What Should Realistic Expectations Be For The Utah Jazz?

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Make no mistake, the Utah Jazz are having its best offseason in franchise history and, rightfully so, fans are extremely excited.

It all started by Acquiring Mike Conley, Jr. in a trade and then signing Bojan Bogdanovic as a free agent, plus a few pieces since then to fill out the roster with Ed Davis, Jeff Green, and Emmanuel Mudiay.

All of these moves have positioned the Jazz to be legitimate threats and not just by local fans but also national media are hopping on the bandwagon.

The NBA media really likes what the Jazz have done this off-season!https://t.co/9LXrhyMO3S

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) July 1, 2019

What About The Fans Thoughts?

Fans usually have an extreme view of their team, either being overconfident and unrealistic or at the other end of the spectrum and always think the worst of their team. Especially after big moves like the Jazz made expectations are sky high and fans are talking about NBA title or bust.

In KSL’s Unrivaled totally non-scientific poll, just over a third think going to the Western Conference finals is a realistic goal, but a combined 41 percent saying an NBA Finals showing or better is expected.

So, yeah, some Jazz fans are shooting for the moon while riding high on adrenaline predicting what next year will bring.

What are your expectations for the @utahjazz to make you happy as a fan?

— KSL's UnRivaled (@KSLunrivaled) July 3, 2019

Let’s Get Realistic

The Utah Jazz are expected to be a better team next year but how good will they be? Improving upon this past year is the low end for a goal and that would mean getting to the Western Conference semifinals, at the very least.

The schedule could play into play in how the season plays out because the last two years the Jazz had a pair of great runs to have pretty solid seasons. Having a slow start again could be a bigger issue if the Jazz are fighting for a top-three seed in the West.

KSL Sports’ Mitch Harper has that concern over a slow start that could harm the Jazz later in the year.

“What if the Jazz have another tough opening to the season? Who knows, all these expectations, all of this preseason hype and buzz. Get another tough schedule where you are going out on the road against playoff teams early on and maybe there are early struggles,” Harper said on KSL’s Unrivaled.

On the flip side, it is realistic to say that the Jazz should be at worst a top-four seed in the Western Conference and make a deep playoff run, and that even includes if Kawahi Leonard goes to either Los Angeles franchises.

“At worst, the Jazz will be a team with home court in the first round,” Harper said. “There is reason to believe that the first time in a very long time since maybe the Karl Malone and John Stockton that Jazz fans have expectations going into a season and win an NBA title which has not happened in 20-plus years in this market.”

While a championship is a realistic expectation for the Jazz, setting that as an expectation is not realistic and that would be the same with any NBA team, but the fanbase should be full of optimism since the 2019-20 season has the chance to be historic.

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