Biggest questions: Utah Jazz and LA Lakers
THE biggest questions in the NBA after the All-Star break still involve the LA Lakers and the Utah Jazz. These are two teams important to Pinoy hoop fans: the Lakers are arguably the world’s Ginebra, and our own Jordan Clarkson is still with the Utah Jazz. Also, one of the tightest MVP contests in the NBA.
Will the Lakers make the playoffs?
Before we even talk about being contenders, we must talk about the playoffs. Currently the Lakers need to win more than 60 percent of their remaining games to make just the play-in.
The team that we saw just before the All-Star break is still not so impressive, but definitely a better product. D’Angelo Russell (D-Lo) is forgiven for his Bro code violation, and as previously mentioned, everything is negotiable if you can play. Not saying it’s right, but that’s the reality of the NBA.
Side note: I personally hated losing D-Lo just because of Nick Young’s lovelife. Young would have probably blown it on his own anyway. Just kidding. The real reason Russell was traded was to get rid of Timofey Mozgov — one of the most embarrassing mistakes of the Lakers’ franchise.
The Lakers’ roster has improved; it’s just an issue of chemistry. That can only develop over time. Looking at their schedule, they have two home games against the Warriors. There are two versions of Golden State — the road version is much worse than the home version. However, the Warriors are also desperate, and this may drive them to play better.
They still have Rocketsx2, Magic and Bulls. They are expected to win those games. However, the key here is their last set of games: they have the Phoenix Suns, LA Clippers and the Jazz twice. The Suns and Clippers could be load managing, or if they don’t like matching up with the Lakers, they’ll try to knock them out. But the two Jazz matchups are dependent on the next question.
Are the Utah Jazz still tanking?
Jazz coach Will Hardy should be a candidate for Coach of the Year, if only they weren’t supposed to win. Hardy is a student of Coach Gregg Popovich, who is also tanking. Pop taught him how to win, and not to lose.
The Jazz gifted the Lakers with Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley, and also increased their chances to tank. However, they still continue to compete. The definitive answer to this question lies in the next 10 games.
The Jazz have an easy schedule coming — the Spurs and Thunder 2x, the Charlotte Hornets, Magic and Dallas Mavericks. If they lose these games, that means they are going tank mode, and that bodes well for the Lakers, as they would probably want to lose their late two games against them.
The Jazz understood the new rules of the lottery, so they can be sixth worst, not the absolute worst. They managed to build up the confidence of their players, like Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson, and rookie Walker Kessler. Now, they could be part of the core along with the lottery pick — which could be Victor Wembanyama.
It’s a success for the NBA. It’s no secret that they hated brazen tanking where teams try to win just 15 games. The product is awful and unwatchable. The Utah Jazz were a good team in the first half, but now they need to get down to their agenda of losing.
MVP race: Down the wire
The Big Man era is back when you have three 7-footers running for MVP. It should be a close race between Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, with solid arguments for Joel Embiid. However, a recent survey on NBA media had Jokic at No. 1 with 77 first place votes as opposed to Giannis having just 11.
In reality, the fight should be much closer than that. Earlier in the season, it was Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic. While they are still consistently good, the narrative, specifically for Tatum, is that he has the better team, and less of a load to carry.
Nonetheless, this will be one of the more interesting MVP races in recent history.