On paper, last season’s Utah Jazz were a very good team and while not necessarily a championship contender they appeared to be as good as anyone on that next level down. But the injury bug big hard, keeping them at a constant disadvantage. Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune reports:
More than anything, the Jazz are hoping to avoid a repeat of last season, when they lost players to injuries for a combined 149 games, forcing them to use 20 starting lineups.
“I thought it definitely put a damper on our season,” said Deron Williams, who suffered a sprained left ankle in the preseason and missed 13 games before returning for good.
“We never got comfortable, we never got continuity with each other. It was just a tough adjustment for everybody to go in and out of different lineups and play with different roles. Nobody had a defined role for a whole season.”
Although the Jazz dropped seven of their final nine regular-season games, including a crushing home loss to a seven-man Golden State team, general manager Kevin O’Connor opted to keep together the roster.
The Jazz continue to have a talented, very good, scary team, on paper at least.
