This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Las Vegas • Quin Snyder has been a popular man at the Las Vegas Summer League this week.
There have been well-wishers. There have been congratulators. There have been greetings from agents, from players he has coached, from just about every imaginable walk of NBA life. They have all wanted a piece from the Utah Jazz head coach, who is on the cusp of his third season in Salt Lake City.
And why not? On paper, the table is set for the Jazz. The ham is cooked, glazed, and just ready to be sliced. With the additions of George Hill, Joe Johnson and Boris Diaw to an already versatile and talented group, this week has been a figurative victory lap for Snyder in many ways.
But now comes the hard part. Once upon a time, hip-hop mogul P Diddy rapped about mo' money, mo' problems. That analogy fits Snyder here. His roster is going from too little depth to almost too much depth. His team is going from guarded optimism to high anticipation. The Jazz are not only expected to make the playoffs, but challenge for a high seed in the Western Conference. The talk is of Utah having every chance to win 50 games this upcoming season. But now the Jazz have to go out and prove it.
No pressure, Quin. No pressure at all.
"The challenge for myself and for the players is to get them to go out and compete," Snyder said. "The challenge for them is to stay true to the game and stay true to each other. We have to stay away from injury, and guys have to understand the team is most important and winning is most important. The good thing is, the players are committed to winning."
Snyder's eyes are wide open, here. With roughly 10 weeks remaining until the start of training camp, he knows that things have changed. He's going from coaching one of the youngest teams in the NBA to guiding a team that's one year older and has added a trio of seasoned veterans. Yes, the talent has significantly increased, but so has the pressure to juggle that talent and put everyone in a position to succeed.
One has to look no further than the perimeter to find good examples. Shelvin Mack and Raul Neto were the two starters at point guard last season. Next year, there's a good chance Mack will be the third point guard and Neto may spend a good chunk of the year in the D-League with the D-League Stars.
Last season, Alec Burks was the primary sixth man before he got hurt in December. Now, he's probably the fourth wing. Last season, the Jazz were handing out 10-day contracts like candy just to get through the month of January. Now, their 11th and 12th men could very well be Mack and Joe Ingles, guys who have both proved to be rotational talents in the NBA.
"I prefer not to look at it as younger versus older," Snyder said. "We look at it as a more typical roster than we've had in the past. We have some veterans, we still have a lot of youth. We're going to benefit from having veteran guys and young guys. We're going to look at it as a good thing."
Snyder knows some of his coaching approach will have to change. But he also knows he has a roster of incumbent players who haven't tasted success and are sick of losing. When asked about it earlier this summer, Ingles simply said "All I want to do is win." Star small forward Gordon Hayward has intimated the same thing in past conversations and interviews.
And now, Snyder knows he can't publicly temper expectations, as he has so often done in the past. He knows the playoffs are a reasonable goal. Yes, the Golden State Warriors have become the super team with the acquisition of Kevin Durant.
But outside of the Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs, how many teams in the West do the Jazz reasonably take a back seat to? On paper at least, the answer would appear to be not many.
"This is just the natural process," Snyder said. "We aren't going to put a ceiling on where we are. But at the same time, there is some realism on where this team could be. Last year we surprised ourselves. We had a lot of injuries. We wish we could've made the playoffs, but we have a little more continuity and balance and experience."
The Jazz are deeper than a typical NBA team. But there are some examples of teams in the past who have made depth work for them. In 2000, a Portland Trail Blazers team that had 12 rotation-type players made it all the way to the Western Conference finals. They led the Los Angeles Lakers on the road by double-digits in Game 7, before Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal led a historic comeback for the win.
Utah's roster this season, arguably, has as much depth as any team in the league. It has talent. It has experience. And now it has expectations.
And it's up to Quin Snyder to make it all work.
twitter: @tjonessltrib Playoff-bound?
• Quin Snyder is entering his third NBA season as a head coach. He is 78-86 in his first two seasons and went 40-42 last season.
• The Jazz have added small forward Joe Johnson in free agency. They traded for point guard George Hill and power forward Boris Diaw.
• The Jazz, who were eliminated on the final night this past season, haven't made it to the playoffs since 2012.