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The Draft is a mirage!

The Jazz 90s teams were built largely on draft picks.
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Answer- Following is every pick the Jazz made in the 90's, speaks for itself.
Walter Palmer, Eric Murdoch, Ike Austin, Luther Wright, Bryon Russell, Jamie Watson, Greg Ostertag, Martin Murrsepp, Shandon Anderson, Jaque Vaughn, Nate Erdmann, Nazr Mohammed,Torraye Braggs, Quincy Lewis, Andrei Kirilenko,Scott Padgett, Eddie Lucas
 
Put Malone and Stockton on that list as well, they were draft picks.
The 90s picks would have been more impressive if the Jazz weren't so good in those years, because they already had good picks.

Don't forget also that to make a trade, you have to have players to trade, so to make trades you want to have draft picks.
I agree that the draft is not everything, but realistically the draft can't be dismissed as unimportant to the Jazz plans for building future teams..

It is true that Malone and Stockton were not top lottery picks, but the higher the pick the better the odds are of getting a great player with it. There were some great players that were not picked high, but not a lot.
 
What????? I really am not trying to be argumentative but why would i put Stockton and Malone on this list? The previous 10 years were more productive ( Malone and Stockton) the next 10 also somewhat more productive but the point remains that for each 10 year period only a small part of our teams are from draft picks. If your point is the draft did bring us Stockton to Malone you are absolutely correct. All told about 7-10 players became important (contributing) members of Jazz teams from 1980-2000. This covers 20 years. You must not have read where i stated that the draft is an important part of building a team, but really only a part. Again the mentality here(this forum)has been " good we suck now, so we can now draft the players we need to compete. My aim was to debunk that train of thought. We are a good PG and at least three excellent shooters away from being competitive. How long does it take to acquire that from the NBA draft? So long it becomes pointless to contemplate. Yes, draft well next year but make some moves also (free agency, trades).
 
40 Shandon Anderson F-G 6-6 208 December 31, 1973 1 University of Georgia
55 Antoine Carr F-C 6-9 225 July 23, 1961 13 Wichita State University
45 William Cunningham C 6-11 250 March 25, 1974 R Temple University
10 Howard Eisley G 6-2 177 December 4, 1972 3 Boston College
44 Greg Foster F-C 6-11 240 October 3, 1968 7 University of Texas at El Paso
14 Jeff Hornacek G 6-3 190 May 3, 1963 11 Iowa State University
25 Troy Hudson G 6-1 170 March 13, 1976 R Southern Illinois University
31 Adam Keefe F 6-9 230 February 22, 1970 5 Stanford University
32 Karl Malone F 6-9 250 July 24, 1963 12 Louisiana Tech University
34 Chris Morris F 6-8 210 January 20, 1966 9 Auburn University
00 Greg Ostertag C 7-2 280 March 6, 1973 2 University of Kansas
3 Bryon Russell F 6-7 225 December 31, 1970 4 California State University, Long Beach
12 John Stockton G 6-1 170 March 26, 1962 13 Gonzaga University
11 Jacque Vaughn G 6-1 190 February 11, 1975 R University of Kansas

That is the 1997 Jazz team. Jazz drafted at least 5 members of that team, most of them starters. 1997 and 1998 is the most successful Jazz team ever. The core was done thru the draft. Those one or two missing pieces (ex. Hornacek) came thru trades.
 
I'll do you one better Gramps and that is that I find that most players don't play good ball until their second contract, and by that time they are often on another team. So the drafting team becomes only a teaching road-stop on their way to bigger better things on a different team. That gets frustrating but if the Jazz can hold onto their guys then they'll be doing well.
 
B
squareinthecircle said:
I'll do you one better Gramps and that is that I find that most players don't play good ball until their second contract, and by that time they are often on another team. So the drafting team becomes only a teaching road-stop on their way to bigger better things on a different team. That gets frustrating but if the Jazz can hold onto their guys then they'll be doing well.
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This was a huge point on the last CBA.
 
grandpa, the jazz teams of the 90 s were good mostly because they had stockton and malone, who they got through the draft...
so why are you trying to convince us that the draft was not important for building the 90s teams???????????
 
furthermore, as I stated before, if you want to build the team through trades, wouldn't you want to have good players on the roster from draft picks to trade?
 
