Blake Griffin Vs Paul Millsap is the match up to watch when the Los Angeles Clippers meet the Utah Jazz. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

The 2012-13 NBA season is right around the corner as the end of September is less than a week away and October embraces us with a smile — literally I’ll see tons of smiling pumpkins in a week or so in northern Illinois.

Hopefully the Los Angeles Clippers go into every game hoping to smash dreams, not only pumpkins.

The Utah Jazz shouldn’t be a team that causes too many problems for the Clips. With that said, smashing dreams in Salt Lake should be just as easy, maybe as squishy, as the Fall porch decorations.

For your information: this could be the quickest breakdown I’ve done so far because I have little faith in the Jazz.

The Jazz start and almost end with their front line of Paul Millsapp and Al Jefferson. These two guys paired together make one of the league’s best low-post duo since both of them are more than capable of putting a double-double on the box score any given night.

During the 2011-12 season, Jefferson put up 31 double-doubles for 7th best in the NBA, while Millsapp was 20th with 21. Only four other teams had two players in the top 20 on the double-double list — the Los Angeles Lakers, the New Jersey Nets (now the Brooklyn Nets), the Los Angeles Clippers and the Phoenix Suns.

When Hardcourt Houdini’s Brett Roberts and I broke down our top five centers in the league, Jefferson was third on both behind Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum. Last season, Jefferson averaged 19.2 points and 9.6 rebounds per game and led the Jazz to a eighth seed playoff spot after a 36-30 regular season record. I am a strong believer that the Jazz would have been far below .500 if he wasn’t on the roster.

His 49% shooting from the field was top 30 in the league, his 9.6 rebounds per game were .2 behind Noah’s 10th best 9.8, he was 12th with 1.66 block per game and his 19.2 points were good enough for 15th best in the NBA.

Al Jefferson is a problem for any team in the NBA. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-US PRESSWIRE

I usually don’t like to list stats, but Jefferson had a great season and was on my snub list for the NBA All-Star game, so they’re definitely relevant.

At 6-foot, 8-inches, Millsap is undersized for a power forward. However, his bulky 253 pounds give him the girth and the strength to overcome his disadvantage. He is a highly efficient shooter similar to Jefferson at 49% and a great rebounder, pulling down 8.8 a game last season. His 21 double-doubles came because of his 16.6 points per game.

These two together are a handful for any team.

Millsap overpowers Blake Griffin and Griffin isn’t a good enough defender to stop Millsap’s low-post offense. Griffin is more athletic and is working on his mid-range jumper, which would take Millsap out of the paint. This would be essential for players such as Chris Paul to penetrate with the worry of only Jefferson.

Jefferson would still be a huge problem and DeAndre Jordan would have to use his large frame and put a body on him. If he doesn’t, Utah’s big-two could score a lot of points down low. I mean, a lot of points.

After Jefferson and Millsap, the Jazz are relatively average at best.

Gordon Hayward is okay and will put up solid numbers, but Billups’ physical defense and in-your face type play will affect how Hayward plays.

Mo Williams is a great bench player. He can come into a game and make some big buckets. However, he is not a starting point guard and will only hurt the Jazz because he loves to loft shots unless Jefferson and Millsap hoover every offensive rebound opportunity.

Marvin Williams is a yawn, a below average player, a bust as a 2nd overall pick and definitely not worth a starting spot.

Derrick Favors could be a star eventually, but not third on a depth chart behind players of Jefferson and Millsaps’ caliber.

Randy Foye will be missed on the Los Angeles Clippers’ roster. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-US PRESSWIRE

Randy Foye did good things for the Clips last season and is probably the only reliable one on the Jazz’s thin bench.

Enes Kanter could be great, could be a bust.

If Favors builds on what he did last season and Kanter becomes the player most think he can be, the Jazz will have a low-post Fantastic Four. The problem is, two of them play the five and two of them play the four. There isn’t enough minutes to give them their just do, but someone could be used as great trade bait to bring in quality players at other positions.

In the end, the Jazz just don’t have what it takes to beat a talented team with two superstars in Griffin and Paul. The Clippers have too many good shooters, too many scorers, the deepest team in the league and should have a vastly improved defense.

Jefferson and Millsap is just not enough.

DeAndre Jordan could be a beast, but he hasn't had any kind of consistency to this point in his 4-year NBA career.

Last season, I was sure DeAndre Jordan was going to have a breakout season with unbelievable rebound and blocked shot numbers. This thought process had me reach for him in the fifth round of my fantasy basketball league.

He scored 7.4 points per game (.3 higher than 2010-11), grabbed 5.2 rebounds per game (.6 higher) and blocked two shots per game (.2 higher). The only statistic even close to being called a breakout performance was he improved his free-throw shooting from 45% to 52%. I would hardly call barely .500 from the charity stripe something spectacular.

With the stats as proof, my thought process was off — to say the least.

However, Jordan is still young and could have a monster year during any season. With that said, I’ll probably do it again this year if given the chance, which I’m sure I will be.

The upcoming season is only his fifth season. He is young, can run the court, has exceptional athleticism, is showing improved knowledge for the fundamentals of the game and by the way, he plays with one of the best point guards in the league — Chris Paul. If Paul made Tyson Chandler look like an offensive minded center with the New Orleans Hornets, the sky is the limit for Jordan.

The question is, when will he mentally get his game to the level of his God given athletic gifts? Every Clipper fan is screaming this for the 2012-13 NBA season.

For all of his highlight dunks and blocks, Jordan takes plays off mentally. One minute he looks like he could be a top five center and the next he looks like he went to the Shawn Bradley school of basketball. I hope Bradley doesn’t have a school, please, tell me he doesn’t.

He gets frustrated to easy, looks lost on offensive plays, doesn’t seem to know how to get open for a beautiful dime from Chris Paul unless it’s an alley-opp and is out of position for rebounds, even though he is 6-foot 11-inches and 250 pounds of muscle. Sure, these flaws are not shown on every possession, offensively or defensively, but they show their ugly face enough to be recognized.

This is where DeAndre Jordan should step in, accept the pass and dunk all over the competition.

Jordan desperately needs to take this season as an opportunity to show he deserves to be mentioned with other NBA All-Star centers.

There isn’t a doubt in my mind he could be mentioned with Al Horford, Roy Hibbert and Marc Gasol. Do I think he is now, no way, he’s in a tier or two underneath them. But could he be before his career is over, definitely.

Right now I would probably put Jordan right outside of the top 15 behind the likes of (In no order except for by tier):

Tier A: Dwight Howard, Andrew Bynum, Al Jefferson, Greg Monroe and Marc Gasol

Tier B: DeMarcus Cousins, Roy Hibbert, Al Horford, Marcin Gortat, David Lee

Tier C: Nene, Tyson Chandler, Joakim Noah, Andrew Bogut (only because of injury, should be higher), Brook Lopez (same as Bogut)

Tier D: DeAndre Jordan, Channing Frye, Chris Kaman, JaVale McGee, Spencer Hawes

Like I mentioned before, there is no doubt Jordan can move up the ranks. I can easily see him at the top of tier B or at the bottom of A by the end of this season or by the end of the next. He simply has to take 2 (mind) + 2 (physical ability) to = 4 (a complete NBA center).