Better team this season= Utah Jazz or Sacramento Kings?

[El Turco]

jazz easily better, kings will be bottom 3 team in west

[Catchall]

I think the Jazz will challenge Nola for the 7th seed and probably take it.

[mvpshaq32]

Kings by far. Better star players, deeper bench, veteran experience.

Jazz do not have enough offensive firepower and were a bottom 5 scoring team last season and I expect it to be similar this season. Big Hayward fan, but he needs a lot more help around him, especially creating shots. Trey Burke will have to step up immensely if Jazz want that 8th spot.

[lars_rosenberg]

The Jazz are better imho.
If they can figure it out how to replace Exum they can even make some noise in the playoff because defense wins in the playoffs and they are one of the better defensive team in the whole league.

[eminence]

If Utah can keep up the defense from the end of last season it'll be them by a country mile. I'm expecting 7th seed out of my Jazz this season.

[Johnlac1]

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

Yes. Watching the Kings the other night, I once again was left with the conviction that the Kings should be allowed to play with five basketballs so they all could get their shots. Other than Rondo, it doesn't look like any of the starters are interested in passing the ball. I thought with Rondo at the point he could control the ball-hogging and gunning by the other starters. I don't see that happening.
The Jazz have less overall talent but are more into a team concept.

[krakdol]

Utah Jazz is the better team by a country mile. Kings have been among the worst teams in the league for years with big egos, psychos and bad coaches. It won't change this year with a Rondo accident waiting to happen.

The Jazz on the other hand had the #1 defense in the NBA post allstar break by a mile and one of the best NBA records post allstar break. And that was BEFORE they got back Burks this summer who just scored 27 on the lakers. The team turned a corner and they're still very young so they'll improve again this year.

Even the Nuggets will be better than the Kings since they have a good coach (Malone) and less ago battles and psychotic players.

[Winsome Gerbil]

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

Yes. Watching the Kings the other night, I once again was left with the conviction that the Kings should be allowed to play with five basketballs so they all could get their shots. Other than Rondo, it doesn't look like any of the starters are interested in passing the ball. I thought with Rondo at the point he could control the ball-hogging and gunning by the other starters. I don't see that happening.
The Jazz have less overall talent but are more into a team concept.

Am wondering offhand which one of Kosta Koufos, Willie Cauley Stein, Ben McLemore or James Anderson you are accusing of gunning?

I caught part of the Spurs game last night and the box says the Kings starters were:

Gay 13FGA
Cousins 11FGA
WCS 3FGA
Anderson 3FGA
Rondo 4FGA

truly you can see how all 5 guys were gunning at will and fighting over the ball.

[Def Swami]

I think Kings get that 8th seed over the Jazz this year.

[King Baller]

I have not seen enough of the Jazz to know much about them except they are young, talented and coming on strong.

The Kings on the other hand I examine everything that happens:)

For those mentioning the past just let it go. New Owners, New GM and Front Office, 10 new players and a new Arena going up in Downtown Sacto. This after the national media pundits said it was 1st and goal for Seattle:)

I expect the Kings to play .500 ball until the All Star Break then win enough to make the Playoffs. It is not going to be pretty as the Kings get little respect around the Association. Who remembers that game in Memphis last season.

As for the player comparisons I see little mention of Darren Collison and Willie Cauley Stein. WCS appears to be ready to play on the defensive side. Darren is healed from his injury last year.

I don't know who is better. But it is going to be a fun ride for both teams and their fan bases!

[InfraRedshaw]

just want to shout out the OP, this was a really good thought dude!
you can tell because the posters are so split!

i personally think the kings should be better, Beli will be big for them, and i agree with the posters who think Exum's loss isnt being taken serious enough. Was a big part of their 2nd half turn around.

[WolvesGuy14]

If Exum was healthy I'd say Jazz. But he's not, so I have to go Kings.

[Stoked]

Both rosters have some good players that can do really good things. They both are well coached, Carl and Snyder.

Kings have - Cousins, Gay, Rondo...

Jazz have Hayward, Gobert, Favors...

But the major differences are personalities and chemistry. The Jazz are close, get along extremely well and compliment each other. the Kings have a collection of very strong personalities. Carl and Cousins have already had problems and have now added Rondo to the mix.

I'll take the Jazz. But will say that if Cousins and Rondo could get out of their own way they could be a very good team.

[Stoked]

Kings by far. Better star players, deeper bench, veteran experience.

Jazz do not have enough offensive firepower and were a bottom 5 scoring team last season and I expect it to be similar this season. Big Hayward fan, but he needs a lot more help around him, especially creating shots. Trey Burke will have to step up immensely if Jazz want that 8th spot.

Burks was out most of last season and is now 100% for the first time in his career. Hood turned it on hard at the end of the season and showed he can still do so in SL and so far in preseason. If they can get consistent that will be a huge boost to the Jazz O.

[Jadoogar]

Kings definitely have the best player on both teams however i think i the Jazz would have 3 of the top 5 players out of both teams (Hayward, Gobert, Favors). Right now I would say the Jazz are better, too many question marks on the Kings. I don't even feel Rondo is a question mark, he hasn't been good for a very long time

[jazzfan1971]

Jazz were 9 wins better than sacramento last season. I suspect that the Jazz are a few games better with the addition of Burke, a second year with Snyder, and a year of development of all their youth. (plus Jazz were a much stronger team after trading Kanter)

So, did Sacramento improve 12+ games over last season with the moves they made? That will be an impressive jump.

You can never discount the impact of injuries, but, right now, with the current rosters, I project Utah as the team with the better record.

[Ruckusmh]

Cousins
Hayward
Favors
Gobert
Gay
Burks
Hood

gay at least above gobert (for now), and darren collison and rondo above burks

Not even close. Gay has never been a significant positive, Collison is very meh and Rondo was horrible last year.

[codydaze]

jazz easily better, kings will be bottom 3 team in west

Bottom 3?

[HeartBreakKid]

The Jazz were better by a decent bit last year, and the Jazz were getting stronger as the season progressed. I don't think the Kings are going to be 15 wins better than last season, though I suppose it is possible.

I really don't care for the additions the Kings made, to be honest, I'm not sure if I've thought they were a playoff team in any of the past years, but I did think they would do better than they have - they've underachieved for me which is saying a lot giving they do not have very high expectations every year. I don't think they're going to be better than the Jazz (which would make them a playoff team basically).

Rudy Gay was good, the other "good" players they have are more along the lines of passable rotation dudes, Curry and Stockton are going more off name value (I normally wouldn't mention them since they would be fortunate just to get some good minutes, but once in a while their names come up in Kings threads), not convinced Rondo will be very good at all, they dont have a real power forward though having too many centers is never an awful thing imo.

I think McLemore will improve, but only to a decent player.

George Karl is a good coach, and I suppose with him at the healm a major spike in wins wouldn't be that head scratching. The shaky chemistry and drama does put a few red flags though.


The Jazz already got it together, they have a great defense. Granted, I don't think the Jazz have really gotten better personal wise which may hold them back. Not a fan of Lyles, no improvement will be made with Exum since he's gone, no real PG still. Great defense doesn't just go away in an off season though, I still think they'll have that side of the ball to get a .500ish record.

[ThumbsUpBaby]

On paper, I'd take Sacramento... actually looking at the rosters, I'd still take Sacramento.