SALT LAKE CITY — There hasn’t been this kind of preseason optimism surrounding the Jazz since Mr. High Shorts and Professor Biceps were running the show. When John Stockton and Karl Malone played, every season brought high expectations.
Now the Jazz are again stirring up interest, some experts predicting they’ll reach the conference finals or beyond. Only time will tell. A very short time, in fact.
Fewer than three weeks.
That’s how far into the season it will take to show how seriously the Jazz should be regarded. Following the first 10 games, the remainder will be, as they say in the courtroom, corroborating evidence.
The NBA announced its schedule this week, and the Jazz are set for an impressive 25 nationally televised games. Word quickly spread that the Jazz will be facing noteworthy competition early in the season. It won’t be hard to determine whether they’re contenders.
While it’s still an 82-game schedule, there’s no preview like a working preview, and that’s exactly what fans will get. Six of the first 10 Jazz games are against playoff teams, while another is against the playoff-ready Los Angeles Lakers. Two other games are against Sacramento — a sneaky-dangerous team that finished one spot out of the playoffs.
So don’t be standing in the popcorn line when the movie starts.
This is sure to get interesting.
Here are the games that will launch the season, and maybe even the Jazz.
Oct. 23, vs. Oklahoma City: Some believe the Thunder actually improved after trading Russell Westbrook to Houston for 34-year-old Chris Paul. Steven Adams, Dennis Schroder and Danilo Gallinari make for a decent support staff, though not necessarily a playoff one.
Still, it’s a team that can bring thunder on occasion, now that it’s free of Westbrook’s ball-hogging.
Utah is a better team, but at the moment, OKC still has one more All-Star. The Jazz need to fix that.
Oct. 25, at Lakers: Remember when a game against the Lakers was almost an automatic win? It didn’t last long. The rejuvenated Lakers are the third-most likely team to win the NBA championship, according to analytics website FiveThirtyEight.
LeBron James has to slow down someday, but having Anthony Davis, Danny Green and Kyle Kuzma alongside will delay that.
Oct. 26, Nov. 1 vs. Sacramento: The Kings missed the postseason last year, and probably will again, but they remain dangerous. Last season Utah won two of three against the Kings, but De’Aaron Fox, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Buddy Hield are no joke.
The Kings, who were the first team outside the playoff bracket, represent 20 percent of the Jazz’s first 10 games. But Sacramento isn’t the easiest part of the Jazz’s early schedule. That dubious honor belongs to …
Oct. 28, at Phoenix: The only way the Jazz can lose this is if they look ahead to the Clippers and ignore the lowly Suns.
Considering the degree of difficulty in October and November, that could happen.
Oct. 30, Nov. 3, Clippers: Two games in four days against the star-driven Clippers will be brutal. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George make them a popular choice to reach the Finals. Last year the Jazz swept the series — which has zero to do with this season.
Comparing last year to this one isn’t just apples and oranges, it’s apples and peanut butter.
There’s nothing at all to compare.
Nov. 6, vs. Philadelphia. FiveThirtyEight gives the Sixers the highest chance of a championship in 2020. If talking equates to production, the Sixers are in. But Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris really should be as good as Embiid says.
Playing up to potential could have them ringing the Liberty Bell in June.
Nov. 8 vs. Milwaukee: No one is sleeping on the Bucks this year. Last season’s game in Salt Lake was the Jazz’s most stirring night of 2018-19. This year they can only hope they relive it — in the NBA Finals.
The Jazz can either make a statement early, or freeze like, well, deer in the headlights.
Nov. 11 at Golden State: It must be entertaining for the Warriors to see the obituaries that have been written about them after their breakup. But they’ll still have four All-Stars when Klay Thompson returns.
Did we mention the Jazz have none?
Not that anyone’s counting.
After the 10 games to start the season, the Jazz will still have 72 to catch up if necessary. That’s a lot of time. But as they say in the seminar commercials, openings are filling up fast — why wait?