaldEach year just before the NBA season gets going for real, the league releases a survey of its teams’ general managers in which they are essentially asked to preview the season in a number of different ways.
Last year, the Utah Jazz made many appearances when it came to questions about the top teams in the league, and perhaps it comes as no surprise that such is not the case this year as the team underwent a large overhaul in the summer.
That said, the trades involving All-Stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell did get plenty of attention from GMs, and there are a couple of Jazz-related miscellaneous items in the survey as well.
Here’s a rundown, in order of how they appeared in the survey.
- The Milwaukee Bucks, the new team of longtime Jazzman Joe Ingles, received the most votes (43%) for which team will win the championship.
- Gobert was among a group of players who received votes for most likely to have a breakout season.
- The Cleveland Cavaliers, Mitchell’s new team, received by far the most votes (41%) on the question of which team made the best overall moves during the offseason. The Timberwolves, Jazz and Philadelphia 76ers all tied for second at 17%.
- On the question, “Which one player acquisition will make the biggest impact?,” Mitchell got by far the most votes at 59%, while Gobert came in second at 31%.
- On the question of most underrated player acquisition, Bojan Bogdanovic to the Detroit Pistons came in fifth at 7%, and Gobert and Royce O’Neale (Brooklyn Nets) also got votes.
- The Cavaliers came in second on which team will be most improved, with 17% of the vote, and the Timberwolves came in fourth at 10%, with the Nets and Pistons also getting votes.
- Gobert and Mitchell dominated the question of “What was the most surprising move of the offseason?,” with the Gobert trade getting 47% of the vote and the Mitchell trade getting 43%.
- Gobert came in third on the question of best defensive player in the NBA with 10% of the vote, but he got a whopping 83% of the vote for best interior defensive player.
- New Jazz head coach Will Hardy came in fourth on the question of which new or relocated head coach will make the biggest impact on his new team, garnering 3% of the vote.
- Jazz assistant coach Alex Jensen was among a group who received votes for best assistant in the league, as was former Jazz assistant Igor Kokoskov.
- Jazz guard Mike Conley was among a group who received votes for which active player will make the best head coach someday.
- The Jazz tied for fourth with the Golden State Warriors for team with the best home-court advantage, getting 14% of the vote.
- The Cavaliers narrowly beat out the Memphis Grizzlies on the question of which team has the best young core, getting 41% of the vote.