What’s the point of this season?

[HeatCheck]

I think that was the plan. Then lauri screwed it up. He wasn't supposed to be a great pickup.

Agreed but OKC has still been able to tank the past few seasons with SGA on their roster.

The Jazz could be sitting here with Ausur and Keyonte as the backcourt of the future. Maybe they really could've lucked out with Wemby which would've fast forwarded the rebuild in a huge way.

It's just gonna make it that much more difficult for the Jazz to eventually become legit title contenders. Maybe Ainge's secret plan is to finish bottom 5 this season and end up with somebody like Sarr, Holland or Edwards in the draft? I do give Ainge a little bit of leeway since the trade market basically died this summer waiting for the Dame situation to play out. With that said they do have some interesting pieces but the fit on this roster is not good. It's a big ask for your 2nd year coach to figure it all out tbh.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

It's the year of the gimmick and the hot mess. Get everyone on Jazz+ and get tickets and a free hat - gimmick! Do a four guard lineup - gimmick. Talk about playing pairs so you are distracted about the quality of players individually - gimmick. Get blown out by the top tier teams - hot mess. Blow out the bottom feeders to give the illusion that you are competing- gimmick.

Uncanny. I was watching the game and started thinking "Why is everything suddenly so ****ing GIMMICKY." Nice of you to put it into words.

I have one more: Dunn is a human gimmick. His defense is all about reaching and hunting for steals. On offense, he relies on the one trick he has: dribbling into the middle and faking/pivoting/bumping his way into a flip shot. I get that it's just his comfort zone, but it's gimmicky none the less.

We're a team that should have no business trying to get cute like this.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

or OKC who fully committed to the tank and are absolutely loaded - i absolutely love their roster - you basically have a superstar in SGA and three legit young second options with Williams, Chet and Giddey - and a defensive stud who can get it on the offensive end at times too in Dort. add a couple young dudes who are full of potential in Dieng and Wallace - good grief. they did it right.

bottom line, the jazz were chicken **** last year, kept and signed too many veterans to begin the season and then hung on to them for too long. they should have had a top 5 pick at worst last year, tanked again this year, top 5 pick this year and then tanked again in 2025. it didn't seem like rocket science, but they ran out patience before they ever even got started and we seem to find ourselves in no man's land probably never ultimately landing a top 5 pick at any point in this so-called rebuild.

So here is what I think happened last year. Ainge was completely drunk after the Rudy and Don trades and had hoped to complete the Trifecta by robbing LA in a Westbrook Conley/Bogey deal. When they dug in and wouldn't give us much Ainge looked at the schedule and said "I have time to tank still because we could play well and still lose nbd... I will wait this out". Then we start 10-3 when we should have been 6-7 or worse based on strength of schedule. So we let it roll... ended up getting roughly what we would have anyway out of a Conley deal... but had stacked too many wins... so the tank yielded poor odds.

Not sure what the plan was this summer but several on here were pointing out that he acquired good but ill fitting pieces. They expected the price on JC to be higher and it was pretty cheap... so they kept him.. even with the redundance we had. Its only one game so Hardy may figure it out. Also, Ainge has some trade pieces to play with so who knows... but this smells like a treadmill season until further notice. Finish somewhere in the 7-10 range in the lotto odds without some shenanigans... which may come.

 

[Bawse Dawg]

If Lauri had hit that three on the very first possession than the whole season would be different. But it wasn't meant to be. Hopefully Danny pressed the tank button the second that shot missed.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

If we do hit the "tank" button it will be easier this year with everyone basically trying to win outside of Portland and Washington. I think we might be more likely to make a trade that has us head in the other direction to the play-in... depending on what it is and if it is a long-term move or cheap move I am cool either way. Hardy will figure some things out and it will at least look more intelligent than it did last night.

 

[HeatCheck]

Danny probably needs to come down on some of his prices too. Holding out for that Laker pick last season cost them a shot at one of the better prospects picked in the top 8 of this past draft.

He's not getting FRP's for the guys on this roster and was lucky to squeeze out that pick from the Lakers at the deadline and that was only because they were desperate. Teams are not trading FRP's anymore unless it's for star type players.

