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Evaluating and developing young players

jazznik

Well-Known Member
Is the current Jazz front office bad at it? I remember how two years ago the rebuild started and we were excited to see how several young players who the Jazz just got will develop: Agbaji, Kessler, THT, Vanderbilt, NAW. And now all of them were let go and Kessler is very likely seem to be on the way with much talk about looking for other centers like Edey and fans eager to trade him for a late-lottery pick.

It looks like the Jazz missed on each and every of them in year one of the rebuild, which is kind of sad.
 
Does anyone remember who the MIP was last year?
Sexton seems to be playing his best ball of his career as well

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I think Ainge is a big believer in the J.A.G philosophy. Once he determines somebody is a jag (just a guy) he is quick to move on because he knows there is another jag coming around the corner anytime. He determined Ochai is just a guy, there will be more like him. THT is just a guy.

Hence the big game hunting talk as well.
 
Is the current Jazz front office bad at it? I remember how two years ago the rebuild started and we were excited to see how several young players who the Jazz just got will develop: Agbaji, Kessler, THT, Vanderbilt, NAW. And now all of them were let go and Kessler is very likely seem to be on the way with much talk about looking for other centers like Edey and fans eager to trade him for a late-lottery pick.

It looks like the Jazz missed on each and every of them in year one of the rebuild, which is kind of sad.
Most of those guys you mentioned were traded so we could lose games. I’ve heard that Kessler had a down year because he’s not listening to his coaches. They are trying to teach him big man skills and he wants to be a floor spacer. Don’t know if it’s true or just some rumor. THT has improved.
 
Does anyone remember who the MIP was last year?
I don't know, man, Lauri and Sexton were already well-known players and both of them have been in the league for a while. They did improve but that was improvement on top of a solid foundation. I am talking about really young, raw players.

It just feels to me that we kind of wasted a year of the rebuild by not developing any of those players from two years ago - and we had a bunch of them. And Minnesota did it with NAW: he became a key backup for a contender. It would be really rough if the same story will play out with Kessler: we trade him and he becomes a good player for someone else.
 
I don't know, man, Lauri and Sexton were already well-known players and both of them have been in the league for a while. They did improve but that was improvement on top of a solid foundation. I am talking about really young, raw players.

It just feels to me that we kind of wasted a year of the rebuild by not developing any of those players from two years ago - and we had a bunch of them. And Minnesota did it with NAW: he became a key backup for a contender. It would be really rough if the same story will play out with Kessler: we trade him and he becomes a good player for someone else.

NAW was a bad mistake....it's nothing compared to the success of Lauri. There's literally an award for the player that improves the most. A guy on our team won it and you decide that doesn't count as development. And neither does Sexton's improvement? How about finding Simone and developing him. Whether Kessler is traded or not, he has far exceeded the expectation of his draft position. Keyonte has also exceeded his draft expectation. Not every player can be a success story, but the defining part of this Jazz "rebuild" is that the Jazz haven't been terrible (to many fans' frustration). It's the result of players performing way above expectation when this team was expected to tank. Some of those players you listed were traded in an effort to lose more. If the players hadn't played above expectation, we'd be in the fantasyland tanking scenario that many around here yearn for.

I can't take you serious when you bend over backwards like this to complain. There are so many valid things to be upset about....when brush aside Lauri's development like it's nothing you're nothing more than a bot. I don't even care if you think the development/evaluation has been bad, if you can't even acknowledge Lauri's development you are completely unserious. If a guy who improved more than anyone in the league does not count, who does? It's very clear that in your eyes they only count when it's bad and they don't count if it's good.

And this is probably when you say I'm a homer and you're just telling it like it is. Truth is, post like this are no different than an extreme homer who cannot say anything bad about the team.
 
