Assuming every team in the NBA has a goal to win at least one championship in the next five years, current teams can be grouped into categories like the following:
1. Current legit contenders (teams like the Warriors with the roster makeup and talent to contend this season and/or next)
2. Current challengers (teams like the Mavericks with the roster makeup to contend now, but not quite the talent)
3. Future contenders (teams like the Bucks that look to be on a path to contending for a championship 2-4 years from now)
4. Rebuilders (teams like the Celtics in the midst of an unfinished rebuilding process)
5. Sinking ships (teams like the Nets that need to rebuild, but can't even start yet)
The Utah Jazz have been solidly in Group 4 for quite a while. Sure, they were young and rebuilding, but were they actually doing a good job of it? Rebuilding for the sake of rebuilding was not an accomplishment.
Mark it down: The Jazz have leveled up.
There seems to have been a major change recently, led by the emergence of Rudy Gobert, that has pushed the Jazz from Group 4 to Group 3, perhaps a few months ahead of schedule.
The change: The Jazz are taking pride in their defense.
The statistics show that the Jazz have improved defensively; but it's more than that. The change in attitude is visible to the eye as well. Watching the team, there's a sense that suddenly these guys are taking pride and pleasure in stopping their opponents from scoring. This is a new and course-altering development.
It starts with Gobert, and again it's about more than statistics. Gobert has given the Jazz blocked shots, but even more than that he's brought an attitude to the court that has elevated the whole team. Remember, Al Jefferson blocked shots for the Jazz too. But when you watch Gobert play, there's an evident "edge" to his game — an edge that the Jazz have been missing — and that seems to have been contagious.
The move to bring Dante Exum into the starting lineup may have been motivated by this shift in attitude as well. Exum is already a better defensive player than Trey Burke, if for no other reason than he's a lot bigger, and seems to have the tools to become an elite perimeter defender with time.
The Jazz still probably don't have the Hall-of-Fame leader on the roster that almost all championship teams have, but they do appear to have the core pieces in place to contend with a defense-first identity, much like the Detroit Pistons did from 2001-2008 when they won an average of 55 games per season, made the Eastern Conference Finals six straight times, and won an NBA title in 2004.
The Jazz still have new levels to reach, especially in terms of experience and consistency. They'll still have nights where they look like garbage for the next year or two as they learn to bring the 'D' each and every game. They'll still tweak the roster here and there too.
In the grand scheme, however, the Jazz have shown enough that it can be thus written: The Utah Jazz are no longer rebuilding. They've rebuilt. They've leveled up from Rebuilders to legit Future Contenders. Now they just need time, good fortune and a whole lot of work ethic to become true contenders by 2016-17.
Nate Gagon is an opinion columnist featured by the Deseret News and writes a weekly sports feature called Rapid Fire. He shoots roughly 94 percent from the free-throw line and can be reached at: nategagon@hotmail.com or @nategagon.