Schrödinger's Gerbil
Well-Known Member
Let me summarize where things stand at the moment.
Six games in, the Jazz are 2-4, tied for the third-worst record in the league.
The Jazz tanked hard in 2024-25 to land a top draft pick, securing the worst record in the league with a paltry 17 wins compared to 65 losses. They were disappointed to fall to #5 in the draft (adios Cooper Flagg) but were thrilled to take Ace Bailey at #5, touting him as a multi-skilled player with legitimate potential to be the next Jazz superstar.
Six games in, Ace has been relegated to the bench in favor of an NBA journeyman whom no one sees as a future Jazz building block, averaging a scant 15 minutes per game. In comparison, all rookies picked before and many picked after him are logging significant minutes, playing key roles, and finding ways to contribute. Ace is, so far, trending to be our 2020s version of Deron Williams, whom Jerry Sloan pigheadedly relegated to the bench, citing silly “old school” mantras to justify it, in favor of no better than replacement-level NBA journeymen. He’s got to be looking around at the rest of the rookie class by now and asking himself, “What the fetch?” It’s absolutely got to be playing with his head, regardless of whatever public pronouncements he, Hardy, the FO, or Jazz media make to play it down.
We tanked for this??? My God, what an anticlimactic letdown that has turned out to be.
The narrative pushed by the Jazz FO and media talking heads all off-season to get the fans excited about the upcoming season and the future was that, yes, the Jazz will be bad, but they will be bad in the service of developing the youngsters and making decisions about who is in the Jazz’s long-term plans. Six games into the season, Hardy has blown up this narrative, benching the youth (with exceptions) and is now giving veteran trade detritus minutes in their place. Why? These moves have the distinct stench of panic.
Why the panic? Another narrative the Jazz FO and media have shoveled to fans over the last few years is how Will Hardy is some genius wonderkind of a coach and how lucky we are to have him. One might be excused for asking just what evidence is there for this unqualified confidence in Hardy’s genius. What has he done to earn it? Well, nothing, really, except to lose. Granted, the excess of losses can be attributed to a large extent to the FO, which blew up a perennial playoff team and then continued to divest the team of quality NBA veterans, inventing phantom injuries to sit other veterans so as to perform as poorly as possible. Ok, fair enough.
But losing is one thing, but losing while posting historically bad defenses is another. With the collection of young talent that he has been tasked to develop, where’s the evidence that Hardy has done an even moderately good job of it? That he is now benching these youngsters six games into the season, when this year was supposed to be all about “development,” indicates that even he doesn’t think he’s done a good job of it.
Hence, the source of the panic. Hardy is beginning to feel the heat. He has little to show for his three years at the Jazz’s helm. He naturally feels increasingly under pressure to start delivering results, whether to stave off FO dissatisfaction or for the very real and legitimate fear that his coaching career, and the league’s perception of him, is becoming ever more tainted by the stench of losing. One look no further than Brett Brown to see how this plays out, a cautionary tale that I’m sure Hardy is familiar with. And, regardless of how the Jazz FO states public support for Hardy, it’s entirely understandable and expected that things are getting tense behind the scenes. To assume that Hardy’s job is secure, notwithstanding anything the Jazz FO or media say, runs entirely contrary to lived experience.
Hardy has got to be feeling the heat, evidenced by the fact that it took him only six games to abandon the development narrative for this season.
Added to this, I’m not convinced by Hardy’s public excorciating of his team’s “effort.” I find that effort becomes a catch-all excuse that coaches use to shift blame and escape accountability. As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, a coach riding the tide of losing and poor performance will blame it on the lack of effort by his players.
At the same time, the Jazz youth have to be entirely aware of what is expected of them on the defensive end. What is it about, say Filipowski or Sensebaugh, that would lead someone to conclude that they aren’t legitimately trying, each having been told, heard, and read ad nauseam that their place in this league will depend on their defensive effort? I’ve seen nothing from them to indicate that they possess the personality (a la DeAndre Ayton) that they just don’t care. I have a hard time buying into the “effort” explanation; it’s a far too convenient and too common dodge to take it at face value.
I expect that I’m like many here and among Jazz fans generally who came into this season resigned to the prospect of losing–a lot–but willing to endure it one more year to put the final touches on our 3-4 year development efforts and letting the youth work through their issues, struggle, fail occasionally, and hopefully come out the other side better for it so we have clarity about who’s a burgeoning core we can build around and what their roles are. Instead, we’ve a steady diet of Svi Mykhailiuk, the benching and marginalization of the very reason why we tanked in the first place, a coach panicking and working overtime to cover his backside, and the abandonment of the great development narrative forcefed to fans for going on three years, a mere six games into the season.
God, ain’t tanking fun?
On the other side, it is only six games. Things can and will hopefully change. But, boy oh boy, things are off to a very rough start.
