Which direction do you want the team to go the rest of the season?

[Eminence]

Can't go wrong.

Even if we 'tank' by sending out some vets I expect we'll still be a decent squad because Lauri/Kessler/Sexton and other playable guys will be around. So get some value from guys if teams are buying, send Conley somewhere to contend if he wants to, etc. Doesn't matter too much, team will be solid.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I see 4 separate bad takes in few lines of text. Must be a record.

Gonna fall apart after Conley - bad take #1 - Our record without Conley 5-7, and that came before Lauri was annointed as the #1 guy and Kessler was playing 15 minutes against 2nd string guys. It was the JC/Beasley show.
KO leaving a talent gap - bad take #2 - Our record without KO 6-3 including 4-2 vs 2x CLE, PHI, MIN, LAC, WAS.
Not a deep team - bad take #3 - Then why do we win and/or play close even with KO, Lauri and Sexton all out against teams like Philly and Wolves?
No long term potential - bad take #4 - Our top 3 players are 21, 25 and 30 years old. Vando, Ochai, THT, Sexton, NAW... all young and contributing.

Ok bud

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Maybe the team will surprise if conley isn't there. As Tremendous Upside said, conley has sucked in a lot of games this season. Plus I remember you saying something about how important KO is to the jazz but we seem to be just fine without him. Maybe you will be wrong about a conley-less jazz too.

Jazz have not been fine without KO. He's a huge loss. Maybe he shouldn't start anymore, but you just saying dumb ****

 

[Elizah Huge]

Jazz have not been fine without KO. He's a huge loss. Maybe he shouldn't start anymore, but you just saying dumb ****

We are 6-3 without him and one of those losses was at the buzzer to the 76ers without Lauri. I think we have done just fine without him.

 

[fishonjazz]

Jazz have not been fine without KO. He's a huge loss. Maybe he shouldn't start anymore, but you just saying dumb ****

Lol we are 6-3 without KO. Not only have we been fine, we have been fantastic. Where would that winning percentage have us seeded in the playoffs? I bet we would have homecourt advantage. Its certainly a better winning percentage than our record with KO. We have also had our best player (Lauri) miss his only games while KO was out and sexton was also missing for many of those games and we still went 6-3. If Lauri and sexton miss zero games while KO was out then our record without him, which is already great, would probably be even better.
You die on all your horrible take hills dont you. Its ok to just say you were wrong once in a while dude.

 

[SoberasHotRod]

It's all gravy.

The Jazz's top assets are
1) Players on the roster
2) Other teams' picks
3) Their own picks

Before the season that wasn't probably many peoples view. But now Markkanen and Kessler are two super-solid future pieces and Ochai and Sexton seem like they might have a role as well. Also, the value of the Minny picks has gone up quite a bit.

Teams that go full-on, bottom-feed tanking usually only have their own picks and no other real assets = only option is to maximize the value of those. In that scenario they're also building up from pretty much zero. Whereas with the Jazz quite a few FA players might look at Markkanen and Kessler and think that's gonna be a good team to play for - instead of a 20-win team with all 19yos.

Doesn't mean suddenly trading picks away to get better this season. And if Ainge sees value in trading anyone away, go ahead and pull the trigger on those. However, I don't think an option to tank this season exists. It doesn't make sense and anything this "core" does together in terms of winning, competing, growing and maybe making it to a playoff round is more valuable to the future than upping the Jazz's own pick a couple of spots.

Markkanen has only ever played two play-in games, the rest not even that. In terms winning and competing for a championship some time in the future, you obviously need the right players. Then even if you think you now have the right players in two-three years time or whatevever, if none of them ever has been on a winning team or been to the playoffs, you're still a long way away from actually winning. And now is a good time as any to get that experience.

Good Post. Our own pick is the one we have control over in a deep draft, so that's still more valuable in my opinion, but would agree that having Lauri and Kessler break out this season has given us a lot to build around.

I'm not 100% sure how valuable, "playoff experience" is? I personally still think getting a better contributor from the draft is more important. The reason I voted for don't care is that I'm just not sure our potential for wins/losses has that much of a range.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Lol we are 6-3 without KO. Not only have we been fine, we have been fantastic. Where would that winning percentage have us seeded in the playoffs? I bet we would have homecourt advantage. Its certainly a better winning percentage than our record with KO. We have also had our best player (Lauri) miss his only games while KO was out and sexton was also missing for many of those games and we still went 6-3. If Lauri and sexton miss zero games while KO was out then our record without him, which is already great, would probably be even better.
You die on all your horrible take hills dont you. Its ok to just say you were wrong once in a while dude.

ok bud.

Yes, I will die on the KO has been very good this year and helps us win games hill. Please take your stupid small sample size BS you are pulling and shove it up your ***.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I don't share your pessimism.

Let's not get fooled by Conley having one great game in 10. He's essentially sucked since he returned from injury and mostly looks like he doesn't move the needle anymore.

Didnt even bother reading after that statement. Jesus Christ.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

It’s wild to me how much some still under rate Conley… I get some nights he looks washed but even then he gets everyone in the right spots and makes everyone better. He’s a guy we won’t realize how important he is until he’s gone or truly is washed. Part of the reason we need him is we have truly ****** passing… if he was gone for long stretches the tunnel vision on this team would be incredible. It’s why I’d really focus on landing Anthony Black… having a guy who is looking to setup others is critical for us.

 

[gomretat]

We are way ahead of where any of us thought we’d be. We already have an All-Star and borderline All-NBA player. We also have one of the best rookies from the draft who also looks like a building block for the future.

I would look at trading Beasley/KO/Vando. Those three could be traded for players and picks. I think we wouldn’t really miss a beat without them and we could potentially be even better with more playing time for the young guys. That is the best case scenario in my opinion.

Plus on top of everything we are going to get a lottery pick from Minnesota.

I agree with everything except I really like Beasley. He is a pure shooter and he works hard defensively. His ability to stretch the floor off the bench is a great thing. That being said, I would guess he is not the trading block.

 

[gomretat]

It’s wild to me how much some still under rate Conley… I get some nights he looks washed but even then he gets everyone in the right spots and makes everyone better. He’s a guy we won’t realize how important he is until he’s gone or truly is washed. Part of the reason we need him is we have truly ****** passing… if he was gone for long stretches the tunnel vision on this team would be incredible. It’s why I’d really focus on landing Anthony Black… having a guy who is looking to setup others is critical for us.

It’s wild to me how much some still under rate Conley… I get some nights he looks washed but even then he gets everyone in the right spots and makes everyone better. He’s a guy we won’t realize how important he is until he’s gone or truly is washed. Part of the reason we need him is we have truly ****** passing… if he was gone for long stretches the tunnel vision on this team would be incredible. It’s why I’d really focus on landing Anthony Black… having a guy who is looking to setup others is critical for us.

Amen. Even when the numbers dont show it he is the one who makes everything work. I love Sexton's energy but I really dont think he is ready to run it. Not sure I will ever think that. Even when his assist numbers are up, the ball still sticks a lot when he is on the floor.

 

[sip]

I want to compete against the best. Thank god we have an mvp all first team nba caliber number 1 option on the roster that we just need to build around to get to that level. And we have the assets and financial flexibility to build a great team around Lauri, our superstar.

Do we actually have the assets to catch up to the griz, thunder and pelicans though? I don't think we do if our own draft picks are in the 15-22 range. The young talent gap is already massive between us and those 3 teams. The thunder upside is downright scary when you take into account the future picks they have in the pipeline.