This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

It's been coming on more clearly for a couple of weeks now and it will continue over the next two months: the notion of Utah as a Western Conference playoff team.

That's right; The Jazz are headed to the playoffs.

It's not automatic. It's not written in the stars. It's written on the collective mind and will and emerging talent of the Jazz players.

It won't be easy. It's not a given. But it is well within the grasp of a developing bunch of youngsters who are becoming grown men straight in front of everybody's eyes.

All that trouble that previously set the Jazz back exacted its toll and, in doing so, taught its lessons, foremost among them that bad luck and bad health had their devastating day, and that that day is now pretty much over. Now, the Jazz are taking the residual determination, steeled via blown knees and sprained joints, broken legs and aching backs, leaving the guys leftover to turn face-first into a cold wind, discovering a little better who they are and of what they're capable.

"The guys kept fighting," Quin Snyder said. "They kept fighting."

Alongside a greater appreciation for what it takes to win, the Jazz have a greater sense of what's owed them as they pay the proper price.

"We know how hard we have to work," said Rodney Hood.

Which is to say, the Jazz are on the verge of making another strong run after the All-Star break, this time not starting so far behind as to merely land among the also-rans.

This go, if the Jazz come anywhere close to last year's 19-10 run, they'll finish well above .500, and perhaps be in position not as the eighth seed in the West, rather as the seventh or even the sixth.

To do that, the Jazz will have to learn, among other lessons, how to better win on the road. After Tuesday night's overtime win at Dallas, which is followed by a back-to-backer at New Orleans, the Jazz have compiled an away record of 9-15.

That's not good enough.

They're fully aware.

It's a part of the process every growing team hacks through.

No team has won a championship with a losing record on the road since the 1970s. Not that the Jazz are ready for that kind of ascension. Still, the defense the Jazz are re-establishing with Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors, the confidence having those two in back stirs out front, will help the Jazz improve in opposing arenas. They say defense travels. It has to now.

The emergence of Hood and Gordon Hayward as team leaders, as offensive weapons who are able and willing to take important shots, particularly late in games, at what Magic Johnson used to call "winning time," is huge for the Jazz.

Those two primary players, along with other role guys, were left to go on battling while the injured front-liners healed. Now that they have, with Alec Burks scheduled to get back after the break, a team that was thrashing about to stay afloat is more buoyant than opponents in the back half of the West's playoff field wish it was.

All of those teams know what's happening in Utah. It's no secret. Even the better clubs are aware of a slowly rising Jazz team, a defensive outfit that's putting it together. As it goes on learning, it still will have good nights and bad, but more of the former than the latter.

As the Jazz race for a playoff spot, that will be a new experience for them, a step forward. As they qualify for the playoffs, and maybe get swept, they'll take another step — into the intensity of the postseason, into a setting yet unfamiliar to them.

All of which tees them up for a better run next season, when point guard Dante Exum rejoins an advanced group. The financial flexibility the Jazz have stored away, not just to keep what is theirs, but to add a contributing veteran, all as the limits of the salary cap go higher, will benefit them.

Socrates was the one who said, "All I know is that I know nothing."

Maybe the old philosopher is right.

Maybe I'm wrong about the Jazz.

I said before the season started that they'd make the playoffs and I'm standing by it. The dark days are gone. They'll land in the middle of the Western Conference playoff mix next year. If they make a smart move or two, they'll edge upward from there. Their fans' patience will be rewarded.

Even in a rocky market, it'd be foolish not to buy in now.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.