Epic game from Gobert. I can't complain about this loss, considering the injuries and that performance... Rudy's a beast, Andre Drummond is no punk -- that's not easy to do.
Reggie Jackson signed a 5 year / 80 million dollar deal and the Jazz have all PG's on rookie contracts, it's a serious mismatch..
The Jazz will be one of the 29 losers at the end of the season, I think they knew this during Free Agency. I said several times during FA that if the Jazz got injured, they'd pull the plug for one last tank (it makes sense!) shortly thereafter Exum went down and they've been riddled with injuries ever since.
No reason to panic though.. They're a win or 2 out of the playoffs, and a few losses away from the 6th worst record in the league. It's not the worst position to be in, teams as young as Utah shouldn't be expected to make the playoffs with all these injuries, and they're still very much in striking distance..
A top 6 pick would mean they could possibly land a tier 1 player in this draft, shouldn't be overlooked with all the rookie contracts on the team now, the cheap 4 year deals to be signed the next few summer could open up cap space(as a placeholder), then they could match any deals on players like Lyles or this next draft pick the following summer to go over the cap.. Winning's important, but not as important as getting this young team the best core of players possible..
The top PG prospects, Jamal Murray and Kris Dunn are both 6'4-ish, The Jazz rotation would be monstrous with one of them as a backup(Murray can also play off the ball effectively) and Exum back.. They could also possibly land a bigguy with some real offensive talent, like Skal who's 7' and could play PF next to Rudy or C next to Favors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R0eFmSoGvU