What's new
By:

Would you rather....

Which outcome would you prefer, if these two were the only options?

  • Fall to around 8-10 in draft due to (some of) our rookies/2nd year guys leveling up

  • Get a bottom 3 record due to our rookies/2nd year guys struggling

Results are only viewable after voting.
HermanG

HermanG

Well-Known Member
2025 Award Winner
Now the poll is intentionally "black & white" since I'm sure most in here would pick some shade of grey if offered. However for the sake of this poll, I'm interested in knowing how many here value getting top of the lottery talent more than seeing concrete leaps from our current prospects. And for that purpose, I only put in the "extreme options".

To avoid confusion, the "leveling up" means at least one of them REALLY levels up and looks like he is going to be a starter+ caliber guy for the foreseeable future. And by "struggling" I mean none of them inspire high levels of confidence that they belong in the NBA (at this point in their careers).

Votes are set to not public, as this is not about tracking personal takes since the options are limited to the extremes.
 
Also just another clarification: This is "pre-loterry" positioning. So not speculating on how the balls roll, but how we are positioned to have them roll our way.

May not surprise anyone but I always hope for concrete improvements rather than speculative ones, and thus seeing one or more of our current young guys level up would be my preference.
 
IF Hendricks became such a force on defense that he makes John Collins lineups work, and is a good enough 3pt shooter that he has to be guarded at all time, then we might have some really good lineups.
 
That's a no-brainer. Fall to bottom 3 obviously. Getting yet another 8-10 pick would be failure of the highest order. Having some of our 2nd round guys leveling up generally means playing like late 1st round picks instead. So a bunch of overachieving role players and a late lottery pick are the perfect fuel for treadmill mediocrity long-term. Unless they turn into assets we can bundle to move up or sign/trade for a star, it just means yet another year as an also-ran and another year of Lauri's prime in the toilet. It's about time we ****ing tank properly.
 
Easily level up. If you made it to where it was #1 then Id say the other option, but 2-3 might not be significantly better than 8-10 vs having all the young player.

Also you only said bottom 3 record which could still be picking 8th at the latest.
 
picking 8-10 in the draft in perpetuity is completely a jazz thing to do. the enemy of great is good. just be good enough to sell tickets and never reach for greatness. totally jazz.
 
Realistically, if we got an 8-10 finish it would take a major development from a current player/extraordinary rookie season. I find it hard to believe that we would land 8-10 without massive internal development. In other words, we would uncover a top 3 level pick guy. This idea that 8-10 comes with mediocrity doesn't make sense to me. If we're 8-10 it means we likely got "that dude" and I would take that over not having "that dude" and praying the lotto + draft gods play in our favor.

This isn't a large group of vets like the last two years. Half the team was on the summer league roster. The wins must come from young guys, that's a good thing.
 
the problem that i forsee is that i can conceive of a team right now that gets is to pick 8-10 without any rookie or soph improvement.
1. sexton point
2 clarkson sg (improved play from last year)
3 Lauri
4. john collins
5. kessler

sixth man that guy from Boston whose numbers surprised me.
seventh man key (slight improvement)

suddenly we are competing for the last playoff spot which we lose out on. no big improvement from our rookies. stuck in mans land. winning meaningless games.

everything i read tells me this 2025 draft is epic even historical. even a top 5 pick can help change a teams future. be bad. play the youngsters a lot of minutes. any body makes 3 shots in a row take a seat on the bench. lose and pray for loterry luck
 
If you think Kessler+Collins+Clarkson in the starting lineup is going to lead us to 8-10 that's all we need to know.
 
KqWIN said:
Realistically, if we got an 8-10 finish it would take a major development from a current player/extraordinary rookie season. I find it hard to believe that we would land 8-10 without massive internal development. In other words, we would uncover a top 3 level pick guy. This idea that 8-10 comes with mediocrity doesn't make sense to me. If we're 8-10 it means we likely got "that dude" and I would take that over not having "that dude" and praying the lotto + draft gods play in our favor.

This isn't a large group of vets like the last two years. Half the team was on the summer league roster. The wins must come from young guys, that's a good thing.
Click to expand...
Oh dear lord. Getting 6 wins over projection requires otherworldly development or "that guy"?

Key turning from negative to positive and Cody/Hendricks becoming a consistent contributor to fill the 3&D wing defender role would probably do it.

I get that acting like you got all the answers and killing threads you dont like with your shtick are your things, but let us peasants have our ignorant fun here.
 
HermanG said:
Oh dear lord. Getting 6 wins over projection requires otherworldly development or "that guy"?

Key turning from negative to positive and Cody/Hendricks becoming a consistent contributor to fill the 3&D wing defender role would probably do it.

