What's new
By:

We’re getting pie faced on Last Dance

I have to admit being a Jazz fan is a little bit painful and disappointing after supporting a really succesful team, at least domestically, my whole life.
 
Regardless of how you feel about the guy, not sure how a basketball fan could pass up Last Dance.

At the end of the day it's an opportunity to learn about the undisputed leader of team that was perfect at the championship level, his process and how he got there.
 
l Abach l said:
Also, as other posters mentioned, wtf were those centers for Utah in the 90s... Tag? Foster? Felton Spencer? Eaton couldn't outrun a tortoise by 1990... The front office dropped the ball.
Click to expand...

I think there would have been a title in '94 had Spencer not been injured.
 
candrew said:
Regardless of how you feel about the guy, not sure how a basketball fan could pass up Last Dance.

At the end of the day it's an opportunity to learn about the undisputed leader of team that was perfect at the championship level, his process and how he got there.
Click to expand...
It was fun as hell and really sucked me in. Good times. I wouldn’t call it a revelatory but it was a fun to get MJs perspective.

One thing I took away was I loved Reggie Miller as a player so much. He was entertaining as hell... so many big moments... I hate him as a broadcaster so much that it really took away from how I felt about him... remembered why I liked him so much.
 
The Last Dance features very cool footage BUT IMO as a Documentary it quite clearly fails to tell a complete story. Didn't he have a wife and 3 kids? Where are they in the documentary? what was life like at home when he was chasing the championships??


They talk about his dad, gambling, his shoes...

But like it's sorta presented like he only existed to play basketball.. Like after the games he'd go to a cave and hang upside down til it was time for the next days practice...
 
The last dance also just has this stink of catering to its audience in a way that i find taints it a bit... just has this processed feel to it
 
Sean said:
In 1988, when Utah took the Lakers to the brink, and positioned themselves as the future of the NBA, they defeated the Blazers 3-1 in the first-round series. It was a fairly dominant overall series, with Utah winning three-straight to close it out at the Salt Palace (4/5 game - Portland had home court). Portland was another up-and-coming team, now with Clyde Drexler manning the ship. 1988 was the first time the team had won 50+ games since the year after they won the NBA title back in '77. This was a good gauge match-up. What I mean by that is you had two upstart teams playing one another for potentially a chance to take the leap to being REALLY good.
Click to expand...

I've been watching some games from around this time and was thinking how crazy it is that it took Stockton and Malone as long as it did to become contenders. They were drafted onto a team that was already decent enough. The Jazz actually drafted Malone after just having been to the WCSF. Combination of crappy luck and bad front office decisions meant that after what looked like a breakout season in '88, the Jazz found themselves stuck in Western conference mediocrity for close to a decade.

Two events really screwed with everything. First was the Griff getting hurt. He was never a great player, but he was a competent shooting guard with high athleticism and a decent outside shot. He was never the same after that foot injury and missing an entire season. If he hadn't gotten hurt, he would've been a huge upgrade on Bob Hansen. My goodness, Bob Hansen was actually a starting PG for the Jazz for 4 seasons! That includes those 1988 playoffs, where he actually played okay, but he was nowhere near the player Griff was before his injury. Worst case scenario, if Griff didn't get hurt, by 1988 he could've been traded for someone better than Hansen.

The other disaster was the Dantley trade. Yes, I know Dantley had to be traded for a variety of reasons, the key one surely being the development of Malone. I get that there's not really a realistic scenario where the Jazz would be starting AD at small forward in the 1988 playoffs. The disaster here is the trade itself. Sometimes, the stereotypes really do ring true. The Jazz love their unathletic white guys. Tripucka and Benson were a terrible return for a player of AD's stature. Remember this is a guy who was still regularly getting a smattering of MVP votes at this time. There had to have been a better trade available for a man who just averaged 30 points a game on a playoff team with good efficiency. If the Mavs were willing to trade Aguirre for him 2 and a half later, surely the Jazz could've pulled the same trade in 1986. Or gotten a good SG. Maybe Aguirre's teammate Blackman. Anyone but Tripucka and Benson.

Stockton, Malone, Bailey, and Eaton were a decent core for the time being. I know that Eaton would break down in a couple of years, but I think you add just one more good player to that core and they beat the Lakers in 1988. After that, I think they'd have had a decent chance against both the Mavs and the Pistons. Of course, Pistons might not make it to the Finals if AD is traded elsewhere, and if he's traded to Dallas like I suggest, then the Mavs might be better than the Jazz at this point.

Still, it hurts to think what might have been. It's the only time in Jazz history that a player of that caliber was being traded away in his prime, disgruntled as he might have been. Even by standards of "we were forced to trade a superstar," the return was ****ing terrible. A goy Jerry Seinfeld-lookalike and Kareem's punching bag. This might just be the biggest what if in Jazz history.

 
JimLes said:
I've been watching some games from around this time and was thinking how crazy it is that it took Stockton and Malone as long as it did to become contenders. They were drafted onto a team that was already decent enough. The Jazz actually drafted Malone after just having been to the WCSF. Combination of crappy luck and bad front office decisions meant that after what looked like a breakout season in '88, the Jazz found themselves stuck in Western conference mediocrity for close to a decade.

Two events really screwed with everything. First was the Griff getting hurt. He was never a great player, but he was a competent shooting guard with high athleticism and a decent outside shot. He was never the same after that foot injury and missing an entire season. If he hadn't gotten hurt, he would've been a huge upgrade on Bob Hansen. My goodness, Bob Hansen was actually a starting PG for the Jazz for 4 seasons! That includes those 1988 playoffs, where he actually played okay, but he was nowhere near the player Griff was before his injury. Worst case scenario, if Griff didn't get hurt, by 1988 he could've been traded for someone better than Hansen.

The other disaster was the Dantley trade. Yes, I know Dantley had to be traded for a variety of reasons, the key one surely being the development of Malone. I get that there's not really a realistic scenario where the Jazz would be starting AD at small forward in the 1988 playoffs. The disaster here is the trade itself. Sometimes, the stereotypes really do ring true. The Jazz love their unathletic white guys. Tripucka and Benson were a terrible return for a player of AD's stature. Remember this is a guy who was still regularly getting a smattering of MVP votes at this time. There had to have been a better trade available for a man who just averaged 30 points a game on a playoff team with good efficiency. If the Mavs were willing to trade Aguirre for him 2 and a half later, surely the Jazz could've pulled the same trade in 1986. Or gotten a good SG. Maybe Aguirre's teammate Blackman. Anyone but Tripucka and Benson.

Stockton, Malone, Bailey, and Eaton were a decent core for the time being. I know that Eaton would break down in a couple of years, but I think you add just one more good player to that core and they beat the Lakers in 1988. After that, I think they'd have had a decent chance against both the Mavs and the Pistons. Of course, Pistons might not make it to the Finals if AD is traded elsewhere, and if he's traded to Dallas like I suggest, then the Mavs might be better than the Jazz at this point.

Still, it hurts to think what might have been. It's the only time in Jazz history that a player of that caliber was being traded away in his prime, disgruntled as he might have been. Even by standards of "we were forced to trade a superstar," the return was ****ing terrible. A goy Jerry Seinfeld-lookalike and Kareem's punching bag. This might just be the biggest what if in Jazz history.

Click to expand...

Great take and that trade still hurts to this day. Seems like a franchise changer. 30 ppg and that’s what we get?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page
Back
Top