Tonight, the Utah Jazz open up their season on the road in Portland against the Trailblazers. It should be a nice test for the Jazz, who played impressively and went undefeated in the preseason. The preseason doesn’t always carry over into the regular season, though.
Let me attempt to evoke some memories from 2010. The Jazz went 8-0 in the preseason after moving on from Carlos Boozer, trading for Al Jefferson, signing Raja Bell, and drafting everyone’s favorite young stud, Gordon Hayward. There was a lot of optimism surrounding this team, especially with the Deron Williams-Al Jefferson pairing. The season began with a blowout loss to Melo and the Nuggets. Things didn’t get any better from there. Jerry Sloan quit after beefing with star point guard, Deron Williams. DWill was traded shortly after, and the Jazz finished the season 39-43 missing the postseason entirely.