I get that acting like you got all the answers and killing threads you dont like with your shtick are your things, but let us peasants have our ignorant fun here.
Click to expand...
But what if it's 6 wins over and they have a season per game point differential of like -2 vs losing 6 more games and it being more like -9?
 
Saint Cy of JFC said:
But what if it's 6 wins over and they have a season per game point differential of like -2 vs losing 6 more games and it being more like -9?
Click to expand...
I dont actually know what projected point differentials are for 30 vs 36 wins, but I would buy a net -7 drop sure.
 
HermanG said:
Oh dear lord. Getting 6 wins over projection requires otherworldly development or "that guy"?

Key turning from negative to positive and Cody/Hendricks becoming a consistent contributor to fill the 3&D wing defender role would probably do it.

I get that acting like you got all the answers and killing threads you dont like with your shtick are your things, but let us peasants have our ignorant fun here.
Click to expand...

No idea why you care so much about me. You really shouldn't be so insecure about me posting an opinion, it's not that serious.

Anyways, yes....I do think it will take significant development to get to 8-10. Realistically, 8-10 means that we were probably 12-14 level but quit half way through. We've already done that twice in a row, there is no reason to believe we would not do that when the incentives are greater. Getting to that level will take a significant jump from the existing players. We are significantly worse than years past and the west is extremely tough. Like I said, this roster isn't anything close to previous years. I don't see a scenario where our vets carry us to 8-10 because we don't have many vets to begin with, and all signs point to us playing for development.
 
KqWIN said:
No idea why you care so much about me. You really shouldn't be so insecure about me posting an opinion, it's not that serious.

Anyways, yes....I do think it will take significant development to get to 8-10. Realistically, 8-10 means that we were probably 12-14 level but quit half way through. We've already done that twice in a row, there is no reason to believe we would not do that when the incentives are greater. Getting to that level will take a significant jump from the existing players. We are significantly worse than years past and the west is extremely tough. Like I said, this roster isn't anything close to previous years. I don't see a scenario where our vets carry us to 8-10 because we don't have many vets to begin with, and all signs point to us playing for development.
Click to expand...
You cant lack so much self-awareness that you dont see your tendency to kill threads? I have zero insecurities about you its just that I dislike your buzzkilling ways in a discussion forum like this.

Just skip more of these stupid topics, will ya?
 
HermanG said:
You cant lack so much self-awareness that you dont see your tendency to kill threads? I have zero insecurities about you its just that I dislike your buzzkilling ways in a discussion forum like this.

Just skip more of these stupid topics, will ya?
Click to expand...

If you're so bothered by me commenting on a topic, then you can ignore it. If you created this thread to complain about me talking about the thread and not to talk about the topic, my bad. I'll just keep talking about the topic and ignore your whining from now on.
 
Last edited:
SoberasHotRod said:
IF Hendricks became such a force on defense that he makes John Collins lineups work, and is a good enough 3pt shooter that he has to be guarded at all time, then we might have some really good lineups.
Click to expand...

We'll definitely have some good lineups...but significantly more poor lineups. We just have so many bad/inexperienced players littered throughout the roster. Hardy has found his way to good lineups in the past, but his options are much more limited this year and I think he will have the same mentality as Pop did last year with the Spurs. Given all that extracurricular activity an 8-10 finish would represent a pretty significant internal jump. The problem with projecting us finishing higher is that whatever goes well, we're likely to cut it later on in the season. For example, if Lauri/Sexton levels up again....we probably won't see them much the second half of the year. If Key/Hendricks establish themselves, the less likely we are to see them in the second half. Basically anything positive in terms of wins is weighed down by the reality that we will inevitably pull the plug. It's hard for me to see a scenario where we end up 8-10 and feel about the same as we do now with our youngins.
 
If Sexton "levels up" it will be interesting to see if that results in him being traded or the Jazz deciding to go forward with him as the PGOTF.
 
Like if Sexton suddenly starts being a very good PNR with a guy like Walker, that would be leveling up to me (not just scoring, but feeding Kessler). To my eye test, he was very good with Collins in the PNR, but he's much easier player to play with than a Walker.
 
Sexton was pretty damn good with both Collins and Kessler on the court (better with Kessler actually). I think he’s the most likely out of anyone to level up….and yet I’m not sure that leveling up will make him more likely to be here long term.

Long term, only one of Sexton and Keyonte can realistically be a starter.
 
I would rather have the next Wemby/Chet/Shai/Lauri types than have Keyonte, Hendricks, Sensabaugh, etc solidify themselves as NBA role players or NBA starters. Get the pic... THEN level up.

Besides, they can level up and we can still lose even though that falls outside of the extremes setup here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page
Back
Top