Collins was just acquired for a 2nd and Rudy Gay who is now out of the league.

If he's only going to get 2nds for KO, JC, and Sexton types he might as well pull the trigger long before the deadline and hand the PG job to Keyonte.

Also Collins is fine as a player but doesn't have the upside to be stifling Kessler's growth and I'm sticking to that opinion. His best position is a small ball 5 and doesn't have the upside to leave Hendricks nailed to the bench most of the season either. I would argue KO's passing and Hendricks' shooting are way bigger needs for this current team too.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

Also Collins is fine as a player but doesn't have the upside to be stifling Kessler's growth and I'm sticking to that opinion. His best position is a small ball 5 and doesn't have the upside to leave Hendricks nailed to the bench most of the season either. I would argue KO's passing and Hendricks' shooting are way bigger needs for this current team too.

Not to mention that Collins' defense leaves a lot to be desired. He's no rim protector and can't guard the 5 position. He was constantly falling asleep against the Kings as well.

His most useful role on this team is a floor-spacing 4, which would mean a lot of standing in the corner, never knowing if the ball is going to come or not. He wanted out of Atlanta to escape precisely that fate, but maybe the Hawks were on to something when they replaced his interior play with Capela.

 

[whatthe]

Uncanny. I was watching the game and started thinking "Why is everything suddenly so ****ing GIMMICKY." Nice of you to put it into words.

I have one more: Dunn is a human gimmick. His defense is all about reaching and hunting for steals. On offense, he relies on the one trick he has: dribbling into the middle and faking/pivoting/bumping his way into a flip shot. I get that it's just his comfort zone, but it's gimmicky none the less.

We're a team that should have no business trying to get cute like this.

If your team has structural problems then you start throwing everything at the wall and sees what sticks. I would probably do the same.

 

[fishonjazz]

i agree. sorta. even with the revelation that was Lauri, they could have surrounded him with young guys and either sat all those other vets on the bench or gotten rid of them right off the bat. but instead they committed to this veteran team for half the year and then decided at the end to tank and found themselves in the middle and the 9th pick (the 9th pick the coach has no intention of playing any time in the near future). it was a waste of a season in what should have been one where they committed 100% to a rebuild - and i they could have done that even with Lauri. a rotation of Lauri + Ochai, Kessler, Fontecchio, Bolmaro, Dok, NAW, Juzang and Gay wins you 20 games.

Agreed. I made a post saying basically the same thing a few days ago.

 

[The Jazz Wonderbra]

Agreed. I made a post saying basically the same thing a few days ago.

Perhaps this year we rectify the situation?

The lineups felt like a giant experiment though. The Kings annihalated us from the 3 pt line and we rarely attempted 3 point shots. Odd game.

 

[Engorged On Unborn Gore]

If he's only going to get 2nds for KO, JC, and Sexton types he might as well pull the trigger long before the deadline and hand the PG job to Keyonte.

If you're a major a$$#0le, you absolutely wait until the last second before you demoralize your fanbase and your roster with a move like that.

Is there some misunderstanding concerning who it is we are talking about? DA has been in the "major" category since Reagan was in office.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

Jazz could try to win games this year, finish 38-44, beat their Vegas Over/Under by a few games, and give OKC the #12 pick in the draft. Unless the Jazz magically figure things out in the first 25 games or so, I think they should try to keep their pick this year and use it to draft or trade. Right now, the Jazz are in the business of drafting for, or trading for, star players. In a vacuum, adding a top 8 pick this year makes a lot of sense. This is going to be at least a 5-player draft. If the Jazz want to trade for Luka, they should probably offer a top-5 pick as a centerpiece, along with future picks.

I think the Jazz are going to "try to make the play-in/playoffs," but when it becomes clear that it's going to be a stretch they're going to trade out Olynyk, THT and maybe Clarkson. In terms of longterm pieces, the Jazz have Lauri and a few first and second-year players. In other words, this roster is built to tank. Picking up guys like Fontecchio and Samanic was a tank move, if we're being honest.

When the Jazz were in this position before, they finished with 38 wins and drafted Trey Lyles. It wasn't a great pick, but it factored into trading for Donovan Mitchell.