All-Star weekend is a symbolic midway point of the season if not a literal one, coming, as it does, for the Jazz, after 57 games of their 82-game schedule.
Nevertheless, like a months-long extension of the winter holiday season, it inevitably brings about moments of self-reflection: Where are we now? And where are we going?
To revert to the literal once more, Utah’s record of 32 wins against 25 losses places the team in sixth place among a stacked field of talented Western Conference teams. Contextually, though, what does that count for?
Comparisons to last season’s Jazz team have been practically inevitable from the outset, considering the return of 13 players to the roster was followed by another difficult start and a subsequent resurgence.