I think the Jazz are critical of who they invest their resources in developing. If they envision a player being part of the future, I think they'll invest in his development. If they don't think a player is part of the future, they seem to jettison that player within 1 or 2 seasons. I'm amazed at how fast the Jazz moved on from Ochai Agbaji, for example. They threw him into a trade package with Kelly Olynyk for a late 1st-round pick that they probably don't care much about.
 
I can't take you serious when you bend over backwards like this to complain. There are so many valid things to be upset about....when brush aside Lauri's development like it's nothing you're nothing more than a bot. I don't even care if you think the development/evaluation has been bad, if you can't even acknowledge Lauri's development you are completely unserious. If a guy who improved more than anyone in the league does not count, who does? It's very clear that in your eyes they only count when it's bad and they don't count if it's good.
Again, I specifically said that "I am talking about really young, raw players." Lauri and Sexton are not those players. And, anyway, the Jazz have not developed Lauri: he played like a star from his very first game as a Jazzman. Do you think that the Jazz magically developed him during one month of the 2022 preseason camp? He developed himself (with the help from the coaching staff of the Bulls, the Cavs and his national team) and the Jazz just gave him an opportunity to play a leading role. It's not development at all.

I am concerned about the ability of the Jazz to quickly develop the young raw players because if they cannot do it well then Lauri and Sexton would look for the team with a better supporting cast. It looks that the front office lacks patience to let young players play through the growing pains, with NAW and Kessler being the exhibit one.
 
I just finished typing the post about the same concern and then saw yours. It's good to know that I am not crazy being not happy about it.

I guess I'm okay with it. Ainge and Co. seem to know what they're doing and probably don't think it's their job to spend years developing guys they don't see enough potential in.
 
Again, I specifically said that "I am talking about really young, raw players." Lauri and Sexton are not those players. And, anyway, the Jazz have not developed Lauri: he played like a star from his very first game as a Jazzman. Do you think that the Jazz magically developed him during one month of the 2022 preseason camp? He developed himself (with the help from the coaching staff of the Bulls, the Cavs and his national team) and the Jazz just gave him an opportunity to play a leading role. It's not development at all.

I am concerned about the ability of the Jazz to quickly develop the young raw players because if they cannot do it well then Lauri and Sexton would look for the team with a better supporting cast. It looks that the front office lacks patience to let young players play through the growing pains, with NAW and Kessler being the exhibit one.

How can you say that development the first year doesn't give count, but then list a player who wasn't even here for a year? Vanderbilt is a failure bc we didn't develop him, but also you can't consider improvement as development because he just got here. And if CHI gets credit for Lauri, what does that mean for NAW and UTA? I think it's really stupid to credit CHI, but since you did, you must credit UTA for NAW's development. BTW, he did develop on the Jazz. They just traded him in an attempt to tank.

Of course the Jazz helped developed Lauri. A big part of Lauri's development was giving him the role and putting him the right situation to succeed. That is absolutely part of development. If you don't count it development, it must count as evaluation which is literally in the title. You can downplay it all you want, it makes you look ridiculous.
 
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I guess I'm okay with it. Ainge and Co. seem to know what they're doing and probably don't think it's their job to spend years developing guys they don't see enough potential in.

Yeah I don't see how your words were taken the other way. Making quick decisions and trading players for value should be seen as a positive as opposed to letting players slowly deteriorate in a situation where they can't succeed.

Well I actually I do. It's the desperation to be a doomer.
 
How can you say that development the first year doesn't give count, but then list a player who wasn't even here for a year? Vanderbilt is a failure bc we didn't develop him, but also you can't consider improvement as development because he just got here. And if CHI gets credit for Lauri, what does that mean for NAW and UTA? I think it's really stupid to credit CHI, but since you did, you must credit UTA for NAW's development.

Of course the Jazz helped developed Lauri. A big part of Lauri's development was giving him the role and putting him the right situation to succeed. That is absolutely part of development. If you don't count it development, it must count as evaluation which is literally in the title. You can downplay it all you want, it makes you look ridiculous.
I think we are going in circles here.
 
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