NBA Championship Odds:  There isn't a lot of confidence in the Utah Jazz to win the Finals this year as the lines makers have pegged Utah at 35-to-1 to win the title.  That means there is only a 2.5 percent probability of it happening.

Western Conference Odds: The Jazz aren't getting much love in the West either, with the NBA lines makers marking the Jazz at 20-to-1 to win the conference.  Seven teams have better odds than Utah does, but I think they are a better team than a lot of other organizations with better numbers.  The analysts think Utah has about a five percent chance of making it to the Finals.

Strengths: Utah made a strong move in picking up Al Jefferson from Minnesota.  He should effectively take the place of Carlos Boozer, who left in free agency to the Chicago Bulls.  The good thing about Jefferson is that he can play center, which allows Paul Millsap to start at the four.

Both Millsap and Jefferson are outstanding finishers and point guard Deron Williams does a good job of penetrating to the hoop.  When you see averages for Williams—19 points and 10 assists per game—you can easily see that he is among the best in the NBA at his spot.

Weaknesses:  This team will be without Mehmet Okur for awhile.  He tore his achilles last year in the playoffs so he will miss part of the season.  Also, Kyle Korver left in free agency, so I think there might be a problem with perimeter shooting.  That could plug up the lane and make it tough for the Jazz to utilize their greatest strengths.

Also, their post defense isn't going to be good.  Jefferson is only 6'10", so he's short for a center.  Millsap is undersized as well at 6'8", and even though he blocked 1.2 shots per contest, it's still not going to be tough for other players to shoot over him.  This is another reason that they are going to suffer without Okur, which points to another problem: depth.  If of the other bigs gets hurt, or have trouble with fouling on any given night, the Jazz could be in trouble.

Predictions – 6th in the West: I think the combination of Williams and Jefferson is going to provide for some electric basketball at times and Jerry Sloan has experience maximizing his teams.  However, I don't see the Jazz making a deep run in the playoffs, there just aren't enough pieces besides those two.  I see Utah losing in the first-round.

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