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The Official 2014/15 Tank Watch thread

I wouldn't mind the rest of the season just being "Hey, let's surround Favors with a bunch of ****ty players and teach him how to handle double teams".
 
The situation in the Eastern Conference is getting interesting. Boston, Indiana, Brooklyn and Charlotte are all within half a game.

Edit: Now the Jazz are tied for the 11th spot with Indiana, just a half game out of a tie for 9th.

.... and 9th is where I predicted we would finish about 3 weeks ago exactly because all those EC teams would be fighting for that final playoff spot right to the final game.


Let's see what unfolds.
 
Jazz could lose 5 of their last 7 games. Tough schedule:

@PHX
Home & Away with SAC
MEM
@POR on a back-to-back
DAL
@HOU
 
We all saw what the 9th pick can get you last year.

Yes, but I think that the Jazz should look to trade up for a player they value. The higher they pick, the less they (theoretically) have to pay. Just because you have the 9th pick, doesn't necessarily mean you're picking 9th.

If the Jazz have decided to focus on draft position, here's the three things I want to see.

#1.) Hayward sit unless he's 100% healthy and Favors and Gobert anchor the team. Favors should shoot a couple more 3's and Gobert should start shooting even when he's away from the basket. If Gobert can score on more than putbacks, and Favors can truly stretch his range to the arc, that would do a wonder for the Jazz offense next year.

#2.) Bench guys need more burn. Give the starters a bit more rest and take some time to assess the future potential and role of Booker, Burke, Hood, Jingles and Millsap. Cooley and Cotton too, but they're a lesser priority.

#3.) Swap the offensive roles for Exum and Burke. Dante needs to shoot more and Trey needs to facilitate more. My expectation would be for Exum to start taking several more shots per game than he has thus far. I care far less about how successful they are at it, than I would be in seeing how they would respond to that challenge. If there's another close game that requires a game winner, the ball needs to go to Favors, Exum or Gobert. They need to feel what it's like in that pressure cooker.
 
There is a tense fight for the 8th seed in the East with Brooklyn, Detroit, Charlotte and Indiana all with 23 wins, all fighting for the 8th spot. Unlikely any of these teams will let off (i.e., tank).


In the West, OKC (32 wins), Phoenix (30 wins) and NO (30 wins) are all fighting for the 8th spots as well.


In conclusion: I think this means the worst we could finish in terms of the draft spot could be the 9th pick (unless a team jumps in and grab a top 3 pick).

This is what I thought would happen 4 weeks ago. Good to see it is a possibility now!!!
 
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