Question: I'm a lifelong Jazz fan. I've always felt they are good enough to win every game. However, the slew of injuries have dampened those high expectations this season and their record shows it. Where do you feel the Jazz would be right now without all the injuries? What are your expectations for the Jazz once they return to full strength? Also, since I am unable to watch most games, I rely on the box scores quite a bit. Could you tell me what the stat "BA" means? Also, does a shot (made or missed) count in the box score when the shooter is fouled?
-- Robert in Boise Answer: When the season began, I thought the Jazz were one of the top four teams in the Western Conference.
I thought the Lakers, with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and a healthy Andrew Bynum, were the only team in the West that was clearly better than Utah.
In the second tier -- just behind L.A. -- I lumped the Jazz together with two other teams, San Antonio and New Orleans.
I still believe this is a reasonable assessment of an injury-free Western Conference, although the Chauncey Billups-Allen Iverson trade helped Denver a great deal and I would now include the Nuggets in the group of teams sitting just behind the Lakers, in terms of championship ability.
If every team was 100 percent healthy, this is how I would currently rank the Western Conference:
1. L.A. Lakers
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. Utah Jazz
4. New Orleans Hornets
5. Denver Nuggets
6. Houston Rockets
7. Portland Trail Blazers
8. Phoenix Suns
9. Dallas Mavericks
I don't think I'm being provincial by ranking Utah third because I don't think many people understand just how much the Jazz have been forced to overcome.
I have watched the Jazz closely since the 1986-87 season, and I have never seen an outbreak of injuries to key players like the one they have suffered this season.
The Jazz lost their best close-to-the-basket scorer in Carlos Boozer. He is the only player in the Jazz's offense who consistently commands a double-team.
The Jazz lost their most versatile defender and rim protector in Andrei Kirilenko.
They lost top-three point guard Deron Williams for the first six weeks of the season, and I don't think he was 100 percent until mid-January. Now, he's hurt again.
The bottom-line?
The three players the Jazz have who are most capable of making their teammates better have missed most of the season.
Did you notice the starting lineups in Monday night's Jazz-Charlotte game?
Against a team that started a former No. 2 draft pick (Emeka Okafor), a former No. 3 pick (Adam Morrison), a former No. 5 pick (Raymond Felton) and a former No. 21 pick (Boris Diaw), the Jazz started Ronnie Price, C.J. Miles, Memo Okur, Paul Millsap and Ronnie Brewer.
Price was not drafted. Miles, Okur and Millsap were second-rounders. Brewer was the Jazz's only one in the group who was a first-round pick, and he was taken 14th -- hardly a guarantee for success.
Pending contract issues aside, I think this is the reason Jazz management would like to keep its team together for another year.
Barring injuries, Utah is one of the best in the West. Anyone who disputes that notion has not been paying attention.
Now, to your other questions:
? "BA" in a box score means "blocks against." In other words, this is the number of shots attempted by a player which were blocked by an opponent.
? A shot that goes in when a player is fouled counts as a field-goal attempt in the final box score. A shot that doesn't go in when a player is fouled in the act of shooting does not count as a field-goal attempt in the final box score.
