Jazz Follow Up

Well it is has now been a couple of months since the NBA season has ended. I thought I would do a follow up on my first post, since it is always interesting to look at how your predictions fared. First of all, New Orleans never wavered. It looks like they are for real and will be competing in the West for a long time. Houston continued to survive the regular season without Yao Ming. San Antonio had some shaky spots but finished pretty solid. Phoenix seems to be past their peak, but still a very good team. Dallas? They seemed to have fallen pretty hard after the Jason Kidd trade. It will be interesting to see if they can become an elite team again. The Jazz did fairly well down the stretch to get really close to having homecourt advantage in the first round, but ended up missing it by one too many losses. However, they received a favorable first round match up with the Yao less Houston Rockets. The Jazz were also lucky that Houston was missing Rafer Alson the first couple of games. This led the Jazz to steal two road games. Houston ended up fighting back by winning two games, but in the end they just did not have enough fire power for the Jazz. The second round pitted us against the most hated team by all Jazz fans, the Los Angeles Lakers. The Jazz fought hard in many of the games, but in the end, Kobe was too much for them along with his long cohorts, Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom. Carlos Boozer disappeared when increased attention was put on him by the Lakers while Deron Williams shined in every game.



With that quick recap of last year, the focus now turns to the future. The Jazz's future looks bright. They will be returning the same young team with one more year's worth of experience. Deron Williams will unquestionably continue to shine, but can Memo, Boozer, and Kirelenko show consistency? Most likely we will be one of the top four teams in the West. However, can the Jazz win road games this year? I think with the addition of Kyle Korver and one more year of experience the Jazz should be able to be more consistent. However, I am very wary of what will happen if we have injuries to any of our key players. The other major question I have is how are the Jazz planning on improving their defense? There is no question that they can excel on the offensive side of the ball, but how do they clamp down on the defensive end to give themselves a real chance? Two of the most glaring weaknesses against the Lakers were Memo and Boozer. Both have very slow footwork and seem to lack intensity at times. I guess I can't forget the 2 spot. The Jazz have been burned by many 2 superstars...Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Gibert Arenas just to name a couple. We seemed to have improved this year, but it was still a major weakness. Hopefully we can improve again. Looking outside of the Jazz I'm very afraid of the Lakers. They beat the Jazz, but now they will also be one year better, will have had more time to bond, and will once again have the service of the monster Andrew Bynum. The New Orleans Hornets look to continue to excel, and how will they not? Chris Paul is looking like he may be one of the best point guards of all time. Throw in San Antonio, Phoenix, and Dallas and it looks like the Jazz have a tough road ahead of them as always.

Predictions: (Seeding in the Western Playoffs 2009)
1. Los Angeles Lakers
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. Utah Jazz
4. New Orleans
5. Houston Rockets
6. Phoenix Suns
7. Denver Nuggets
8. Dallas Mavericks

Wow, I didn't realize how difficult it is to predict this. LA Lakers as the favorite is an easy one. After that I think the Spurs, Jazz, Hornets, Rockets, and Suns are really close. Are Phoenix and San Antonio on the downhill slope? I just don't think you can count the Spurs out yet. They have won the championship every other year. The Suns...they will need to prove themselves again to me. Steve Nash is always amazing, but one year older. Amare Stoudemire is unbelievable, but what about the rest of the team. I don't believe Shaq will do much. He is just getting too old and too injury proned. I think he gave his best sprint in the playoffs, but I just don't see him being very effective over a long period of time. The Denver Nuggets will still be a mess defensively. The Dallas Mavericks could rebound and even be a top three team in the West again. Howard and Nowitzki are definitely amazing. However, I have never felt the love for Jason Kidd. You can't argue when he gets triple doubles, but most games I have watched he seems to be such a terrible shooter. He fits under the one year older crowd losing his game. Good luck Jazz, my goal for you would be to be in the top three of the west!