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Whatever happens this year we still have a SOLID team

Has this been a SOLID year for the Jazz?

  • Total voters
    18
  • Poll closed .
Found a picture of One Love. Nice tats, bruh!

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This team is definitely solid. But they need shooters and just one guy who can create his own offense in the worst way.
 
We have many needs on our team that need to be met, we can't put them off. Hopefully the core stay healthy and we pick up some ready to contribute draft picks and free agents. It is clear that what we have now is barely playoff caliber and the rest of the league can exploit our weaknesses very easy if they need to.
 
Champion
Championship Caliber
Playoff Contender
Competing for a Playoff spot
Solid



so strike-through doesn't work in Jazzfanz, but imagine the top 4 with a strike through.
 
What does strike through mean?
 
Strike through or crossed out.

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It was my poorly executed attempt to show how the Utah Jazz have stepped down their goals and bench-marking over the past several years.

They used to talk about building a Championship team. Then they tempered that by saying a championship caliber team because you can't control the finals. Then Championship Caliber was reduced to Playoff contender because they said "there are lots of good teams in the west". Then they stepped down to saying it was important to compete for a playoff spot, as if just getting in was the goal. Now we are talking about being solid as the measure of success.

I realize there are steps involved in bakking a cake, but it seems the goals are moving backwards for the franchise.
 
mellow said:
Strike through or crossed out.

strikethrough-text-generator.png


It was my poorly executed attempt to show how the Utah Jazz have stepped down their goals and bench-marking over the past several years.

They used to talk about building a Championship team. Then they tempered that by saying a championship caliber team because you can't control the finals. Then Championship Caliber was reduced to Playoff contender because they said "there are lots of good teams in the west". Then they stepped down to saying it was important to compete for a playoff spot, as if just getting in was the goal. Now we are talking about being solid as the measure of success.

I realize there are steps involved in bakking a cake, but it seems the goals are moving backwards for the franchise.
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To be fair though I've never said we can never be a Championship Caliber team. It's always going to be a stepping stone type situation. Before you can have a Championship Caliber team you need to have a SOLID team first.


If we look back to the beginning of last season I don't think anyone could have said that we had a SOLID team back then. Hood was not who he is today, Gobert was still trying to get solid minutes, Kanter was still on our team ruining our defense, etc, etc, etc. We have become a SOLID team in a relatively short period of time and that is no small feat.
 
You've been killing it lately with your posts, mellow. Wish I didn't have to spread it around before I could rep you again.

Definitely a case of lowered expectations. Every year, DL has said the playoffs aren't the goal. He talks about "not skipping steps." Yet every year we see teams like Portland go out and supplement what they have and surpass the Jazz. Utah is in danger of being in perpetual rebuild mode. What happens next season when Utah has another injury somewhere? Injuries happen to almost EVERY team. The good ones can survive them. The bad teams are devastated because they have zero depth. I don't expect DL to make any free agent additions. Why? Because the market is going to be ridiculous with the new cap. If he didn't want to spend the last three off-seasons - except for scouring through the dollar bin - he's not going to suddenly open the pocketbook this summer when even Trevor Booker will be over-priced.

Then what happens? Another season of fighting for the 8th seed, with a PG who is going to struggle coming back from his injury. And he WILL struggle. He wasn't exactly elite as a rookie. Now look at every other player who has come back from ACL surgery. It's not a 1-year process. Do you think Hayward even WANTS to stay in a city where making the playoffs ISN'T a priority? So Gordon leaves, DL rinses and repeats by filling the team with rookies and castoffs and his mantra is again repeated.
 
Stifle Tower said:
You've been killing it lately with your posts, mellow. Wish I didn't have to spread it around before I could rep you again.

