SALT LAKE CITY — Will the upcoming NBA season be considered a failure for the Utah Jazz if they don't at least reach the Western Conference Finals?
The Ringer's Dan Devine seems to think so.
In a piece published Thursday, Devine divided the league's 30 teams into seven tiers based upon expectations, and he put the Jazz in a tier he titled "Conference Finals or Bust" along with the Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers.
"Well, then maybe this is the year that the Jazz can finally get past the small-ball nemeses that have blocked their path, driven by a juiced-up offense invigorated by the arrivals of Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic," Devine wrote.