Keeping Lauri seems increasingly pointless

[bigmike]

FWIW I don’t think Ace is that far from legit starter minutes.

Yes, his game is unrefined but it’s not like he’s just some “project.” He’s an NBA-level scorer.

 

[Miggs]

I mean, at least we gave away a pick in dumping Clarkson and Sexton.

Crazy to think we not only got nothing for them but gave something away given our hopes in trading them the last couple years.

 

[Ron Mexico]

i've hated max contracts ever since AK got his over a decade ago. players thinking that they deserve one just because dipstick on the other team got one is stupid. i like to think that if i were in the NBA i'd cut my contract in half to make room for better teammates so i could get the glory that comes from multiple titles, but in our current nba a player over 40 insisted that he get his 50 plus mil contract confirmed while at the same time trying to force his team to go into the tax to get him that title. so much wrong with max contracts.

I hear ya! Those poor NBA owners are really struggling.

 

[Maleficar]

Hello, I just wanted to post - as a Spurs fan - that I was desperately wanting SA to trade their ATL picks+Vassell for him before he got the contract. It doesn’t look like that will happen now but he would still be the perfect fit for our team as currently constructed.

I watched Utah quite often last year and I think he is still a hell of a player (despite the time missed and having a ‘down’ year) and I’ve been pretty shocked to see Jazz fans wanting to move on from him.

 

[AlaskanAssassin]

I hear ya! Those poor NBA owners are really struggling.

Lol. I'm sure if you were a billionaire you would have no issue with a $200 million luxury tax bill like the Suns had last year.

 

[AlaskanAssassin]

Hello, I just wanted to post - as a Spurs fan - that I was desperately wanting SA to trade their ATL picks+Vassell for him before he got the contract. It doesn’t look like that will happen now but he would still be the perfect fit for our team as currently constructed.

I watched Utah quite often last year and I think he is still a hell of a player (despite the time missed and having a ‘down’ year) and I’ve been pretty shocked to see Jazz fans wanting to move on from him.

We don't want to trade him. It's just hard to envision the Jazz being a championship contender while he's still in his prime. He doesn't fit our timeline.

 

[FalseFlagg K]

i'd be curious how he feels about being on a team with a bunch of 22 and under year olds and losing 60 games. if he's good with that, i'd probably keep him around unless an offer blows me away.

they've made it pretty clear that he's cool with it and believes in the process

 

[Hearsky]

Ace is extremely raw and many years away.

STOP with the pedophilia talk!

 

[The Thriller]

I agree, it does seem pointless. We should’ve gutted this team years ago. Keeping sexton, Clarkson, and Lauri on this team for years has been a complete waste… for all parties. I feel bad for these guys. And it hasn’t done us any good. We’ve prolonged our rebuild by years because our management held onto veterans for some odd reason.

 

[Shad]

I agree, it does seem pointless. We should’ve gutted this team years ago. Keeping sexton, Clarkson, and Lauri on this team for years has been a complete waste… for all parties. I feel bad for these guys. And it hasn’t done us any good. We’ve prolonged our rebuild by years because our management held onto veterans for some odd reason.

It's because of a new owner.

I listened to some podcast about new owners.... They talked about how a new owner comes in and likes to change and make a 'good impression' when what they should do is absolutely nothing for a year and then start working on things. They also mentioned new owners who have -0- experience in the sports world in ownership and say that it gets nasty quick.....

I think we've seen a lot of that. We're now in year 4 of Ryan's "10 year championship plan" .... and just by being a spectator, I think we can all agree that we're still years away from being competitive, let alone, being close to championship contention.

If Ace turns out to be a bust, we will be 5+ years away from being competitive at all and our rebuild will be 10 years in the making.

LHM had his faults but he definitely ran the Jazz better than Ryan has so far in his short time.

EDIT: I will say tanking this year was the best thing we've done since Ryan took over though.

 

[LoPo]

I spent a lot of time away watching from afar. I just don’t understand many of the moves made. A genius move would have been to trade Lauri after that first year here. Yes, he looked amazing, but we had zero team around him. We might have gotten another small fortune for him like we did Rudy and Donovan.

Overall, I like Lauri but I also think it’s a massive mistake if we have him AND Kessler on massive deals. Neither guy is taking us to title contention. They would both be role players behind somebody like Ace, Clayton or some unforeseen internal growth player or a draft pick next year.

If Ace and Clayton have dynamite summer league showings, we should consider offers if we feel like these kids can be the face of the franchise moving forward.

I just really don’t like the idea of spending a ton on Lauri AND Kessler.

