2025-2026 Tank Race Prediction Contest and Current Results Thread

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Why would I cry and argue when the jazz are actually doing what I was crying about to begin with.
The jazz are playing cody, hendricks, sitting lauri, nurk etc. That is what myself and others have been crying about. I simply feel vindicated and right about all the things I was crying about. Its a nice feeling.

Well I guess being ignorant makes it easy to feel vindicated


Could have just listened to the smarter people who have been telling you the Jazz would be progressively increasing minutes for their younger players and would do the things necessary to keep the pick and there was no need for the bitching/moaning.

 

[fishonjazz]

Well I guess being ignorant makes it easy to feel vindicated


Could have just listened to the smarter people who have been telling you the Jazz would be progressively increasing minutes for their younger players and would do the things necessary to keep the pick and there was no need for the bitching/moaning.

No ignorance. I simply discuss what I see. For me I usually like to do the smart thing sooner rather than later and like the best odds possible. Anywho, Im happy that the jazz are doing what I have been wanting them to do. Btw, im not seeing the receipts of people telling me that the jazz would start sitting nurk, and lauri and svi and start playing hendricks and cody more. I do remember people often praising the jazz for playing svi and nurk and lauri a lot of minutes and not playing cody and hendricks more though. I wonder if those folks have changed their tune or maybe they just never have an opinion that is different from the what the team/coach are doing at the time. No biggie. People can fan how they want to fan.

For what its worth, I figured the jazz would eventually do the smart thing. I just prefer not to wait to do the smart thing.

I hate tanking. It sucks bad. But the jazz organization aren't trying to win. And the pick is protected. Seeing those two things leads to the obvious conclusion that the jazz should try to lose. It sucks but it is what it is. Cant wait until next year when we can hope to move past this (and getting a top pick will help to ensure that we dont continue to tank so I prefer to rip the bandaid off now)

 

[sip]

No ignorance. I simply discuss what I see. For me I usually like to do the smart thing sooner rather than later and like the best odds possible. Anywho, Im happy that the jazz are doing what I have been wanting them to do. Btw, im not seeing the receipts of people telling me that the jazz would start sitting nurk, and lauri and svi and start playing hendricks and cody more. I do remember people often praising the jazz for playing svi and nurk and lauri a lot of minutes and not playing cody and hendricks more though. I wonder if those folks have changed their tune or maybe they just never have an opinion that is different from the what the team/coach are doing at the time. No biggie. People can fan how they want to fan.

For what its worth, I figured the jazz would eventually do the smart thing. I just prefer not to wait to do the smart thing.

I hate tanking. It sucks bad. But the jazz organization aren't trying to win. And the pick is protected. Seeing those two things leads to the obvious conclusion that the jazz should try to lose. It sucks but it is what it is. Cant wait until next year when we can hope to move past this (and getting a top pick will help to ensure that we dont continue to tank so I prefer to rip the bandaid off now)

I still don't trust Hardy one bit. If he has the vets to play then he will play them. Nurk or Love need to be traded away before I start to feel comfortable. The key to the tank though is getting Cody a consistent 20 minutes a game in place of Svi.

 

[KqWIN]

I’ve said this a million times. There’s no such thing as thing as “fine” when it comes to the lotto. It’s just better or worse. If we finish 9th, we will wish that we had finished higher. If we finish 4th, we will wish that we finished higher.

I, for one, am happy that the Jazz are getting serious about their pick. Was it a little late? Yes. But it was also quicker than I expected. There is little to no cost to what we’re doing. I’d argue we’re actually getting a little more, but it’s not worth having that conversation for the 1000th time. But small differences in win totals can be highly consequential in terms of lotto balls and positioning.

From a personal viewing standpoint, I also think it’s better to do your work early. Not to pull a @Handlogten's Heros , but this is like a 401k. The more you do early, the less you have to do latter. If you were slacking on contributions early you will have to play catch up later. When the Jazz start to make their catch up contributions, I think they will have to take inspiration from MVP.

But tbh…I’m not sure how much playing the young guys is actually going to make a difference. Cody yes, but I don’t think TH is a tank commander and Flip is probably the best healthy 5 on the roster. Either way, it’s better to get results and wins from the young guys than it is vets who won’t be here.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I still don't trust Hardy one bit. If he has the vets to play then he will play them. Nurk or Love need to be traded away before I start to feel comfortable. The key to the tank though is getting Cody a consistent 20 minutes a game in place of Svi.

Not trusting the coach who got the team the worst record last year is asinine talk

 

[KqWIN]

I still don't trust Hardy one bit. If he has the vets to play then he will play them. Nurk or Love need to be traded away before I start to feel comfortable. The key to the tank though is getting Cody a consistent 20 minutes a game in place of Svi.

If the Jazz are not doing enough tanking, it’s a reflection of the FO not him. If they send down the mandate I’m 100% sure he’d do it. It’s not his job to make those decisions. All you can ask from him is to be compliant and he’s proven that.

 

[fishonjazz]

I’ve said this a million times. There’s no such thing as thing as “fine” when it comes to the lotto. It’s just better or worse. If we finish 9th, we will wish that we had finished higher. If we finish 4th, we will wish that we finished higher.

