No. 2: Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz quietly had one of the best offseasons in 2019, bringing in players like Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic and Ed Davis, each of whom brings something different to the roster.
Conley, despite never making an All-Star team to this point, is one of the league’s most consistent point guards. Bogdanovic scored 18.0 points per game last season with the Indiana Pacers and connected on 42.5 percent of his attempts from three-point range. Davis recorded 8.6 rebounds in 17.9 minutes of action per game last year in Brooklyn.
And that’s all without mentioning Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert, who were the two best players on a Jazz team that won 50 games in the West last season. They’re going to be tough.
The case for
Depth and defense are Utah’s two calling cards, and they have plenty of each. Gobert is a two-time Defensive Player of the Year. Conley is no pushover. Joe Ingles is a solid three-and-D guy.
The Jazz should also have a strong offense in 2019-2020 as well, and that’s what should scare opposing teams. The addition of Conley should help reduce Mitchell’s role as a playmaker, and if he can focus more on scoring, he may have his best season to date. Bogdanovic’s three-point ability should do a lot for them as well.
With Gobert patrolling the paint and Ingles locking down on the perimeter, scoring will be hard to come by for the LA Clippers, even with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on the roster.
Utah is just one of those teams that are consistently solid, and now that they’ve added some legitimate pieces to go along with the stars they already had, they’re as big a threat to win the West as any.
The case against
Mitchell, like Jamal Murray, is not an efficient scorer. That could be remedied this season with Conley’s presence, but Mitchell’s numbers last year were not that pleasing.
On that same list mentioned earlier of 120 qualified players, Mitchell ranked 106th in effective field goal percentage. He’s certainly got room to grow at 23, but it doesn’t look great right now. Conley is ranked 91st on the list, for what it’s worth. When possessions are vital, Utah may be hard-pressed to get a bucket — particularly from range.
The Jazz should also have difficulty stopping both Leonard and George. Ingles can get the job done against one of them, but with Bogdanovic as the other forward, one of the LA Clippers’ stars is going to have a field day.
Utah could move Bogdanovic to the bench in that scenario in favor of a tougher defender, but they may be sacrificing too much on the offensive end by doing so.
Mitchell isn’t known for his defense either, which could give someone like Landry Shamet or Lou Williams the chance to shine. Otherwise, the Clippers could bring Maurice Harkless back into the starting rotation and shift George and Leonard over two spots, like I mentioned them doing against the Houston Rockets. Harkless would provide some excellent defense against either of Utah’s wings, and one of Bogdanovic or Mitchell would be forced to guard Leonard or George.
A postseason meeting with the Jazz is likely the last thing the Clippers will hope for, but it’s still a hurdle they can overcome with some creativity.