The bu$ine$$ side of making the playoffs

[Stifle Tower]

Make the playoffs at minimum cost-that has been Jazz's dictum for many years(apart from "No luxury tax at any costs" till Larry was there). We will never know how pro-active(or creative) someone like KOC can be with FA signings or trades until he works for an owner like Cuban. Where KOC does take a lot of the blame is for the failed draft picks. But the trades not made, the FA signings not done, those have a lot of the ownership too behind it. No secret. That's how the Jazz have been for all these years. Which is why all the recent euphoria here over trading vets and stockpiling draft picks or youngsters from other teams do not make a lot of sense to me.Getting a bunch of young guys is one thing. Retaining them all after their initial cheapo contracts are up is a totally different matter altogether.

The only way for the Jazz to get to the promised land is if by some miracle they get a pick who is Durant-esque and is an all star even while playing on a rookie contract. So that way they still have the money left to surround him with 2-3 good players and have a 1-2 yr window to win it all. If either of Kanter or Favors AND Burks make a big jump from this season to next we might still have a chance.

I agree re: KOC. We'll never know how many of the picks were actually O'Connor's choices and how many were Sloan's - and who had veto power when there were disagreements.

I'm not sure I agree with you re: "the only way...to get to the promised land." The new CBA favors the original drafting teams. At some point, LA, NY and NJ, Miami, etc will all have three MAX or near-MAX players. And no one will want exceed the luxury tax threshold due to the extremely punitive penalties. Utah could end up in a situation where they sign a couple under-utilized players like Boozer and Memo from teams that can't afford to keep them.

 

[Brown Notes]

I remember starting a thread similar to this one about year or so back or even more, about the business side of winning a championship. I would like to re-initiate that discussion. what business sense does it make for a small market team fore the jAZZ to go out on a limb spending just to win a title. If the Jazz are presented with say 2 options,
Option1 -do whatever it takes to get to the playoffs and win a round or two for as many years as possible, and hope for a lucky break

Option 2 - spend that much extra to bring in a game-changer who could put us over the hump(say a difference of 4-5 million dollares to the payroll and possibley luxury tax territory)

why would Greg choose Option 2 as a business decision?

Forget the prestige issue or the label that comes with winning a title for the franchise and all that. As purely a business decision, winning a round or two more just to get a title for one year, is that worth breaking the bank?
Does the winner money and other extra playoff revenue compensate for that kind of spending?
Maybe it makes more business sense to stay below LT and aim to get playoff revenue from atleast 1 or 2 rounds every year, while keeping the fans hopes of winning a championship alive.

The NBA is ruled by a new CBA which is a little different than the one that our late LHM was working under.

Going over the "soft" cap is going to be more destructive to a team's ability to make money than it was before. This isn't about Greg being conservative. It's about a team's ability to compete and remain viable. The Utah Jazz cannot afford to go over the cap under the terms of the new CBA. It's that simple. Deal with it.

That being said there are a lot of options and a lot of teams that will be looking to find an expiring contract next year. All you people crying about KOC holding his cards will be jumping for joy when you find out next year these same assets are worth a ton more.

I don't expect to change anyone's opinion. Just putting a rational take out there for you all.

 

[vj_74]

That being said there are a lot of options and a lot of teams that will be looking to find an expiring contract next year. All you people crying about KOC holding his cards will be jumping for joy when you find out next year these same assets are worth a ton more.

where did I "cry about KOC"? Iam asking a general question on the incentive of Greg to spend extra to win a title, even with the modified CBA rules. This has nothing to do with KOC. This is a general topic for discussion. It could apply to any small market team for that matter, not just to the Jazz