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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?


  • Total voters
    50
The way the Jazz should’ve played it out with mostly foresight but a little hindsight:
*‘22-‘23 they should’ve gutted the team by the start of the regular season and taken whatever swaps and 2nds they could get from the Lakers for Bogey, Beasley, Vando, Pat, and/or Clarkson (maybe even Snyder?) and tanked their absolute asses off.
*’23-‘24 they should’ve thrown serious offer sheets for Reeves (“max”) and Naz Reid then played it straight, get in the play-in, and convey the pick to OKC.
*’24-‘25 trade all the ****ing vets - Lauri, Reeves, Naz, whatever other vet(s), maybe Walker - and tank again.

They’d be coming into this season with at least a Thompson (if not Wemby), almost certainly significantly improved picks from the Wolves, a top-5 pick from last year, much improved draft asset portfolio, and even better position for a high draft pick this year even if they were trying in earnest to win (they’d have a type of super-swap and the Wolves would probably be closer to collapse than they are now).
You have been pretty consistent and I've generally agreed with your takes on this.

In the end I'm not 100% sure if Amen, Ace, better draft capital and no Kessler or Lauri is a better position than where we're at now. I think it would feel better though (more logical).
 
I'd say after we draft a franchise level player.

Or we stop tanking when we run out of tanks, much like the Russians in ukraine
 
Lowe and Beck again talking Markkanen around 30 min mark. Think they should trade him.


View: https://open.spotify.com/episode/63wR0NFCgGCEN7gjKXQtxd?si=NOKc87QWREmY7JheTdpOsA


From the outside looking in, it’s never made sense to keep Lauri throughout the tank. Having said that, I doubt it happens. I don’t think a massive offer will be available. Lauri is here for the long haul. I think Ryan Smith and the Ainge’s are aligned in wanting to compete asap for better or worse.
 
From the outside looking in, it’s never made sense to keep Lauri throughout the tank. Having said that, I doubt it happens. I don’t think a massive offer will be available. Lauri is here for the long haul. I think Ryan Smith and the Ainge’s are aligned in wanting to compete asap for better or worse.

Ace is not a guy you pick if you think you're going to win with him and Lauri on the roster. Ace is an off-ball PF who won't be good for 4-5 years, Lauri is an off-ball PF who will be too slow to play in the postseason in 4 years.
 
Ace is not a guy you pick if you think you're going to win with him and Lauri on the roster. Ace is an off-ball PF who won't be good for 4-5 years, Lauri is an off-ball PF who will be too slow to play in the postseason in 4 years.

You should draft BPA, Lauri isn't that rigid. And if you actually believed in Ace, you probably bought onto his on ball skills and didn't think it would take 4-5 years for him to be good.
 
You should draft BPA, Lauri isn't that rigid. And if you actually believed in Ace, you probably bought onto his on ball skills and didn't think it would take 4-5 years for him to be good.

I mean, Ace was an 18 year old who wasn't good in college. I would be pretty alarmed at Austin's talent evaluation if Austin thought Ace was anything but a very big project.
 
I mean, Ace was an 18 year old who wasn't good in college. I would be pretty alarmed at Austin's talent evaluation if Austin thought Ace was anything but a very big project.

That's a talent evaluation thing, not a direction of the franchise thing. Not everyone had such a pessimistic view of Ace, and if @Tony Jones had it right that he was #3 on their board they certainly did not hold that opinion.
 
That's a talent evaluation thing, not a direction of the franchise thing. Not everyone had such a pessimistic view of Ace, and if @Tony Jones had it right that he was #3 on their board they certainly did not hold that opinion.

You can like a player and still think of them as a mega project. The Suns traded Kevin Durant for Maluach as the center piece of the trade and then immediately got two guys to play over him because they didn't think he was even slightly close to an NBA player yet.
 
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