I enjoy following the league and enjoy the chase of trying to improve, so I'll follow the team regardless. The combination of Ainge, Zanik and ownership's desire to be in the spotlight actually make me optimistic for the future of this team. The real issue here is that Dennis Lindsey invested in a group of players who are now getting old, and the Jazz don't have young talent in the pipeline developing alongside Mitchell and Gobert. It puts them in a predicament.
Maybe it's still possible to retool around Gobert and Mitchell, but the Jazz don't have much in the way of assets to do it with. Gobert has value that can and probably should be moved while there's a market for him. Jazz can get assets for Gobert, but they won't likely bring back a star. Mitchell is a solid talent, but he's going to start exercising his leverage in advance of his free agency 2 years from now. That only gives the Jazz a 2-year window to rebuild around him. Jazz would be forced to move Mitchell or face another Gordon Hayward situation.
The ideal situation for any team, let alone a small-market team, is to acquire young talent that creates an elite core with at least a 5-year time window to play at a high level together. Boston acquired Brown and Tatum as 19 year-olds in back-to-back drafts. That gave Boston a solid foundation to build around, and you can see the results. Milwaukee has had Giannis and Khris Middleton to build around for several years, and it paid off. Golden State's core of Steph, Klay and Draymond are 34, 32 and 32, respectively. They have given the Warriors nearly a 10-year window of competitiveness and contention.
Right now, the Jazz are stuck with talent that's not good enough to make the NBA Finals, but also are without a coherent timeline to improve and get there. That's why I would advocate for flushing out most of the assets the Jazz do have in order to establish a timeline. There are no guarantees, obviously, but a new young core of Ivey, Eason and Daniels from this draft would be an amazing start. Then in next year's solid draft, the Jazz would get two more good, young prospects. The result should be three solid young players to build around, all between the ages of 19 and 22. From there, the Jazz can decide who to keep and how to fit pieces around them.
Otherwise....I mean, is Zach Lavine going to want to come to the Jazz and work a sign-and-trade?
Maybe it's still possible to retool around Gobert and Mitchell, but the Jazz don't have much in the way of assets to do it with. Gobert has value that can and probably should be moved while there's a market for him. Jazz can get assets for Gobert, but they won't likely bring back a star. Mitchell is a solid talent, but he's going to start exercising his leverage in advance of his free agency 2 years from now. That only gives the Jazz a 2-year window to rebuild around him. Jazz would be forced to move Mitchell or face another Gordon Hayward situation.
The ideal situation for any team, let alone a small-market team, is to acquire young talent that creates an elite core with at least a 5-year time window to play at a high level together. Boston acquired Brown and Tatum as 19 year-olds in back-to-back drafts. That gave Boston a solid foundation to build around, and you can see the results. Milwaukee has had Giannis and Khris Middleton to build around for several years, and it paid off. Golden State's core of Steph, Klay and Draymond are 34, 32 and 32, respectively. They have given the Warriors nearly a 10-year window of competitiveness and contention.
Right now, the Jazz are stuck with talent that's not good enough to make the NBA Finals, but also are without a coherent timeline to improve and get there. That's why I would advocate for flushing out most of the assets the Jazz do have in order to establish a timeline. There are no guarantees, obviously, but a new young core of Ivey, Eason and Daniels from this draft would be an amazing start. Then in next year's solid draft, the Jazz would get two more good, young prospects. The result should be three solid young players to build around, all between the ages of 19 and 22. From there, the Jazz can decide who to keep and how to fit pieces around them.
Otherwise....I mean, is Zach Lavine going to want to come to the Jazz and work a sign-and-trade?
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