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We're hoping that a bottom-5 finish allows us to draft up a player who can eventually become the top player on a championship team for us. Though it's hard to think soberly about this with the narrative that tanking is self-evidently the best path to a championship (or only path for small...

Though our turnover margin may be the single most important factor in our tanking success this season, is it something to worry about going forward -- either in relation to our current players or in making future acquisitions? I lean toward "no," but just wanted to put some facts out for...

A couple days ago @midnight_hwy made the point that it's important to tank for multiple years. He's obviously right that the odds aren't on your side in any single-year tank to get what you need out of it. But I wondered how much tanking might be typically needed to accomplish a team's...

The main reason to tank is to get a player who is likely to become at least an All-Pro (we seem to do well enough without tanking at getting good players below this level). This is looking more and more like a 2-player draft, if this is the goal. While other players have potential, consensus...

Recent CBAs have more or less solved the problem that "small-market teams" have been complaining about for years. Free agency has been strongly down over the last few years. This past year or so has shown that the big markets cannot simply spend/trade with impunity anymore. To my mind, there's...

After such terrible results last year when the two were paired, they're suddenly positive in their minutes together. What's going on? Kessler's improvement, Collins's improvement, improvement from both, Hardy figured something out, simply more familiarity between the two?

Several years ago, during the Core 4 days of Utah Jazz lore, an idiotic theory was going around SLC.dunk that for young players to properly develop they needed to have at least 2000 of NBA playing time in a year. While I think it's fair to say that theory was overblown, it's interesting to...

We need a proper thread for this.

Last year we were 10th in offense, 23rd in defense (if I'm recalling correctly). Went back and watched the Miami game toward the end of the season (because THT, Ochai, Markannen, and Olynyk all started that night -- one of the few times all were in the lineup toward the end of the year). THT...

For the sake of argument, let's assume picks 1-4 aren't really in play for what the Jazz would be willing to give. Try to predict who you think the Jazz covet (which may be different from who you covet).

For the sake of this poll, let's assume that a "neutral observer" would find that moving up costs about 120% of the generic value of the spot you move to. (Maybe the fact that teams more often draft at their slotted position than trade is evidence for this assumption?) I find this interesting...

By that I mean, 8 of these 9 players (in whatever order) are taken before 9 and then the Jazz take whoever is left? In other words, consensus plays out. Wemby Scoot Miller Amen Ausar Whitmore Walker Black Hendricks

Or how about Denzel Valentine? I was looking through G-league stats for the players high in assists to help with our player and playmaking deficit after the trade deadline. Except for the players in the 6-0, 175 lb. range, Shaq and Denzel looked like the best options as players with both size...

Assuming the Jazz's core is Markkanen, Kessler, and maybe some combination of Clarkson, Agbaji, and Sexton, what kind of player at number one would allow the Jazz to maximize what the rest of the core can give? Give me some current names in the league and (if, unlike me, you've paid attention to...

Hoping against hope that this won't turn into a thread of credit taking for yourself and highlighting the mistakes of others: which players on the Jazz have you been most wrong about? For me its Sexton, followed closely by Clarkson. Thought Sexton was selfish -- I was wrong. Thought Clarkson...

You know the guy you have to have leading your team to be a serious contender for a title? And preferably you want more than one? Since we're likely beginning to settle down to reality this season, I figured it's a good time to try to calculate the odds. 1st (worst record) =11.2% 2nd = 10.7%...

Tony Jones speculated that positional length may have been the deciding factor for Butler. And it seems (was it per Locke? ... I can't remember) that the Jazz have been especially emphasizing wings who can (at least theoretically) break the paint: Markkanen has been given pretty free reign when...

TLDR: For those who don't like to read long things, just answer the title question if you want. I think as a general proposition, the NBA would probably prefer More parity Less tanking -- fewer teams writing off whole seasons/part seasons/multiple seasons in the attempt to "bottom out" so they...

I've started a couple of threads lately arguing that, contrary to popular opinion, winning the race to the bottom isn't the end-all-and-be-all for teams that want to re-start their pathway to the championship. The article here is by Riley Gisseman in Salt City Hoops. Riley's a far better data...

(This is a revised chart that I originally posted on the Purgatory thread. I made some mistakes there, so I deleted and am posting here.) This chart shows the win trajectories of championship teams over the past 12 years and when they obtained their top players (in relation to their first...