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Portland Trail Blazers: Projecting each Northwest Division team’s record

By Austin Carroll

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 30: Portland Trail Blazers Guard Damian Lillard (0), Portland Trail Blazers Center Jusuf Nurkic (27) and Portland Trail Blazers Forward Al-Farouq Aminu (8) look on during an NBA game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Clippers on January 30, 2018 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 30: Portland Trail Blazers Guard Damian Lillard (0), Portland Trail Blazers Center Jusuf Nurkic (27) and Portland Trail Blazers Forward Al-Farouq Aminu (8) look on during an NBA game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Clippers on January 30, 2018 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Portland Trail Blazers
Mike Conley (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Utah Jazz

  • Additions: Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, Jeff Green, Ed Davis, Jarrell Brantley, Justin Wright-Foreman, Miye Oni
  • Losses: Derrick Favors, Ricky Rubio, Kyle Korver, Raul Neto

On paper, finding ways to improve a team that’s top ten in the NBA in 3-point shooting and anchored by a two-time Defensive Player of the Year should be very difficult. However, i’s clear to see that no team in the Northwest Division did nearly as much to make big improvements as the Utah Jazz this summer.

First, the Jazz prioritized and addressed their biggest issue from last year: the need for a true floor general that can play off Donovan Mitchell. For all of Ricky Rubio’s playmaking ability, he was too ball dominant with career highs in usage rate and career lows in assist percentage to be the best fit for Utah.

Instead the Jazz pulled the trigger for Mike Conley, one of the league’s best point guards to round out the roster. Last season Conley averaged 21.1 points and 6.4 assists per game, somehow willing one of the worst teams in the league to 33 wins.

Now imagine adding that player to the team with the fourth highest point differential in he NBA.

The Jazz certainly didn’t stop there however, picking up Bojan Bogdanovic, Ed Davis and Jeff Green. Bogdanovic in particular should be valuable to this trigger-happy Utah team, considering he averaged an incredible 42.5 percent from deep on just shy of five attempts per game.

Davis will be a valuable tool on the boards next year, cleaning the glass to create extra possessions for an already efficient offense. Last year, he led the league in successful box-out rates and grabbed 5.4 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes. Green is also an steal at a league minimum price tag as a spark plug off the bench.

There will certainly be kinks for this team to work out next season, with so many new mouths at the table to feed. But the Jazz are a team lucky enough to field talented players without big egos. They should have no problem figuring things out and be firing on all cylinders early into the season.

Look for the Jazz to make a big leap next season, and potentially even complete for the top seed as Western Conference dark horse.

Projected Record: (55-27, No. 2 seed)