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Keeping Lauri seems increasingly pointless

The Thriller said:
I agree, it does seem pointless. We should’ve gutted this team years ago. Keeping sexton, Clarkson, and Lauri on this team for years has been a complete waste… for all parties. I feel bad for these guys. And it hasn’t done us any good. We’ve prolonged our rebuild by years because our management held onto veterans for some odd reason.
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The FO knows 2023 and 2024 were weak draft classes (except Wemby), so it was pointless to tank and make the fanbase go through it.

They also used that time to accumulate assets (which didn't materialised in the end due to a number of factors, the effect of the new cba being one).

It’s really the 2025 and 2026 draft classes that they were gunning for, and we’re seeing the fruit of that right now with Ace and potentially another franchise changing player next year.
 
The Midnight said:
The FO knows 2023 and 2024 were weak draft classes (except Wemby), so it was pointless to tank and make the fanbase go through it.

They also used that time to accumulate assets (which didn't materialised in the end due to a number of factors, the effect of the new cba being one).

It’s really the 2025 and 2026 draft classes that they were gunning for, and we’re seeing the fruit of that right now with Ace and potentially another franchise changing player next year.
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The cope is super strong.

You're giving Ainge WAY too much credit. He's a confused old man set in his ways, not some 4D chess playing galaxy brain.
 
Utah has/had a winning tradition & is/was a proud franchise. I don't believe they were willing to openly tank for 4 straight years so I believe that they looked at the 2023 & 2024 draft classes vs the 2025 & 2026 draft classes as well as the protections on our draft pick owed to OKC & made a conscious decision to soft tank for 2 years, prioritizing potential role players/complimentary starters in the draft, as well as flippable trade assets, while waiting for 25/26 to go after their potential superstars.

It makes sense logically & contractually as you would expect the superstars to come in ready to contribute just as the 2nd/3rd year guys are developing. Also allows you to carry a max contract like Lauri or use the space for asset allocation while your core is still on their rookie contracts.

Not saying it was necessarily the right move but DA wasn't just out here winging it.
 
Lauri currently leads the league amongst active players in number of games played (450) without ever making the playoffs.

Here is the current list in case anyone is interested:
Markkanen 450
Miles Bridges 424
Collin Sexton 407
Keldon Johnson 370
Deni Avdija 359
Christian Wood 339
Dennis Smith Jr 326
KJ Martin 309
Devin Vassell 303
Tre Jones 297
Corey Kispert 292
Lonzo Ball 287
 
Terrible thread and terrible takes in here all around.

Lauri is a perfect #2 and is just barely hitting his prime and will be there many more years. You don't trade away that kind of talent who wants to be in Utah unless someone is sending over the farm and that isn't happening.
 
karl malone said:
Whether that will be in the best interest of the team is the question. I think it will depend on:
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I think what it depends on most of all is lottery luck.
 
Lauri is as good as gone. Playing with mostly rookie deal guys will only keep his asset value sinking. There's no point for now to keep him. I expect two first rounders and salary fillers as teams will know this exact thing. Maybe Jazz will get someone decent young guy in a trade as well, and should. But not bargaining it to death. It's all about big picture for Jazz now.
 
Ron Mexico said:
Terrible thread and terrible takes in here all around.

Lauri is a perfect #2 and is just barely hitting his prime and will be there many more years. You don't trade away that kind of talent who wants to be in Utah unless someone is sending over the farm and that isn't happening.
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Lauri is a seven footer with very extensive injury history, he's not going to be good in 4 years when Hendricks and Ace and their 2026 pick are hopefully good.
 
Ron Mexico said:
Stongly disagree. He'll still be good then. Plus we don't even know if those guys are anything yet.
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1. He probably won't be mobile enough to defend in the postseason at 32, I would be pretty shocked if he was effective in a postseason setting at 32.
2. Yes, they could all be bad... And then we're even further away...
 
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