green
Well-Known Member
The Utah Jazz were always known as a shrewd organization, one that always did the best it could given its resources. Larry Miller was respected throughout the NBA. Since he died, here are the decisions made by the Utah Jazz.
Coaching:
Jerry Sloan was the coach. Rumors are, Jerry wanted Deron gone, management said no, Jerry left. Management then went out and hired Corbin (not a bad move at the time). Two years later, it was apparent that was a bad move. They decided to keep Corbin, let Hornacek walk. Hornacek goes out and leads a terrible team to playoff contention. Corbin goes out, sucks tremendously, yet still manages to to flip the Jazz on the way out, giving them a tie for the fourth slot.
Now, comes the decision to hire a new coach. Since Miller died, they haven't made one right move as far as coaching is concerned. Will that change?
Player moves:
Months after Miller died, Boozer is traded to Chicago for a 2nd rounder. KOC then makes a trade bringing in Al Jefferson. Memo Okur is awarded a two year extension then promptly gets hurt.
Utah trades Deron to the Nets. I don't know who won this trade. Utah still could have, but it's sad that as terrible as Deron has been for the Nets, we haven't clearly won. We received Favors, a nice player, but not a franchise player, Kanter (what a terrible draft. There is a chance that Klay goes #1 if that draft is redone today), a nice player, but a poor man's Al Jefferson and the pieces that were used to get Trey Burke. Again, a nice looking player, but has the tortoise's opinion when it comes to pace of play.
You let Matthews walk in bring in Bell. Enough said.
Drafts:
I don't think the Jazz have drafted too poorly. Their only mistake was taking Hayward over George, and even that isn't necessarily a "bad" pick. Where I kill them, is they had two opportunities to tank. The first came the season after Deron was traded. You knew everything was down, there was a lockout, and yet you stuck with Al and Paul. You made the playoffs. But at what cost? You missed out on the GS pick. You lost your pick. You now have ball stopper Al, and nothing else.
Let's say you dump Al, Paul and Harris. Go really young that year. That team wins 10-15 games behind Favors and Hayward. You get the #3 pick worst case scenario.
Now, you have three really, really HUGE things happen:
1 - it's a short year. What a perfect year to tank in. You only have to suck for 2/3rds of the normal time.
2 - You could have ended up picking a local kid. Now, I know he doesn't play for BYU, so the media wouldn't care (Lilliard/Bogut/Miller don't have the air time combined compared to Jimmer), but you still have something hopeful to sell your fans.
3 - You push the GS pick down so you get that pick as well.
Now, look at the kids you have available:
If you win the lottery, you get Anthony Davis. If you get the third pick, you get Bradley Beal. Both of those players are better than anyone on the Jazz roster and it's not even close. At #8, you have access to Drummond. Heck, you could probably even package picks and players and might have a shot at Lilliard.
Imagine coming away with Davis and Lilliard instead of Kevin Murphy. Imagine if you keep Matthews and you have Davis and Lilliard. You now look like this:
Lilliard
Matthews/Burks
Hayward
Favors/Kanter
Davis/Gobert
That could have been your Utah Jazz. Wow.
Now, let's give the Jazz the benefit of the doubt, and say their plan this whole time was to tank for 2014 and get Parker/Wiggins. Let's pretend they were that smart.
They begin the tank wonderfully. Then Burke comes back, gets his groove on and the Jazz have a stretch where they play close to .500 ball. FANTASTIC. You have solid pieces to build around. Now, TANK. TANK HARD.
But, no. The Jazz have some sort of weird philosophy, where they believe that trying harder than anyone else is a good thing.
What happens if the Jazz sit the core whatever (Burke, Burks, Hayward, Favors, Kanter) the last 5 mins of EVERY game to end the last 1/4 of the season?
They lose to New Orleans, Orlando and Minnesota. That puts them down to 22 wins. That puts them at #4 right now, which gives them a shot at a franchise guy.
But instead, Utah ends up with #5 in a draft where there are 4 franchise players.
Have the Jazz made one correct move?
What makes you think they will change their ways since Miller died and start succeeding?
