Key additions: Marvin Williams (F), Randy Foye (G), Mo Williams(G)

A Jewish-atheist from New York spends the first sixteen summers of his life in Salt Lake City. This is not the beginning of a bad joke; this was my childhood, and I believe that it gives me a unique perspective on the country’s most misunderstood metropolis. Like every other middle-class kid I knew growing up in The City I did the summer camp in Vermont thing, the basketball camp thing, the week in Bar Harbor, and even once travelled outside of the U.S. But, like almost no one else I knew, I also went out west every summer to visit my mother’s (yes, Mormon) family in Utah, and there I did the hunting thing, the fishing thing, and the throwing pebbles at cows thing. But I don’t want to give the impression that this was the sticks.

To be clear, Salt Lake is not New York or Boston or Atlanta, but then it’s also not Cheyenne. In Salt Lake you can find bars and drugs and murders and good Indian food and a thriving art scene and fine universities. You could also find, for most of the past thirty years, a pretty darn good professional basketball team.

Why Utah has a team, and why this team is named the Jazz is a question for the historians, but the franchise has thus far managed to thrive with the support of an uber-enthusiastic fan base, good management, and the dumb luck of having both Karl Malone and John Stockton together for a decade plus. This awesome (literally awe-inspiring) duo played more than 1,400 games together, and blood ties required that I follow as many of them as possible when back east in New York. I wasn’t a Jazz fan exactly, but I was a connoisseur.

The Jazz have had exactly two sub-.500 seasons in the last thirty years. If consistency is a measure of greatness then this is a truly great franchise. Except that it’s not. The Jazz always win, but they’ve never Won. Perhaps it’s the problem all small market teams face. Star players would rather go to Miami or L.A. or N.Y or Chicago. Perhaps former coach Jerry Sloan was too rigid.  Maybe it was just Michael Jordan. In any case Utah fans are starving for a championship, are long used to disappointment, and are feeling pretty good about the young nucleus of this team.

Al Jefferson (19.2PPG-9.6RPG-1.7BPG-22.88PER), Derrick Favors (8.8PPG-6.5RPG-17.05PER) and Paul Milsap (16.6PPG-8.8RPG-21.85PER)  represent the biggest front court combo in the league. When these three play together I often wonder how opposing teams manage to grab a single rebound. It is hard to score against the Jazz when they go big (Favors is an outstanding shot blocker), and if Jefferson, Favors, or Milsap should get into foul trouble coach Tyrone Corbin can send in the talented second year forward Enes Kanter, a beast on the boards.

The big three can all create their own offense and Al Jefferson is a legitimate star, even if his game is somewhat diminished since his ACL injury.  Still only 27, Jefferson possesses a deadly post game and shoots for a high percentage. However he may be gone by season’s end as he is entering free agency next summer and the Jazz don’t want to let him go for nothing. If they do trade Jefferson, look for them to acquire a point guard.

If Utah has a glaring weakness it is their backcourt. Mo Williams (13.2PPG-3.1APG-15PER) will be the starter at point this season, and he should put up solid numbers, though ideally he would be a backup. Gordon Hayward (11,8PPG-3.1APG-3.5RPG-15.50PER) finally looked comfortable last season but where he gets his minutes is an open question. He can play the two but Randy Foye is a better fit there. At the three, Hayward will have to wrestle minutes away from new addition Marvin Williams and occasionally Milsap—someone has to go.

The trend in the league today is for big time players to gravitate to big market teams either through forcing a trade or via free agency. If you believe in free markets and free movement of labor then you should be happy with this trend. If you are living in Salt Lake City you might be less happy. The free agent market this summer is outstanding, and yet none of the stars entering the market would ever seriously consider playing in Utah. That’s too bad because Salt Lake is not the town they imagine it to be.

Reason for optimism: Derrick Favors is set to have a breakout season.

Reason for despair: If you think the Knicks were constructed awkwardly take a look at the Jazz. There are lots of good players here, but they all seem to play the same position.

Projected record: 42-40