The Jazz have found their magic formula to build.

[David Hume]

If the Jazz were properly motivated, they could trade up to #3 in a strong draft this year. They could then do the exact same thing next year. The champion Celtics team is built around two #3 picks in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. If the Jazz were built around Ace Bailey and Cam Boozer, they might be on their way.

Ferguson, thy symbolic representation that stands in for your likeness now resembles an organism much younger, with more telomere life, less entropy, than the bearded, bewildered looking symbolic representation that used to encumber your profile. Why, dear Sir, the change?

 

[efukillar]

If the Jazz were properly motivated, they could trade up to #3 in a strong draft this year. They could then do the exact same thing next year. The champion Celtics team is built around two #3 picks in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. If the Jazz were built around Ace Bailey and Cam Boozer, they might be on their way.

The Philadelphia 76ers aren't going to give away the No. 3 pick for nothing, so they're going to take something from the Jazz. And that "something" is going to be something big, which is scary.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

Ferguson, thy symbolic representation that stands in for your likeness now resembles an organism much younger, with more telomere life, less entropy, than the bearded, bewildered looking symbolic representation that used to encumber your profile. Why, dear Sir, the change?

I got tired of Les Grossman. I sought to adopt a new comical avatar.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

The Philadelphia 76ers aren't going to give away the No. 3 pick for nothing, so they're going to take something from the Jazz. And that "something" is going to be something big, which is scary.

If the Jazz want, they can stay at #5. If they want back-to-back, top-3 picks they'll need to pay for it. Look at what the Cavs paid for one All Star player in Donovan Mitchell: 5 years of draft capital, an All Star-caliber player in Lauri, plus Collin Sexton and Ochai Agbaji.

 

[efukillar]

If the Jazz want, they can stay at #5. If they want back-to-back, top-3 picks they'll need to pay for it. Look at what the Cavs paid for one All Star player in Donovan Mitchell: 5 years of draft capital, an All Star-caliber player in Lauri, plus Collin Sexton and Ochai Agbaji.

And where did the Cleveland Cavaliers go? They didn't even make it to the conference finals. They got a proven ace in the league for years in Donovan Mitchell, and they still got to the second round. If Philadelphia said, "I'll give you the third pick and Paul George, and you give me the 21st pick and Walker Kessler and Markkanen," would the Jazz take that? If the Jazz got that third pick, who would they take? Ace Bailey, VJ Edgecomb, or Tre Johnson? Would that be better for the future of the Jazz?

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

And where did the Cleveland Cavaliers go? They didn't even make it to the conference finals. They got a proven ace in the league for years in Donovan Mitchell, and they still got to the second round. If Philadelphia said, "I'll give you the third pick and Paul George, and you give me the 21st pick and Walker Kessler and Markkanen," would the Jazz take that? If the Jazz got that third pick, who would they take? Ace Bailey, VJ Edgecomb, or Tre Johnson? Would that be better for the future of the Jazz?

First of all, the Jazz wouldn't give up all that to move up 2 spots. If the Sixers asked for that, the Jazz would decline. I could see the Jazz going as far as offering #5, #21 and a player swap that saves the Sixers a some money, but this assumes that the Jazz have a strong preference for one of the three players you mentioned. Maybe the Jazz get squeezed for #5 and the '27 Lakers pick if they care enough to.

The point is, if the Jazz want to acquire an All Star-caliber prospect on rookie-scale and 6+ years of team control, it's worth paying a premium for it. This year's draft and the next one have that level of prospect through the top several picks at least.

 

[Coach Ellis]

That would be the second tear down over only a three-year time period. You don't think that's a bit excessive? So the thinking seems to be, "The tear down didn't work the first time, so let's tear it down again!"

If that doesn't work after three years, do we tear it down yet again? Another tear down so soon probably means at least another 3-4 years of sucking, so we're looking at 7 years or so of losing before we even compete the for playoffs again. What's the goal after this 7 years of losing?

This illustrates one of my primary critiques of tanking (especially the tear down variety); it's become the knee-jerk cure-all solution for all team building problems. It's lazy, unimaginative, and the product of stultifying group think.

It's as if no NBA front office had any idea how to build a team for the last 80 some odd years. They were all grappling in the dark absent light and knowledge from on high about the one, true team building strategy. But lo, it came to pass that the heavens opened and our minds were enlightened. Thus verily the truth has been revealed beyond a shadow of a doubt: tear it all down.

The fact that they played patty cake with it initially instead of embracing it in the first place means that they haven’t had an identity since before they traded Mitchell and Gobert. I personally HATE that they made the trade with OKC which has had them handcuffed the past 2 seasons plus now the upcoming one.

I think team-building has 3 phases - asset accumulation, asset consolidation and roster maintenance. Jazz should’ve been ready to move out of asset accumulation and into consolidation this offseason. . . except they lose their most valuable asset by doing that during two years of top-heavy drafts AND they haven’t been able to acquire another star level player to team up with Lauri since the initial tear-down phase. Tearing things down now allows them to keep their most valuable asset (2026 top 8 pick) and resets the timeline. Ideally, they would’ve identified and acquired a guy to fit with Lauri, but they haven’t done that. It feels like resetting the timeline and going back into asset accumulation mode is the best plan for the next two years while they try to identify a franchise player (or players to build around) and they can easily move into consolidation mode in 2027 after they’ve made two top 5 picks.