The Utah Jazz have been an early surprise in the 2006-07 season. They have played solid basketball through the first 15 games in both road and home contests. The Jazz have played 10 games against opponents with records of .500 or better and have only lost in two of those contests. In victories the Jazz are shooting an astounding .511 as a team, while in defeats they are completing just 39 percent of their shots. The Jazz have also been solid both at home and on the road.

In the early going the Jazz have been winning the intangibles. The Jazz are the NO. 1 rebounding team in the NBA with more than 45.3 rebounds per game while allowing a league-best 35.8 rebounds per game, a 9.5 rebound per game differential. In addition to playing hard-nosed defense, the Jazz are allowing only 9.6 offensive rebounds per game, limiting opponents’ ability to score second-chance points.

The major change to the Jazz this year has been the stellar play of power forward Carlos Boozer. In the 2005-06 season, Boozer played in only 33 games while starting just 19 of those contests. This year Boozer has already started in 15 games, averaging 21.2 PPG AND 12.5 RPG, and he is shooting better than 56 percent from the field. Boozer’s inside scoring presence has helped the team score an average of 46.1 points per game in the paint, good for fifth best in the league.

A slimmer Deron Williams has also been a major contributor in making sure the Jazz find their offensive rhythm. Williams’ minutes are up more than eight a game from last year and he has shelled out twice as many dimes per game, averaging nine this year. Williams is looking to get to the rim himself, taking four more shots a game than a year ago and improving his shooting percentage from .421 to .479.

Not only have the Jazz been receiving key contributions from their star duet, but the Jazz have five players averaging in double figures and seven players averaging more than seven points per game. The Jazz rank fourth in the NBA by sharing the basketball for 24.9 assists per game. In addition to playing the team game, the Jazz have contradicted the belief that the NBA has changed to a drive-and-kick game. The Jazz rank 25th in shots fired from downtown with 13.2 attempts per game, almost half the attempts of the league-leading Phoenix Suns’ 24.7 attempts per game.

The Jazz appear to be real contenders out west and may help Jerry Sloan receive Coach of the Year honors. Andrei Kirilenko and Carlos Boozer appear to be a great combination that allows the Jazz to be one of the only teams in the NBA to be able to match up with both Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki. The Jazz are also playing playoff-style basketball in the early going, scoring more than 90 percent of their points from half-court sets. They are one of two teams that average more than 100 points per game while scoring less than 10 points a game in transition.