It's Time For Jazz Basketball!

Jazz Nation,

After a long offseason (made even longer with the Jazz missing the playoffs last year), an eventful draft, summer league, and not-so-brilliant preseason, we are finally on the eve of another season opening game for our Jazz. This post is dedicated to projections on records and standings and other predictions.

Wins, Losses, and The Standings

Let's start with Bleacher Report's NBA columnist Adam Fromal. He predicts that the Jazz will slog their way to a 22-60 record, which would put them 14th of 15 teams in the Western conference and 28 out of 30 teams overall (tied with the Orlando Magic). Ouch! That would rank as the worst season in franchise history, as even the expansion New Orleans Jazz went 23-59 in their first season.

Mark Hawkins of Random NBA Fan makes a game-by-game prediction for the Jazz in the 2013-14 season, resulting in a 26-56 record. I didn't see a summary with the predicted record of each team, but a record like that obviously would have the Jazz far from the playoffs. Coincidentally, the season before the Jazz were able to trade up in the draft and pick Deron Williams, they went 26-56. Perhaps that would be a good omen for the team's 2014 draft.

In the last record prediction we'll look at, David Williams from You Have No Game predicts that the Jazz will finish 29-53, saying that there is too much talent on the Jazz for them to do worse than that. Based on all have his record predictions the Jazz would finish 25th out of the 30 NBA teams and 13th in the West.

I'm also more than willing to admit that I predicted the Jazz to exceed expectations and go 38-44. I must have been drinking the Jazz Kool-Aid at the time because that seems unreachable. My revised prediction is 27-55. The Jazz will get a few more wins than some people expect, but they will likely have some difficulties in finishing out games.

Other Predictions

Wins and losses aside, since most Jazz fans and observers will agree that the Jazz will miss the playoffs, but do you expect to see happen this season for the team? Here is a list of some things I think will happen in 2013-14:

1. Gordon Hayward will lead the team in scoring.
2. Hayward's FG will go down in the process because he will be the focal point of opposing defenses.
3. Trey Burke will win Rookie of the Month once this season.
4. Derrick Favors will lead the Jazz in rebounding and be in the top 10 in the NBA in this area.
5. When watching the games on TV or in person, there will be more empty green seats visible than in most recent seasons.
6. The Jazz will stand pat (again) at the trade deadline in February.
7. For the last time for years to come, nobody from the Jazz will be an All-Star. Someone WILL get there in 2014-15.
8. The young guys will prove to be as good as we've hoped.

I'd love to get some comments about what Jazz Nation thinks in regards to wins and losses and any other predictions or expectations for the season.

Go Jazz! Let's start this season off with a bang against the Thunder!