It's not the losing of games that I mind. True, we've been spoiled as Jazz fans. The past 40 years, the team has won fewer than 30 games exactly twice. I would wager there isn't another team in the league who can say that. 31 out of the last 40 years the Jazz have made the playoffs, and in 7 of the other 9, the team was in the hunt for a playoff spot this time of year. Sure, we've been spoiled a little. We're not used to season such as this one.
My issue is not with losing games or losing seasons. A few years ago, in a span of months, we traded away the entire starting 5 that had the best RS record in the league, along with a few other important players. Obviously, we were going to suck and I both understand why we were going to suck and why we had to pull that trigger. The situation as it stood in the summer of 2022 was untenable. I didn't like it and I wish it didn't play out that way, but I completely understand why it had to be done.
There are 30 teams in the league and because of the nature of things, someone has to finish last. And because the distribution isn't random, the team finishing last isn't going to win 30-35 games. They are going to win 20, if that many. Again, that's all fine. Teams suck sometimes. That's also how the draft is supposed to work. You suck, you win very few games because you suck, you get a better young player to help you win more games. I'm okay with that basic premise. What I absolutely cannot stand is that for the past 3 seasons, that has all apparently not been enough.
We have clearly, clearly been better than the bottom 10 teams in the league over the past three years. The players we got in trades have been better than advertised, some young players contributed here and there, vets tend to find a way to help you win, etc. It really doesn't matter why we were better than many people(including the FO) hoped. We just have been, and it just leaves an incredibly foul taste in my mouth that this is taken as a bad thing and the FO are trying to fight this.
Both that first year and the second year, the team came out of the gates much better than anyone expected. That first year we were 31-31 at the end of February. Last year, we were 26-26 at te beginning of February. Both times, the FO freaked out that we were actually decent and decided we had to lose every game going forward for the privilege and honour of drafting Cody Williams and Taylor Hendricks. This year, they were a little more proactive, but even then, there have been times when it looked like the team might be coming together a little bit, and immediately, action is taken. Healthy players sit, Collier and Williams get "development" minutes and start closing games, and we suck again.
This is what I hate. If we're bad, we're bad. Let them team play and if the guys are so bad that we win 15 games, so be it. But don't assemble a 30-win team and then do everything in your power during the season and during individual games to make them win 15. That's bullsh*t. That's professional wrestling at this point.
