Utah Believes in The Roster They Already Had
By having their top moves of the offseason be re-signing Derrick Favors and Dante Exum, it appears as if the Jazz truly believe in the roster that they had last season. They have plenty of reasons to hold that belief too.
There is reason enough to believe in their current group by thinking what their record could have been if Rudy Gobert played closer to 82 games and not the 56 games that he played. I say that because they were 11-15 when he was inactive and 37-19 when he did play.
Is Rudy Gobert a top 10 player in the NBA? https://t.co/UezVty1240
— SLC Dunk (@slcdunk) July 27, 2018
Considering how the Jazz finished with the same record as the fourth-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder and was just one game back from the third-seeded Portland Trail Blazers, having Gobert for even a few more games could have made a significant difference in their seeding.
Let’s not forget that Gobert wasn’t the only player to miss a significant amount of games due to injury. Dante Exum only played in 14 games and having him back healthy next season could add a new dimension to their team.
Having more time together will help their team build continuity. They experienced some changes during the middle of the season last year beyond injuries. They started the year with Rodney Hood and Joe Johnson but some mid-season trade activity swapped them out for Jae Crowder and gave more opportunity to Royce O’Neale.
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