Jazz a dog? I don't think so

Now that the NBA season has been over for two days, what else is there to do except talk about next year, right?

The Sporting News wasted no time in projecting the 2011-12 season in its first power poll. (The hardest thing is predicting whether a lockout will kill the season entirely.) The publication has the Jazz ranked just 22nd out of 30 teams. It points out that with no Deron Williams and no Jerry Sloan, it will be an uncharacteristic year. sportingnews.com

I get where the writer is coming from. The Jazz didn’t set anything on fire down the stretch, except maybe their playoff hopes. It’s a team still looking for its leader. But the Jazz were slipping before either Sloan or Williams left.

With a couple of lottery picks (or trading the picks) and increased versatility, I think they’ll be better than expected, moving up to a mid-level (16 or 17) team. They’ll also have improved cap space if Andrei Kirilenko leaves as a free agent — or even if he stays at a reduced rate.

TSN ranks the Jazz behind such teams as Golden State, Houston, Indiana, the Clippers and Phoenix. At the moment, I think the Jazz will finish ahead of all of those. No Sloan and Williams? Strange as it sounds, that could actually be a good thing. They had gone as far as they were going to go in that system.

Traditionally the Jazz have rebuilt faster than anyone anticipated. On a modest, middle-of-the-pack level, I’m expecting it again.