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David Locke - Utah Jazz are NOT tanking

One of the most valuable things from this season is discovering who are keepers and what their value is from this roster going forward. That's worth winning some games but not winning enough. We could have easily tanked harder and we could have easily added some more talent to win more. Both of those have value and could have been a decent choice. But there is also value in this option that helps us build better going forward. We still have a million picks to get stars with. We likely still get one lottery pick and 2 other 1st picks this year to do something with.
 
@fishonjazz these are their careers ranked from the most esteemed to the least.

JaKarr Sampson had by far the most esteemed career, as he was good enough to stay in the league the longest and even start games for other teams. He was a beast among these guys.
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Hollis Thompson
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Henry Sims
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Elliot Williams
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Brandon Davies doesnt qualify for the 13 minute rule in his first season... does in the 2nd but played just 20 games.
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Jarvis Varnado
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Furkan Aldemir:
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Notice that those dudes I listed... they werent their version of Dok or Juzang. They were the rotation guys/starters. Like THT, Beasley, Vando, Gay, Fontecchio and Ochai have been for us.

They also traded away or didn't resign all guys who looked "too good"... Their top 4 scorers in 2013-14 were Thaddeus Young, Michael Carter-Williams, Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes (all scoring blazing 13-18 points per game). Turner and Hawes were traded away midseason that year, Young was traded in the following offseason and Carter-Williams was traded during 2014-15 which was even more tankier year (16 wins + 26 game losing streak during the year.. or something).
 
Definitly too late for tanking. Even if we lose the remaining games, we will be too high in the lottery. Try to sneak into the PO or at least Play-in, experience gained !
 
Well getting top 4 from lottery balls is looking pretty unlikely. But schedule-wise I still can see it happening that OKC, LAL and Pels get to the play-in and push both us and Minny out.. but neither Minny or us cannot get these surprise wins for it to happen. We both need to lose the games standings tell we should.

However if we make it to the play-offs, I'm still very happy and gonna be rooting hard. I don't think either Nuggets or Kings would totally own us. We could definitely upset either one if we just get into a good flow.
 
The Jazz have an unexpected level of confidence even when they are barebones around Kessler's defense. That's a formula for a play in berth. I can see them going in a winning streak because they believe they can beat any team. We can only hope that the Wolves don't make it.

Dang it Will Hardy is too good on maximizing confidence in his players to compete. That is the biggest lesson this season. We will never bottom out with Will Hardy as the coach. Dang it.
 
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Does the front office abandon their strategy and everyone is miraculously healed or do they double down and suddenly KO gets a stomach bug and Hardy is sent away for personal reasons? Stay tuned.
 
whatthe said:
The Jazz have an unexpected level of confidence even when they are barebones around Kessler's defense. That's a formula for a playing. I can see them going in a winning streak because they believe they can beat any team. We can only hope that the Wolves don't make it.
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Usually you need to get excellent picks to compete but it is not going to happen. But the Jazz have an unique GM team and a good development program. I would lean into this organization's strengths. Make good GM decisions, more Danny Ainge style trades, and draft guys who can blossom with the best development in the NBA. Maybe we should draft GG Jackson and Sidy and a development project.
 
whatthe said:
Usually you need to get excellent picks to compete but it is not going to happen. But the Jazz have an unique GM team and a good development program. I would lean into this organization's strengths. Make good GM decisions, more Danny Ainge style trades, and draft guys who can blossom with the best development in the NBA. Maybe we should draft GG Jackson and Sidy and a development project.
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Well we do have 4 top 8 picks on the roster (Dunn #5, Sexton #8 and Lauri #7 at under 30 years of age and Gay #8 who doesnt really count) and 2 other late lottery picks (Ochai #14 and KO #13). If we think draft pedigree and talent correlate, we are a pretty talented team lol.

And that is not even including Kessler who is probably gonna hit top 5 in some future redraft... or THT who is outplaying his draft position big time.
 
HermanG said:
Well we do have 4 top 8 picks on the roster (Dunn #5, Sexton #8 and Lauri #7 at under 30 years of age and Gay #8 who doesnt really count) and 2 other late lottery picks (Ochai #14 and KO #13). If we think draft pedigree and talent correlate, we are a pretty talented team lol.

And that is not even including Kessler who is probably gonna hit top 5 in some future redraft... or THT who is outplaying his draft position big time.
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We got those guys through trades. So I guess we still have Ainge and JZ and the Jazz can still acquire talent. The biggest factor in getting the talent is still managing this team and it was done without tanking.
 
Gotta admit I'm a bit disappointed in these last 2 games. We are not gonna win it all this year and we are losing grip on a better draft pick. Getting high on the draft doesn't mean we need to draft one. We can trade it, package it to get somebody better. Somebody who can make immediate impact next year. Maybe we won't have this same opportunity again. I am all for winning but prefer the route for the greater good.
 
Agent#00 said:
Gotta admit I'm a bit disappointed in these last 2 games. We are not gonna win it all this year and we are losing grip on a better draft pick. Getting high on the draft doesn't mean we need to draft one. We can trade it, package it to get somebody better. Somebody who can make immediate impact next year. Maybe we won't have this same opportunity again. I am all for winning but prefer the route for the greater good.
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Gotta remember the Blazers went ubertank last season after AS break and ended up being **** this year again despite Dame playing the best season of his career. Its not guaranteed that you can just flip the switch because you want to.
 
HermanG said:
Gotta remember the Blazers went ubertank last season after AS break and ended up being **** this year again despite Dame playing the best season of his career. It’s not guaranteed that you can just flip the switch because you want to.
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That isn’t the problem in Portland though… the coach is *** and the bigs are ***… and that is their problem.
 
If we make the playoffs with our remaining schedule and our rookies being the reason we’re winning games, then so be it. Six seed here we come
 
HermanG said:
Only 2 of those 5 didnt play in 2013-14 season and those 2 joined the tanking effort the following season.
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Ya and give hardy all those dudes and we are in the play in tournament lol.
Im also curious if the year that the tank started they traded away a 3 time DPOY who was also multiple time all star and and all nba plus two other all stars plus 2 other starters. Hard to trade all that away and get only complete garbage back in the trades. Almost impossible really.
 
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