USA TODAY's NBA rankings are out and Jazz are (drum roll, please) …

The addition of Kosta Koufos and Brevin Knight to the Utah Jazz’s roster apparently hasn’t exactly impressed the USA TODAY. Neither, it would seem, did the Jazz’s Northwest Division title or their run to the Western Conference semifinals last spring.

Despite all that, the national publication’s recently released preseason NBA power rankings have the Jazz debuting at No. 12 for the upcoming 2008-09 season.

If that isn’t hard enough for Jazz fans to swallow, according to these rankings Utah will merely be the seventh-best squad in the West, too.

P.S. That’s behind some teams you might expect (the Lakers, the Hornets and the Spurs) and below a few other teams that might make Jazz fans call USA’s daily paper unpatriotic. Don’t shoot this messenger, but the power rankings have the Portland Trail Blazers at No. 5 and the Houston Rockets at No. 8.

Not surprisingly, the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics are USA TODAY’s top-ranked team. The writer, Chris Colston, also thinks highly of Elton Brand’s move to Philly, a signing that vaulted the 76ers to the seventh spot.

So, Jazz fans, has Utah already reached its peak in the Boozer-Williams era? Or is Colston up in the night when it comes to his not-exactly Jazzed-up outlook?