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Can the Utah Jazz be this year's version of the last year's Sacramento Kings and outperform their talent levels compared to the rest of the mighty western conference? Find out next on locked on jazz.

You are locked on jazz. Your daily podcast on the Utah Jazz. Part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day.

Hello and welcome into locked on jazz. I'm leave to lean and as always excited to be with you on locked on jazz and we're almost at basketball season, which is my happy time.

I'm a life long Utah Jazz fan is a credentialed NBA draft analyst for locked on NBA big board attend either 2023 combine jazz broadcast assistance statistician and lover of college basketball.

Also expect you know geeky numbers for that, but today the geeky numbers come back that you're accustomed to in love with David lock. I'm going to delve into some geeky numbers of my own and break down why the Utah Jazz can outperform their talent level and maybe compare them to a team that over achieve last year in the Sacramento Kings.

Thanks for making locked on jazz your first listen every day and remember you want us to grow the best way to do so is listen on all our platforms, including YouTube at locked on jazz where the best way to help us grow.

And today's question is can the jazz be the surprise of the West this season and how so I'd love to see your actions and I may not respond to them, but I do read them and I appreciate those of you who engage in this and and all of you guys who listen.

All right, in the first segment, I'll compare the talent of the 2023 2024 Utah Jazz with that of the third seeded Sacramento Kings from last season and give us a pitch as to why the jazz could be this year's over achiever and how it can happen.

In the second segment, I'll rank out which of the teams in the Western conference are beyond the jazz and talent. I'll rank the talent level of all the teams in the Western conference in tears.

And you'll see how I'm going to do that and I think it's going to have a lot to do with just star power sheer unadulterated talent.

And then lastly, after making the jazz of talent levels and explaining why they can be similar to last season Kings, I will outline what will have to happen for the jazz to reach the playoffs and compete beginning with the coaching philosophy that I think the jazz will have to employ.

All right, let's dive right in.

Why can the Utah Jazz be this year's version of the Sacramento Kings and what I mean by that is the Sacramento Kings were the three seeded in the West finished the year 48 and 34 finished third in the Western conference averaging 120.7 points per game.

They allowed opponents 118.1, which was 25th in their scoring was the best in the NBA, which was 100 basically 121 points game.

The offensive rating was 119.4, which essentially means per 100 possessions. They score 119 at points and a little bit.

If you if you guys are technical 119.4 points per 100 possessions, which is also first out of 30 and defensive rating was 25th, allowing 116.8 points per game per 100 possessions.

They're net rating then if you if you do the math is plus 2.6, which is 8.30, meaning they're eight best team in the NBA. Can the jazz be the best eight best team in the NBA?

It's unlikely. I don't know if you could even say the Kings were the eighth best team in the NBA, but according to the regular season they were and that's what gets you into the playoffs and what you need to do is get into the playoffs.

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