Grandpa, maybe you should rephrase your argument. It sounds like you are saying that the Jazz should not tank seasons to try to get higher picks.
It is true that there are some good players that come in lower picks. Reading this thread, I am wondering if it might even make sense to trade a higher pick for 2 lower picks in some cases.

What is your alternative plan if you don't see the draft as the primary way to acquire talent?
 
Teams have to acquire their franchise talent via the draft, unless they happen to be a leading destination for superstar free agents. In particular, the most difficult spots on the roster to fill are: a) dominant big man, b) dominant PG, and c) dominant, creative wing scorer. No other team in the league is going to trade you one of those three core players that create mismatches unless they are under duress (e.g., player makes a trade demand, player is going to leave in free agency, etc.).

If a team can draft a dominant big man, a dominant PG, and a creative wing scorer, the other pieces--such as, wing defensive specialist, perimeter shooter, interior defender/rebounder--can be acquired thereafter. A team that is becoming a solid contender also becomes a more attractive destination for free agents or other players acquired later in the draft, assuming the team hasn't wrecked its cap space with bad contracts to mediocre players.

The draft may not yield franchise-level talent, but for a small-market team, there's no other way to get it.
 
Northeast Right, i don't believe in tanking seasons for any reason. I believe it just establishes a losing mentality throughout the organization and a negative public perception. Why should anyone buy a season pass to a team that doesn't try to win? It might make sense to trade a higher pick for 2 lower ones. I think it would depend on who is projected where at what point. Tough call. What's my alternative plan? Find another Jeremy Lin! Just kidding, kinda. We need to use all possibilities, the draft, FA signings, trades, foreign players, anything that gives us pieces. Earl Boykins was brought up during the OKC game by Harpring i think. He would be a great backup. Don't know what his status is currently. I don't see the current Jazz mindset as a plus, we are and have been for too many years looking for system players and overachievers who have little likely hood of being anything but minor role players. We seem to avoid shooters like the plague. And i wonder if our philosophy hurts the shooters we do possess ala Hayward. He is obviously hesitant to shoot when open (plays into whole conversation on another thread about our players being afraid of missing shots and being sat down as a result). Bad shots are just bad shots, but we have guys passing up shots they should take. It's a new and changing game in the NBA and we seem resistant to change. Like the zone defense issues we have offensively, you find the seams in the pain,t and when open shoot over it (and make some) to open up the zone. Our opponents are just zone trapping the ball and eating up time until we are panicked. Okay, just venting now, like i really know what i'm saying. Monday morning quarterbacking.
 
That is the 1997 Jazz team. Jazz drafted at least 5 members of that team, most of them starters. 1997 and 1998 is the most successful Jazz team ever. The core was done thru the draft. Those one or two missing pieces (ex. Hornacek) came thru trades.
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True story gojazz79. Six by my count actually. Four probably playing the most productive years of their entire career and, Stockton and Malone. Anderson, Vaughn were only somewhat useful and Russell who produced well at times and Ostertag. Stockton and Malone made a lot of these guys better than they were for awhile, they faded pretty quickly after leaving. Only two could really be called draft coups ( Stock and Mail). And yet that was the cream of the draft classes for 15 years. I'm a little surprised that my original post made some folks believe i thought the draft was worthless. Not the case at all. Just cautioning that the draft will not solve all our problems, especially anytime soon. So, Let's Make A Deal and augment that with the draft picks we have and in the future.
 
Player development might be as important as drafting... and then there is Coaching strategy. Luck. Prayer. Public relations. Intimidation. Bribery. Injury prevention. Injury enhancement. Creative incentives and support. Uniform color. It is hard to measure the influence of different factors.
 
Buying every bit of that Northeast, except the part about uniform color. It is hard, and KOC i'm sure could add some more compexity to what you said.
 
I've heard that there was a scientific study indicating that red uniforms give a team an advantage in some sports
 
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