Heck, even when their goal is to fail, they, well, fail.
Are the Utah Jazz cursed?
Coaching:
Jerry Sloan was the coach. Rumors are, Jerry wanted Deron gone, management said no, Jerry left. Management then went out and hired Corbin (not a bad move at the time). Two years later, it was apparent that was a bad move. They decided to keep Corbin, let Hornacek walk. Hornacek goes out and leads a terrible team to playoff contention. Corbin goes out, sucks tremendously, yet still manages to to flip the Jazz on the way out, giving them a tie for the fourth slot.
Now, comes the decision to hire a new coach. Since Miller died, they haven't made one right move as far as coaching is concerned. Will that change?
Player moves:
Months after Miller died, Boozer is traded to Chicago for a 2nd rounder. KOC then makes a trade bringing in Al Jefferson. Memo Okur is awarded a two year extension then promptly gets hurt.
Utah trades Deron to the Nets. I don't know who won this trade. Utah still could have, but it's sad that as terrible as Deron has been for the Nets, we haven't clearly won. We received Favors, a nice player, but not a franchise player, Kanter (what a terrible draft. There is a chance that Klay goes #1 if that draft is redone today), a nice player, but a poor man's Al Jefferson and the pieces that were used to get Trey Burke. Again, a nice looking player, but has the tortoise's opinion when it comes to pace of play.
You let Matthews walk in bring in Bell. Enough said.
Drafts:
I don't think the Jazz have drafted too poorly. Their only mistake was taking Hayward over George, and even that isn't necessarily a "bad" pick. Where I kill them, is they had two opportunities to tank. The first came the season after Deron was traded. You knew everything was down, there was a lockout, and yet you stuck with Al and Paul. You made the playoffs. But at what cost? You missed out on the GS pick. You lost your pick. You now have ball stopper Al, and nothing else.
Let's say you dump Al, Paul and Harris. Go really young that year. That team wins 10-15 games behind Favors and Hayward. You get the #3 pick worst case scenario.
Now, you have three really, really HUGE things happen:
1 - it's a short year. What a perfect year to tank in. You only have to suck for 2/3rds of the normal time.
2 - You could have ended up picking a local kid. Now, I know he doesn't play for BYU, so the media wouldn't care (Lilliard/Bogut/Miller don't have the air time combined compared to Jimmer), but you still have something hopeful to sell your fans.
3 - You push the GS pick down so you get that pick as well.
Now, look at the kids you have available:
If you win the lottery, you get Anthony Davis. If you get the third pick, you get Bradley Beal. Both of those players are better than anyone on the Jazz roster and it's not even close. At #8, you have access to Drummond. Heck, you could probably even package picks and players and might have a shot at Lilliard.
Imagine coming away with Davis and Lilliard instead of Kevin Murphy. Imagine if you keep Matthews and you have Davis and Lilliard. You now look like this:
Lilliard
Matthews/Burks
Hayward
Favors/Kanter
Davis/Gobert
That could have been your Utah Jazz. Wow.
Now, let's give the Jazz the benefit of the doubt, and say their plan this whole time was to tank for 2014 and get Parker/Wiggins. Let's pretend they were that smart.
They begin the tank wonderfully. Then Burke comes back, gets his groove on and the Jazz have a stretch where they play close to .500 ball. FANTASTIC. You have solid pieces to build around. Now, TANK. TANK HARD.
But, no. The Jazz have some sort of weird philosophy, where they believe that trying harder than anyone else is a good thing.
What happens if the Jazz sit the core whatever (Burke, Burks, Hayward, Favors, Kanter) the last 5 mins of EVERY game to end the last 1/4 of the season?
They lose to New Orleans, Orlando and Minnesota. That puts them down to 22 wins. That puts them at #4 right now, which gives them a shot at a franchise guy.
But instead, Utah ends up with #5 in a draft where there are 4 franchise players.
Have the Jazz made one correct move?
What makes you think they will change their ways since Miller died and start succeeding?
Heck, even when their goal is to fail, they, well, fail.
Are the Utah Jazz cursed?
