The only thing that matters is the championship. Coming in second is the same as coming in 30th.

Utah has done a good job accepting its identity and running with it, understanding their role in the league. And I think you're right that mislaid expectations can be damaging, both for the fans as well as the organization. If the Mavs had better understood their role as a FA possibility (but not a FA #1 destination) they likely would have locked up Chandler after 2011 instead of letting him walk. Would that have won them another championship? I doubt it--the Heat were really good the next few years. But it would have made them contenders.

But are they in a worse situation than the Jazz? I don't know about that. Jazz fans came into this season with pretty high expectations, maybe even a top-4 seed based on their 2014-2015 play post-ASG. Mavs fans were crushed after DeAndre. Cuban even said that if we didn't land him, we'd blow it up and start over. Most people picked them to miss the playoffs. But basketball is a funny game, with Dallas ahead of Utah in the standings now. So I don't know that Dallas is more a victim of high expectations than Utah is.