 

[slc]

Building a championship team involves a lot of luck
Who thought Giannis would be this great He was picked #15
Jokic was picked #41 SGA was picked #11 Curry was pick #7 and so on
So far it seems Jazz have made some mistakes
Somewhere along the way Jazz will have to be lucky
Maybe they already have that player on the team and he has not emerged
Maybe they already traded him away Who knows
Hope they already have the pieces they need Maybe they get the missing pieces next draft
Winning involves making good choices and getting lucky
Or I could be completely wrong about everything I said

 

[Schrödinger's Gerbil]

If we had cleared the decks in the Wemby draft, I think we would have ended up with one of Wemby, a Thompson twin, Brandon Miller, or Scoot. Then in 2024, we’d likely have landed one of Sarr, Risacher, Sheppard, Castle, or Holland.

Best case, we’d have Wemby and Castle.

Worst case, we’d have Scoot and Holland.

In reality, we ended up with Hendrix and Williams.

I’m not sure how the pick value would have netted out if we had traded our guys then vs. now, but it seems pretty clear we would have gotten more back at that point.

Honestly, I’d probably rather have the worst case (Scoot and Holland) than Hendrix and Williams, especially with Williams looking like a bust right now. Plus, we’d have more picks.

I'd hate to be the team building around Scoot and Holland. It may be bleak in Utah, but a team built around those two would be as if not more bleak.

 

[Schrödinger's Gerbil]

We don't want to trade him. It's just hard to envision the Jazz being a championship contender while he's still in his prime. He doesn't fit our timeline.

I don't get this insistence that the Jazz absolutely MUST be on a certain timeline. There's no reason, in theory at least, why the Jazz couldn't pivot reasonably quickly if a core emerged in this or next season, while maintaining the flexibility and assets to make major or incremental moves that shore things up. Look at Houston. They were on a youth "timeline," but they quickly and unexpectedly pivoted a couple of years ago by signing veteran talent to augment their young core (with many commentators criticizing the move at the time based on similar "timeline" thinking), and two years later, they were the #2 seed. Now they've built on that and look like legit contenders next year (on paper).

I keep asking people, how much longer do you want to keep losing? There seems to be an unlimited appetite for it as long as people can convince themselves that there's hope for salvation in the lottery...someday.

Shouldn't the FO be developing pivoting strategies that won't condemn the team and fans to another 3-4 years of losing because of some imperative to hew to an arbitrary, self-imposed "timeline?"

 

[bigmike]

It's because of a new owner.

I listened to some podcast about new owners.... They talked about how a new owner comes in and likes to change and make a 'good impression' when what they should do is absolutely nothing for a year and then start working on things. They also mentioned new owners who have -0- experience in the sports world in ownership and say that it gets nasty quick.....

I think we've seen a lot of that. We're now in year 4 of Ryan's "10 year championship plan" .... and just by being a spectator, I think we can all agree that we're still years away from being competitive, let alone, being close to championship contention.

If Ace turns out to be a bust, we will be 5+ years away from being competitive at all and our rebuild will be 10 years in the making.

LHM had his faults but he definitely ran the Jazz better than Ryan has so far in his short time.

EDIT: I will say tanking this year was the best thing we've done since Ryan took over though.

I sadly agree with much of this. Ryan has a lot to learn wrt effective ownership of the Utah Jazz.

 

[seattlejazzfan]

I'd hate to be the team building around Scoot and Holland. It may be bleak in Utah, but a team built around those two would be as if not more bleak.

Of course but that’s the absolute worst case scenario. More likely you get Miller, Amen or best case Wemby.

 

[fishonjazz]

I get the thinking of holding on to the vets. They were shooting for a best case scenario and with lottery luck we could have been in the playoffs next season because we held into the vets.
Jazz didn't get lottery luck sadly and so it didn't work.
If we had wemby or Flagg along with Collins and Lauri and sexton and Clarkson plus guys like flip, Collier, key, etc then the jazz could quickly add guys through free agency and trades and be really good really fast.
That would be awesome for me because I like winning games and hate losing games.
On the other hand let's say the jazz got rid of all the vets from day one. And we still don't have any lottery luck. Not sure we would be any better off.
It sucks that in the end it all comes down to luck.

 

[Rubashov]

I get the thinking of holding on to the vets. They were shooting for a best case scenario and with lottery luck we could have been in the playoffs next season because we held into the vets.
Jazz didn't get lottery luck sadly and so it didn't work.
If we had wemby or Flagg along with Collins and Lauri and sexton and Clarkson plus guys like flip, Collier, key, etc then the jazz could quickly add guys through free agency and trades and be really good really fast.
That would be awesome for me because I like winning games and hate losing games.
On the other hand let's say the jazz got rid of all the vets from day one. And we still don't have any lottery luck. Not sure we would be any better off.
It sucks that in the end it all comes down to luck.

It is not luck!!!