This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.

Rudy Gobert limped to the stage, the living, breathing, hobbling embodiment of a Utah Jazz season that ended this week too early for their liking.

Seven months ago, Gobert and his teammates sat in the very same room in the team's Salt Lake practice facility and laid bare their ambition of finally taking that next step and getting the franchise back to the postseason. Now, after a late season collapse (in Gobert's case, literally falling to the ground after badly spraining his ankle in a pivotal game), the Jazz were left to admit they had come up short.

"Our goal was to make the playoffs," Gobert said. "We're disappointed."

A week ago, everything looked to have broken the Jazz's way. Statisticians gave them an 85 percent chance of tasting the second season. The team could have climbed as high as sixth place in the West.

Five games and four losses later, possibility had been replaced by harsh reality. The Jazz, for a fourth straight season, would be going home early.

"It was definitely heartbreaking," forward Derrick Favors said. "The way the whole playoff race was set up with us, Dallas, Houston … It was heartbreaking, man. A lot of guys took it kind of hard. I know I did."

Said shooting guard Rodney Hood, "It's going to be hard watching the playoffs, knowing we were in control in the later part of the season."

In a results oriented business, the results weren't good enough. Now their lockers are cleaned out and their bags packed for a long summer break.

"Obviously I was hopeful we would end the season on a more upbeat note," coach Quin Snyder said.

But the Jazz on Thursday had also started to shift their focus to the future. "We can only get better," Gobert said.

At the very least, it stands to reason the Jazz can only get healthier. Point guard Dante Exum's torn ACL was only the tip of an injury iceberg that cost Jazzmen more than 170 games this season. Alec Burks, injured for most of last season, fractured his ankle in December. Gobert and Favors only played in 49 games together; the Jazz went 26-23 in those contests.

"We could have easily packed it in any time when all that stuff was going on," forward Joe Ingles said. "It sucks right now, obviously to lose out, but there are definitely a lot of positives to look back on in a few days time."

In delivering his postmortem Thursday, Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey put some of the blame for his team's struggles on himself. The Jazz had the cap space to bring in more talented and experienced help, but instead let a young team continue to develop early in the season, undoubtedly sacrificing some wins along the way. Lindsey, however, said he did try to add some veteran help later in the campaign. The general manager said he twice agreed to deals only to see them fall apart in the end.

"There were two particular deals that were actually proposed to us and we said yes to and for whatever reason we weren't able to consummate that were more short-term oriented," Lindsey said. "I was willing to give up a first round pick, multiple picks, very significant salary slot because we had built that into the equation. For whatever reason, we weren't able to consummate."

Again, the disparity between the potential and the actual bore out. The Jazz ultimately added point guard Shelvin Mack at the trade deadline, providing a boost to the roster but not a large enough one to push the Jazz over the hump and into the postseason.

It has now been four years since the franchise has made the playoffs and six since it has won a playoff game. But Lindsey said he believes his team is trending in the right direction and that the end of a rebuilding process is in sight.

"If you look at the metrics, we're toward the tail end of that," he said. "We're a competitive team."

The Jazz improved from the 12th-ranked defense last season to seventh best overall and believe with Exum's return next year they have a chance to be even better. Utah's point differential, too, suggests the Jazz should have notched more than 40 wins this season. As they parted ways for the summer, Lindsey spoke confidently about his team's outlook.

The Jazz believe they are on the right course.

But that won't lessen reality's bite as another season ends

"People around the league and we know we'll be one of the powerhouses in the West for years to come," Hood said. "It just hurts not to be there right now."

Twitter: @tribjazz Jazz under GM Dennis Lindsey

Season Record Playoffs

2012-13 43-39 None

2013-14 25-57 None

2014-15 38-44 None

2015-16 40-42 None