The 2026-27 season will be a different beast for the blooming Utah Jazz, a franchise that has wallowed in the depths of irrelevance for years while picking in the NBA Draft Lottery for the past three seasons. This year, however, the young core is turning a corner just in time to fuse with the All-Star experience of Jaren Jackson Jr and Lauri Markkanen.

Putting it simply, you're going to witness a vastly improved Utah Jazz team this year, even if the makeup of the roster will be largely unchanged, adding primarily Darryn Peterson through the draft and Josh Okogie, Jaxson Hayes, and Mo Bamba through free agency.

And with a roster full of youngsters, this season will be a testing period to determine who's ready to shift gears and attack the league with a winning mindset, and who is doomed to wilt under the pressure of playing meaningful basketball.

Have you ever heard of a "good stats, bad team" player?

The types of players who will post absurd scoring totals, strong assist numbers, and eye-popping stats on a nightly basis, yet seem to garner little to no interest from teams across the NBA? 

Cam Thomas is a perfect example of this phenomenon. He was exceptional from a scoring standpoint with the rebuilding Brooklyn Nets, but was practically forced out of Brooklyn before joining the Bucks for a short stint... and was then promptly released.

He's a good stats, bad team player; his numbers don't contribute to winning.

Plenty of players put up good stats with the Utah Jazz last season. Keyonte George took a major leap, Cody Williams enjoyed a strong second half, Brice Sensabaugh emerged as one of the best bench scorers in the league, and multiple players made names for themselves with the tanking Jazz.

But who can play to win when the Jazz turn their attention away from the lottery and toward the playoffs?

Collier averaged 7.2 assists as a sophomore, the eighth-highest rate in the NBA. Even more impressively, he accomplished this while coming off the bench and playing just 25 minutes per game.

He saw improved free throw shooting numbers near the end of last season, and I anticipate he takes steps in the right direction this year as a shooter, perhaps establishing himself as the best backup point guard in the NBA -- at least as a distributor.

Much has been said about Cody's upside in the league, and much will be said about the former 10th-overall pick's value with the Jazz moving forward. But as a player who's shown the tendency to float through games, I believe serious competition will be the driving force behind a breakout year.

As a perimeter defender and as an off-ball scorer, he showed growth in the Summer League. It's time to make a statement on a real NBA court.

Keyonte really refined his scoring tool kit last season, adding a more potent inside game complete with a devastating floater. He got to the line at an absurd rate last year as a primary offensive option, and should continue to remove imperfections from his decision-making ability.

But the key for Key is defense. He's been one of basketball's worst defenders since entering the league three seasons ago, and will need to dig his heels in and force some resistance if he wants to go from good to great, elevating his team in the process.