What's new

When Should the Jazz Stop Tanking?

At what point should the Jazz stop trying to optimize their draft pick and use assets to get better?

  • After we have a demonstrated potential MVP level player

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Once we have a core of young players (pick an age) that win at a high level.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Depends on who is available to spend assets on.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Depends on competition (I.E. waiting out OKC, or dominant player like Wemby)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    17

SoberasHotRod

Well-Known Member
2025 Award Winner
Another Poll Thread!!! I'm just curious at what point everyone thinks is the right time to stop trying to be bad whether ethically or unethically. When can we stop having tank watch threads and stop looking towards the draft every year?

You can select multiple options or others and explain what you are thinking in the comments.
 
As clarification on the two MVP level player options:

The first option is about getting a top pick in a great draft with a guy who is talked about as a potential MVP level guy at some point. Before you even see the guy on the court, you start building around them.

The second option is about having someone that has shown to be one of the best talents in the NBA and is on track to be an MVP level guy some day.

So the first option is about just drafting the potential guy, and the second option is about actually having the guy.
 
The correct answer is: never. Never stop. The jazz will never get the talent needed to get any further ahead except for sheer luck in the draft, like with Gobert and Mitchell. And since we are already on the training treadmill we need to stay there until we luck out again or the league agrees to let us get a top 3 pick. I know we aren't the league darlings, like San Antonio and Dallas or the vaunted Lakers, but eventually they might want to cover up the fact that we are the league farm team and give us a shot at a #2 or #3 pick, probably in a ****** draft like the last couple of times we got the #3 picks, but hey, we could get lucky!

So the next answer is never stop tanking until we get that lucky draft that let's us hope we are out of the NBA sewer for a while.
 
When should we stop tanking? Well once we have a young star to add to what we have and the picks going forward. It is purely hypothetical though. The tank ends this year no matter what.
 
Here is a question I have that have not read the answer for
If Jazz finish with a top 8 pick and it goes to 9, 10, 11 etc after lottery who gets the pick?
OKC
 
I mean, we already have two young "stars" to build around. Both Walker and Keyonte have shown they have legitimate all-star potential. Hopefully Ace follows suit in the next few years and we draft another high upside guy this year who also can do that.

I would start trading picks this off-season to build a better team.
 
Realistically, the Jazz will build a team around Ace, Lauri and whatever stud the Jazz can draft this summer. Any other high draft picks we add to our core will then come courtesy of the Twolves, Lakers, Suns or another team the Jazz trade with. The fact that Keyonte and Flip are making strides only strengthens this idea. Not sure what we do with Walker, tbh.

Personally, I agree with this approach.

That said, we may still be a lottery or play-in team for a season or two while the next cake is baking.
 
I am 99% sure it ends after this season, but should we? It really depends on how the lotto goes. Tanking isn't good/bad inherently, it's a case by case thing and depends on the current team situation. If we got "the guy" in the draft, there's an argument to be made that you shouldn't put the foot on the gas right away. At that point I'd say you can go either way. But we're making the decision to put the foot on the gas with or without that guy.

I don't think the franchise is over if we move forward without that guy, but we're probably just about where POR is. What would be a disaster is if the Ainge's try to pull of another PG+Mikal swoop. Had DA executed on it, we would have been set back a decade at least. I think AA will also want to make a big splash.
 
How many more games of this kind of production does Keyonte have to have before people here finally start respecting him as a future star? We got a guy never played PG until he got to the NBA and is now putting it all together while not having much experience. What happens when Keyonte has a full team around him, not a half team that has half the rotation as over the hill vets/young guys trying to learn to play?
 
I feel pretty good about 2025-2026 being the last year of the tank campaign.

Lauri, Walker, Keyonte, Ace, 2026 #1 pick - at the very minimum - is an exciting young group to try to win with and build around, and doesn't include who we might hit on out of Flip, WCJ, Hendricks, Brice, Cody, Collier, etc.

At minimum, if the team that takes the floor next season tries to win, it's going to be very difficult to tank next season unless we make massive structural changes to our roster (i.e. trading Lauri, Walker or both).
 
How many more games of this kind of production does Keyonte have to have before people here finally start respecting him as a future star? We got a guy never played PG until he got to the NBA and is now putting it all together while not having much experience. What happens when Keyonte has a full team around him, not a half team that has half the rotation as over the hill vets/young guys trying to learn to play?

I mean, it's been 7 games and he's doing it mostly by having the single greatest foul drawing season of all time through 7 games. If he keeps being the best foul drawer in NBA history after 30 games, then yes, people will start wondering if he can be a star.

His offensive impact does need to be huge to make up for his poor defense and defensive upside due to his lack of tools though.
 
I mean, it's been 7 games and he's doing it mostly by having the single greatest foul drawing season of all time through 7 games. If he keeps being the best foul drawer in NBA history after 30 games, then yes, people will start wondering if he can be a star.

His offensive impact does need to be huge to make up for his poor defense and defensive upside due to his lack of tools though.
His defense hasnt been poor at all this season.
 
Thy Jazz seek maximal fan captivation forthright. Potentialities can be realized via “Big Game Hunting,” Tanking to success, etc. An empiricist values the observable, let us watch, submitting our beliefs to the vagaries of future evidence.
 
It hasn't been horrific, but he still is awful fighting through screens.

I'm more concerned his 3pt percentage is in the toilet. If he can get that to a reasonable level he can start looking like Harden lite.
Why are you concerned about his 3pt%? He shot around 34% through 2 years. He has only gotten better at everything else, and he's shooting 90%+ from the FT line. I somehow doubt he just forgot how to shoot it.

Maybe he's not an elite shooter like we were hoping, but it doesnt really matter if he's going to finish everything around the rim, make high quality plays for others, and getting to the FT line at an elite rate (doesnt even have to be elite, just high level).
 
Back
Top