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Who would you pick and why?

Now I know the Kings had offseason drama... but.. they do have a nice roster just like the Jazz.

Unless Gobert is really as legit on defense as we think then I'm going with Kings.

I'm going with Sactown

Yeah definitely the Jazz. Kings have boogie but jazz have a decent team.

donde esta the poll?

the "personalities" on the kings will do them in.

Great question. I think these two teams will battle for the 8 spot. (And like someone else said add a poll!)

I'm totally biased, but I think the Kings have the most well rounded roster. Some cynics have pointed out that there is potential for implosion with the Cousins/Karl dynamic and the Rondo/self dynamic. These are all good points.

The Jazz will go as far as Gobert takes them. But, given that Cousins is still better than Gobert (IMO at least) and the Kings supporting cast is better (on paper) than the supporting cast of the Jazz I think the Kings have the inside edge.

With that said, the argument for the Jazz is that they actually proved they were a good team last year (at the end of the season), whereas the Kings are unproven. We'll see!

Utah, the Kings have the best player but i think Utah's players fit together better.

I can see both these teams being the 8 seed. The kings have a lower floor and higher ceiling but on average I see the Jazz better. I would guess the Jazz but I would not bet money on it

Denver Nuggets will be better than both.

Utah is a safer bet of being better (and IMO making the playoffs), even if I think Rondo will be decent, which I totally do not.

youngthegiant wrote:Denver Nuggets will be better than both.

I think Denver is going to be bottom 3 in the West.

youngthegiant wrote:Denver Nuggets will be better than both.

Bottom 3 man.

I'd say the Jazz. Cousins is the best player, but Jazz have the 3 next best players out of both of them and have proven something at the end of last season already.


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Kings, Iwaannabelieve

Jazz, kind of easily IMO.

They fit much better together, even without Exum. It's not like he was putting up even average starter numbers. Plus they get Alec Burks back this year after a torn labrum who it seems like most forgot about.

DreDay wrote:I'd say the Jazz. Cousins is the best player, but Jazz have the 3 next best players out of both of them and have proven something at the end of last season already.


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But let's say Cousins/Gobert & Haywood/Gay are very roughly on the same plane as the two best players on either team. Favors is a better third player than any King, I'll grant you that. But the Kings have the next 5-6 best players. Koufos, Belinelli, Collison are prove veterans, and WCS and McLemore bring youth and athleticism. Rondo is big question mark, but he's still a better point guard than anyone the Jazz have. It's true Exum could be good in the future, but he's not likely to make a huge difference next year, is he?

I have homer goggles, so I might be totally wrong, but I see Sactown finishing 10th, and Utah finishing 8th. I expect Phoenix to finish ahead of Sacramento.

j-ragg wrote:Jazz, kind of easily IMO.

They fit much better together, even without Exum. It's not like he was putting up even average starter numbers. Plus they get Alec Burks back this year after a torn labrum who it seems like most forgot about.

I agree that it's the Jazz pretty easily myself, but you are discounting just how much inserting Exum into the Starting Lineup meant to their 2nd half resurgence. Not only did he fit defensively, but it was also addition by subtraction getting the higher usage Trey Burke into a role off the bench that better suited him. This led to Hayward's highest usage himself over his career, where he flourished. It wasn't just Gobert that led to the turnaround...Gordon Hayward taking the next step with his opportunity was just as important.

I expect big things from the Jazz this season.

gustofwind wrote:

DreDay wrote:I'd say the Jazz. Cousins is the best player, but Jazz have the 3 next best players out of both of them and have proven something at the end of last season already.


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But let's say Cousins/Gobert & Haywood/Gay are very roughly on the same plane as the two best players on either team. Favors is a better third player than any King, I'll grant you that. But the Kings have the next 5-6 best players. Koufos, Belinelli, Collison are prove veterans, and WCS and McLemore bring youth and athleticism. Rondo is big question mark, but he's still a better point guard than anyone the Jazz have. It's true Exum could be good in the future, but he's not likely to make a huge difference next year, is he?

I completely disagree that the kings that the kings have the next 5-6 best players. In fact I like Burks more than any other player on the kings and Hood is not far behind. I also think Quin Snyder is going to go big a lot this season with a lineup of Burks, Hood, Hayward, Favors and Gobert. That is a lineup that I think will wreak havoc at both ends of the court. The jazz depth is definitely an issue because they have so many unproven players but so far in 2 preseason games I really like what I have seen from Pleiss, Trey Lyles and Raul Neto. What we really need though is for Trey Burke and Booker to give us some consistent play. If that happens then I think this jazz team could make some real noise in the west.

Also the one thing that separates the jazz from the kings in my opinion is that the jazz have a clear identity as a defensive team while the kings do not have an identity as this point. That can be established relatively quickly though and they have hands down the best player between the 2 teams.

I'll say kings.