After four long years, the rebuild is finally over in Utah. And with it, the worst stretch in Jazz history comes to a close, too.

Right?

But what comes next? Well, that depends on who you ask.

From the outside, plenty of prognosticators believe the core of Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Keyonte George is good enough to end Utah’s postseason drought next year.

But the Jazz’s leaders aren’t saying the word “playoffs” just yet. If fact, they’d prefer not to talk about.

“I don’t know,” head coach Will Hardy said about making the playoffs next year. “I think we all want to improve. I think we’re very capable of improving and taking a step forward. How big is that step? I don’t know yet. There’s so many factors that are not in our control as it relates to everybody else, when you start stacking yourselves up.”

Director of Basketball Operations Austin Ainge also swatted away questions about playoff aspirations.

“I’m going to focus on the process right now, we’ve got a lot to prove,” he said Monday. “We’ve got a big summer ahead of us. Players have to get a lot better and continue to work. Our front office, we have some key free agents and a lot of other things to finish out with our roster to know where we stand.”

So fans will have to color in their own expectations this offseason.

That starts with forecasting the roster around Jackson, Markkanen and George.

Ainge was noncommittal about making big moves to bolster that core.

Granted, the Jazz used most of their cap space to get Jackson at the trade deadline. But Ainge didn’t say whether he wanted to be aggressive or cautious to add around them.

“Those lines are difficult. It usually depends on opportunity,” Ainge said. “I would say that we made a big move with Jaren. We’ll always be aggressive, looking to improve the team. But unless some amazing opportunities present themselves, well, we don’t have tons of cap space that way, right?”

Hardy doesn’t exactly know how he will use Jackson, either. After arriving at the trade deadline, Jackson only played in a few games before undergoing knee surgery to remove a growth.

There wasn’t much time to experiment with how Jackson plays off the current roster.

“The clarity is not great,” Hardy said. “I have my ideas. I have plenty of concepts that I think will be very good for him. But I think any coach would tell you, it all looks good on the board. You don’t want to make the team a laboratory, but you do need to test certain things.”

Ainge still believes they have the right pieces around Jackson to maximize his talent. But that also stems from Jackson being malleable.

“I mean, he’s such a versatile, easy guy,” Ainge said. “He can defend and shoot and pass, and I think he fits a lot of teams, which is a lot of his value.”

The biggest question mark is whether the Jazz will have 7-footer Walker Kessler playing with Jackson. Kessler and Jackson would give Utah significant size in the front court and anchor the rim protection.

But Kessler is yet to settle his contract situation as a restricted free agent this year.

“We’re big fans, but we’ve got to figure it out this summer with the contract,” Ainge said.

One player who isn’t a question, though, is first-rounder Ace Bailey. He averaged nearly 14 points a game as a rookie and shot the ball much better with opportunity.

The Jazz have visions of Bailey taking an increased responsibility on the ball and using his length as a perimeter defender.

“It’s the weight room, he’s going to live in there,” Ainge said. “Anytime he can bump anyone and make a shot, he makes sure he tells me about that. So he knows he’s going to work really hard to get stronger.”

As for the rest of the young guys on a rookie contract, the Jazz were less forthright about the future.

“Not every young player may get to play,” Ainge said. “It’s going to be a competition for minutes, but I believe a lot of those young guys have proven that they can play in the NBA this year.”

These decisions will be made over the coming months. But the spotlight on Utah will be increased with playoff expectations, whether the Jazz want it or not.

“I don’t like to set exact expectations,” Ainge finished. “Because sometimes they can add pressure, but sometimes they can be limiting. ... We want to put a great product out for our fans, a team they can be proud of. So we know that we need to make some progress.”