I, for one, am happy that the Jazz are getting serious about their pick. Was it a little late? Yes. But it was also quicker than I expected. There is little to no cost to what we’re doing. I’d argue we’re actually getting a little more, but it’s not worth having that conversation for the 1000th time. But small differences in win totals can be highly consequential in terms of lotto balls and positioning.

From a personal viewing standpoint, I also think it’s better to do your work early. Not to pull a @Handlogten's Heros , but this is like a 401k. The more you do early, the less you have to do latter. If you were slacking on contributions early you will have to play catch up later. When the Jazz start to make their catch up contributions, I think they will have to take inspiration from MVP.

But tbh…I’m not sure how much playing the young guys is actually going to make a difference. Cody yes, but I don’t think TH is a tank commander and Flip is probably the best healthy 5 on the roster. Either way, it’s better to get results and wins from the young guys than it is vets who won’t be here.

Nailed it 100%

 

[fishonjazz]

If the Jazz are not doing enough tanking, it’s a reflection of the FO not him. If they send down the mandate I’m 100% sure he’d do it. It’s not his job to make those decisions. All you can ask from him is to be compliant and he’s proven that.

While I think this is mostly correct I also think that a coach can be a logical person who sees what is going on without the FO telling him and isn't always just a robot making decisions to win each night.
I would assume (cant be certain) that Hardy can tell that the jazz are not going anywhere this season. I would assume he knows about the protections on the pick. I would also assume that he knows many of the names of the college phenoms who will be available in the upcoming draft. I would also assume that he would like to have the best possible roster next season when I would assume that he believes the front office will finally allow him to go for every win possible and even try to give him more ammo.

If all of those assumptions are correct (seems pretty reasonable to expect them to be correct) then it seems to me like the coach would occasionally do things to lose independent of the front office. Would likely be in his own best interest to do so. A top 4 pick this season probably helps Hardys nba coaching career more than giving the pick to okc does imo. I would think he would be able to recognize that.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVRh98jom3Q


Jazz tank talk starts at 6:40

 

[framer]

First time on the simulator and I got this, even as "bad" as our winning has been. This would pretty much be the perfect result.

Notice what happened, again, to the team that tanked the hardest.

 

[NUMBERICA]

All the pathetic crying early in the season is going to look really dumb when the Jazz are comfortably the 4th seed

I think one of the things at issue is your smug certainty when this is factually an uncertainty.

I also don’t think we’ll be 4th. I’d also rather be 1st.

 

[NUMBERICA]

Fixed your fix

I also think you’re smarter than to believe what you’ve been crying about and I think you go mega contrarian when you’re bored or something.

Or maybe it’s your weird obsessive hate of the least-hateworthy poster on the site.

 

[latin jazz]

I don't think it's possible to pull off the shenanigans from last season. Hell, we even got fined by league. I believe there might be some pushback from players/agents to get playing time, so they can be traded to a contender by the deadline (Kyle Anderson, Kevin Love, etc). We could also be aiming to get some value back. Young players like Key will be looking at potential awards (MIP) and minimum number of games for their next contract. I expect
more taking/extended rest for players from mid January (and more playing time for Cody, Taylor, etc) and the team to finish with the 4-6 spot. Out-tanking SAC or Washington seems impossible.

 

[rjfan]

I’ve said this a million times. There’s no such thing as thing as “fine” when it comes to the lotto. It’s just better or worse. If we finish 9th, we will wish that we had finished higher. If we finish 4th, we will wish that we finished higher.

I, for one, am happy that the Jazz are getting serious about their pick. Was it a little late? Yes. But it was also quicker than I expected. There is little to no cost to what we’re doing. I’d argue we’re actually getting a little more, but it’s not worth having that conversation for the 1000th time. But small differences in win totals can be highly consequential in terms of lotto balls and positioning.

From a personal viewing standpoint, I also think it’s better to do your work early. Not to pull a @Handlogten's Heros , but this is like a 401k. The more you do early, the less you have to do latter. If you were slacking on contributions early you will have to play catch up later. When the Jazz start to make their catch up contributions, I think they will have to take inspiration from MVP.

But tbh…I’m not sure how much playing the young guys is actually going to make a difference. Cody yes, but I don’t think TH is a tank commander and Flip is probably the best healthy 5 on the roster. Either way, it’s better to get results and wins from the young guys than it is vets who won’t be here.

Tbh, combining what we gone through last season and the lotto. How much a lot of our young pieces look to show some level of improvement (not just Key as a core piece, but others as interesting players), and looking at how crazy good and deep this draft supposedly is. My issue for the tanking is only about actually keeping the pick. Of course, getting into the top3 on lottery night would be the home run, but it's more a question of we can't even think of losing on this draft class, much less give another prime asset for OKC.

It's looking a bit better now, but there's clear signs - like they sending the message that they don't wanna tank, both from their mouths and into who has contacts within the organization, and how the team has played so far - that the front office is doing It absolutely reluctant, and only started to pull the plug now because they were forced against the wall by getting closer to the play-in than some safe zone.

 

[kabenac]

First time on the simulator and I got this, even as "bad" as our winning has been. This would pretty much be the perfect result.

Notice what happened, again, to the team that tanked the hardest.



View attachment 19740

If we end up with pick 1 or 2 it will be amazing! Having AJ or Peterson as a cornerstone plus trading or signing a Batman or Robin added with the players we currently have gives us a competitive team.