Jazz's best player isn't good enough for them to be a real contender. Fluke year like the Suns last year, then maybe, but a normal year not at all.
You can’t win a championship when your best player is a small guard. Not anymore.
any more? There has been 1 championship in over 30 years where the team's best player was a small guard (2 if you count Wade as a small guard and think he was better than Shaq).
What about the Pistons? Wasn’t Chauncey Billups the best player on that team. It was rare, but possible to win like that in the past. I don’t see it happening again.
I've always considered Ben Wallace their best player. Chauncey really didn't ascend to that level until a couple of seasons later, though Chauncey did win the Finals MVP. And that matches things like All NBA Teams, MVP votes, all star appearances, etc. During that title season Wallace finished 7th in MVP voting, was 2nd Team All NBA, 1st Team All Defense, made his 2nd straight all star team, and it was the middle season in between his 4 DPOY. Chauncey didn't make his first All Defense until the next season, and his first All NBA, all star team, or receive MVP votes until 2 seasons after the title.