Utah’s 2015-16 turn was hamstrung from the outset.
Lead guard Dante Exum looked as skittish and ill-prepared as any teenaged point guard prospect with limited low-end international experience would during his 2014-15 rookie season, but his offseason ACL tear cast a bit of a pall on a Jazz team that was hoping to turn a corner and make the playoffs for just the second time since Jerry Sloan left the franchise.
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Instead, the Jazz slowed the pace behind a pair of should-be reserves at point guard and weathered the too-critical storm of significant injuries to a point where they didn’t embarrass, yet didn’t contend.