The Jazz Still Not Ready to Win Title

The Jazz are good, but not great.

The Jazz are preparing to make another run in the playoffs, with the goal to finally make it to the top of the mountain. They have a good young core group of players. They should be making the playoffs for the next ten years. They should be winning the conference for the next ten years. They should be competing for the title for the next ten years. The key word in all of those predictions, "should."

The Jazz should be a lot of things. They should dominate the glass in any game they play. The Jazz should be more hard-nose in comparison to other teams. The Jazz should outperform 90% of the league on a regular bases. Yet, a lot of these, "shoulds," don't happen. So, instead of focusing on what the Jazz should be, I want to focus on what they are.

Are the Jazz going to win it all this year?

No. While they have been building a nice core, there are huge holes in the Jazz game. They can't defend the paint against bigger bodies, Harpring is the only enforcer the Jazz have, and they still haven't proven they can stop an opponent when they need to on the defensive end.

Who needs to be traded for the Jazz to win a championship this year?

Boozer or Okur. The Jazz need a low post scoring presence. Boozer and Okur can't get that job done. Boozer has great moves around the basket, but much of his success last year came from poor scouting. Teams are onto his left handed finishing around the basket. He is now an undersized big, and that won't get it done in a tall Western Conference. Okur, like Boozer, is a non-presence around the basket. That isn't his game, and shouldn't be his game. You have to live with what you get from Okur, a big that can shot the lights out from the outside. They both have good contracts, and are likable which makes this move difficult. Yet, ask yourself, if the Jazz had KG instead of Boozer would they win the championship?