jom2003
Well-Known Member
Have to mention it wasn't until Quin who came in 2014 and made the Rudy/Hayward the face of our franchise and gave us a clear direction in rebuild. He gave us an “identity.”I hate told-you-so's, generally, but...
A handful of years ago, I was basically run off the board (by Fish and a few other dullards) for suggesting that the jury was still out on DL. At the time, I pointed out that DL had inherited a playoff team with 2 near-all stars (Millsap proved to be an all-star upon leaving) and four young lottery picks, but had yet to build a team any better than the one he inherited (or the ones KOC had built in the initial post-S2M era).
Well, there were 9 post-S2M KOC Jazz teams and now 9 post-KOC DL teams, and I think it's tough to make the case that DL has done better job in his 9 years than KOC did in his last 9, despite having a much more advantageous starting point:
Record
KOC: 390-332, .540 (44.3 wins over an 82-game season)
DL: 391-327, .545 (44.7 wins over an 82-game season)
Playoffs
KOC: 5 appearances, 4 series wins
DL: 5 appearances, 3 series wins
It's worth reiterating that the Jazz had a stockpile of young talent and a couple expiring near all-stars when DL came on, and the Jazz currently have very little in the way of assets and financial flexibility to improve the current team--although they do have two stars.
DL's not a terrible GM/Executive, mind you, just not a particularly creative or proactive one.
When DL was working with Corbin from 2012-2014, the team was a utter mess. No direction. No identity. Give the ball to big AL. Give the ball to Trey Burke. Give the ball to Millsap. Your turn my turn basketball. Bench Carroll. Bench Rudy. Play Marvin Williams/Richard Jefferson over Favors/Alec Burks.
That's why I've always said, we gotta give Quin a chance to work with another GM before we can see what we truly have. Cuz we've seen DL working with a different coach before, and it was a total disaster.
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