Slow Thursday evening, so I’m watching a battle between the Tankerzz and the New Orleans Pelicans. People just don’t understand how hard it is to intentionally lose basketball games… especially when the other team is also trying to lose.
Who will be able to claim this loss?
T: “The way injuries have decimated this roster, the Jazz are having to play a small lineup with (6-9, 37 year old) Kevin Love at center”. (Love played for UCLA… before the Utes joined the PAC-12)
Bowler: “Just 23 games to go”. The longest 23 game stretch of Bowler’s long broadcasting career.
It’s so, so sad. I think they need to find players from the Ward Ball ranks, turn it into a promotion.
We are you, Utah!
“He’s broken 2 backboards, but not like Shaquille O’neal, but by throwing an ill-advised last second shot from 3/4 court… like a fastball”.
They are sucking in order to get that byu player. Is he worth it? Is he an NBA all-star? I have my doubts about that.
It made sense last year to try to get Cooper Flagg, but I don’t think it’s worth it this year.
That said, the NBA is just awful, so I don’t really care what happens.
What these tankernauts don’t seem to grasp - or care about, which would be worse - is if tanking actually works, it will diminish the quality of their own future games … against teams who in the future will be tanking.
The arena last night was mostly cleared out in the 3rd quarter. Do fanzz really pay full price? Hope not. Last night might have been worth $5 a ticket… for the excitement of the 4th quarter Chik-fil-A offer (if the opposing team misses 2 free-throws you get a free chicken sandwich.)
Long time NBA reporter David Aldridge has a provocative idea: get rid of the draft.
Keep the salary cap, keep the rookie contract limits, force teams to be attractive to new players coming into the league. Tanking problem gone!
Heard an interesting tweak - your odds go up in the lottery for losses before the all-star break and wins after the all-star break. It’s surprisingly simple and back testing it showed it would reward teams that at least attempted to win games after the break (even if they were a bad team).
The lottery itself is joke. Just go nfl style. And if they are that concerned about the quality of games maybe schedule less? But it’s all about money.
I haven’t gone in person in a long time. The game has become unwatchable. Smith made the Jazz more boring if possible. And we fans are supposed to be happy with this? Oh hey we changed jersey colors isnt that cool . Seeing the decline of a beloved team is just pathetic.
I would not pay money to watch the Jazz. I was gifted some tickets last year and we left a little after half time is was so bad. Even though the arena sucks for hockey, Mammoth games are so much better.
I’d go in a flash if offered Mammoth tickets to see a team trying to win. