Utah looked like the more settled team in October. The Jazz beat Denver in Boulder, lost the rematch at the Delta Center, beat San Antonio, and closed the exhibition slate with a 119-116 win in Phoenix. Markkanen led 6 players in double figures in that finale. That doesn't count for anything, but this young roster at least looked like it knew where everyone was supposed to be.
Both clubs are thin in the middle before the opener. Jusuf Nurkic is out for at least 4 weeks with a partial plantar plate tear in his right foot. Kyle Filipowski is progressing but has no return timeline, so Utah's big-man rotation leans hard on Jackson and Markkanen. Memphis lost Isaiah Stewart, an offseason addition, to an ankle injury for at least 2 weeks. GG Jackson also sat the preseason finale with an ankle problem, and that pushes more frontcourt minutes onto Edey and Boozer.
Memphis is starting over. The Grizzlies went 25-57 last season, and Tuomas Iisalo has the job full-time after a 9-4 interim stretch. The projected starting 5 is Ty Jerome, Cedric Coward, Jaylen Wells, Boozer and Edey, which is young everywhere except the point guard. Season previews have them near the bottom of the West. For Memphis, this season is about whether Boozer and Coward look like a foundation.
Both teams have a lot of day-to-day names to sort out before Wednesday. Blake Hinson and Trey Alexander missed Utah's finale, and Grant and Micah Peavy sat for Memphis. Watch the final injury reports. Whoever gets more of their rotation back gets the cleaner first night. After this one, Utah goes home to host New Orleans on October 23.