Six games in, the Jazz are 2-4, tied for the third-worst record in the league.
The Jazz tanked hard in 2024-25 to land a top draft pick, securing the worst record in the league with a paltry 17 wins compared to 65 losses. They were disappointed to fall to #5 in the draft (adios Cooper Flagg) but were thrilled to take Ace Bailey at #5, touting him as a multi-skilled player with legitimate potential to be the next Jazz superstar.
Six games in, Ace has been relegated to the bench in favor of an NBA journeyman whom no one sees as a future Jazz building block, averaging a scant 15 minutes per game. In comparison, all rookies picked before and many picked after him are logging significant minutes, playing key roles, and finding ways to contribute. Ace is, so far, trending to be our 2020s version of Deron Williams, whom Jerry Sloan pigheadedly relegated to the bench, citing silly “old school” mantras to justify it, in favor of no better than replacement-level NBA journeymen. He’s got to be looking around at the rest of the rookie class by now and asking himself, “What the fetch?” It’s absolutely got to be playing with his head, regardless of whatever public pronouncements he, Hardy, the FO, or Jazz media make to play it down.
We tanked for this??? My God, what an anticlimactic letdown that has turned out to be.
The narrative pushed by the Jazz FO and media talking heads all off-season to get the fans excited about the upcoming season and the future was that, yes, the Jazz will be bad, but they will be bad in the service of developing the youngsters and making decisions about who is in the Jazz’s long-term plans. Six games into the season, Hardy has blown up this narrative, benching the youth (with exceptions) and is now giving veteran trade detritus minutes in their place. Why? These moves have the distinct stench of panic.
Why the panic? Another narrative the Jazz FO and media have shoveled to fans over the last few years is how Will Hardy is some genius wonderkind of a coach and how lucky we are to have him. One might be excused for asking just what evidence is there for this unqualified confidence in Hardy’s genius. What has he done to earn it? Well, nothing, really, except to lose. Granted, the excess of losses can be attributed to a large extent to the FO, which blew up a perennial playoff team and then continued to divest the team of quality NBA veterans, inventing phantom injuries to sit other veterans so as to perform as poorly as possible. Ok, fair enough.
But losing is one thing, but losing while posting historically bad defenses is another. With the collection of young talent that he has been tasked to develop, where’s the evidence that Hardy has done an even moderately good job of it? That he is now benching these youngsters six games into the season, when this year was supposed to be all about “development,” indicates that even he doesn’t think he’s done a good job of it.
Hence, the source of the panic. Hardy is beginning to feel the heat. He has little to show for his three years at the Jazz’s helm. He naturally feels increasingly under pressure to start delivering results, whether to stave off FO dissatisfaction or for the very real and legitimate fear that his coaching career, and the league’s perception of him, is becoming ever more tainted by the stench of losing. One look no further than Brett Brown to see how this plays out, a cautionary tale that I’m sure Hardy is familiar with. And, regardless of how the Jazz FO states public support for Hardy, it’s entirely understandable and expected that things are getting tense behind the scenes. To assume that Hardy’s job is secure, notwithstanding anything the Jazz FO or media say, runs entirely contrary to lived experience.
Hardy has got to be feeling the heat, evidenced by the fact that it took him only six games to abandon the development narrative for this season.
Added to this, I’m not convinced by Hardy’s public excorciating of his team’s “effort.” I find that effort becomes a catch-all excuse that coaches use to shift blame and escape accountability. As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, a coach riding the tide of losing and poor performance will blame it on the lack of effort by his players.
At the same time, the Jazz youth have to be entirely aware of what is expected of them on the defensive end. What is it about, say Filipowski or Sensebaugh, that would lead someone to conclude that they aren’t legitimately trying, each having been told, heard, and read ad nauseam that their place in this league will depend on their defensive effort? I’ve seen nothing from them to indicate that they possess the personality (a la DeAndre Ayton) that they just don’t care. I have a hard time buying into the “effort” explanation; it’s a far too convenient and too common dodge to take it at face value.
I expect that I’m like many here and among Jazz fans generally who came into this season resigned to the prospect of losing–a lot–but willing to endure it one more year to put the final touches on our 3-4 year development efforts and letting the youth work through their issues, struggle, fail occasionally, and hopefully come out the other side better for it so we have clarity about who’s a burgeoning core we can build around and what their roles are. Instead, we’ve a steady diet of Svi Mykhailiuk, the benching and marginalization of the very reason why we tanked in the first place, a coach panicking and working overtime to cover his backside, and the abandonment of the great development narrative forcefed to fans for going on three years, a mere six games into the season.
God, ain’t tanking fun?
On the other side, it is only six games. Things can and will hopefully change. But, boy oh boy, things are off to a very rough start.