Definitely a case of lowered expectations. Every year, DL has said the playoffs aren't the goal. He talks about "not skipping steps." Yet every year we see teams like Portland go out and supplement what they have and surpass the Jazz. Utah is in danger of being in perpetual rebuild mode. What happens next season when Utah has another injury somewhere? Injuries happen to almost EVERY team. The good ones can survive them. The bad teams are devastated because they have zero depth. I don't expect DL to make any free agent additions. Why? Because the market is going to be ridiculous with the new cap. If he didn't want to spend the last three off-seasons - except for scouring through the dollar bin - he's not going to suddenly open the pocketbook this summer when even Trevor Booker will be over-priced.

Then what happens? Another season of fighting for the 8th seed, with a PG who is going to struggle coming back from his injury. And he WILL struggle. He wasn't exactly elite as a rookie. Now look at every other player who has come back from ACL surgery. It's not a 1-year process. Do you think Hayward even WANTS to stay in a city where making the playoffs ISN'T a priority? So Gordon leaves, DL rinses and repeats by filling the team with rookies and castoffs and his mantra is again repeated.
Click to expand...

I think in evaluating this we've got to ask ourselves, did we consistently get better as a team and are we still prudent fiscally? And I think the answers to those are Yes and Yes.


Are we a Championship Caliber team? No. Are we steadily improving to reach that goal? Yes. To me that is not perpetual rebuild. A team like the Sacramento Kings who finish #5 - #8 in the lotto each year is. We are not in that category.
 
ONE LOVE said:
If we look back to the beginning of last season I don't think anyone could have said that we had a SOLID team back then. Hood was not who he is today, Gobert was still trying to get solid minutes, Kanter was still on our team ruining our defense, etc, etc, etc. We have become a SOLID team in a relatively short period of time and that is no small feat.
Click to expand...
We had a solid team before DL tore it apart. All that was needed was to retain what we had (except Jefferson and Mo) and add a PG.

Millsap-Favors-DMC-Hayward-Burks and a PG + our draft picks. That's every bit as good as what we have now. Still would have been able to draft Gobert or Giannis or Schroeder. Jazz would have DMC instead of Hood (Hood pick obtained via the GS trade, IINM). Wouldn't have had Burke since picks were combined to trade up. Oh well.

If Exum becomes a franchise player, DL's methodology is a success. Anything short of that and KOC's "retool" strategy would have been much, much better. Well, unless a franchise player comes from the GS pick next season or any of those hundred 2nd rounders Lindsey has accumulated. Dennis Lindsey: King of the Minor Deal. Emperor of the Clearance Rack.

I will give credit to Dennis for ONE thing: getting rid of Corbin. Oh, and the Exum pick. Yes, tanking into that draft spot was DL's strategy. Hood was the highest rated player on the board. Half credit for that one with the disclaimer that we could have retained DMC for a lot cheaper than his current contract (in lieu of having the GS pick to draft Rodney). Same with Millsap. Could have signed him to a long-term deal and had him start at the 4 with Favors at the 5.

The Burke pick was ABSOLUTELY disastrous to DL's master plan. He was trying to emulate the OKC rebuild. And to do that, you CAN'T miss with a top-10 pick. DL needed two franchise players in successive drafts. Instead, he got a bust, a guy afraid of his own shadow and a ballerina dancer in his three shots at the lottery. And yes, it can also be argued the Jazz were never bad enough to fully implement the GM tank. They needed a couple of top-5 chances. DL needed to commit fully (if that was going to be the strategy) by trading Hayward and probably Favors to lose 60+ games for two years straight. Jazz will still be "not skipping steps" when Minnesota is winning the division with their young talent. I'd trade the talent on that team for the Jazz' straight up any day of the week, especially considering they'll be getting another high draft pick. They traded their best player, tanked, and got their two franchise players.

So yes, Jazz will have a SOLID team that has missed the playoffs for 3 years. We had a solid team that could have made the playoffs the last 3 years. If Exum or Lyles become franchise players, MAYBE you can argue the losing was worth it. But will Lyles be better than Millsap? Will Hood be better than DMC? Those are the players Utah COULD have retained AND STILL had picks in the mid-teens to early-20's (assuming they made the playoffs). Instead, those players were lost for nothing, all in an attempt to chase franchise players with lottery picks.
 
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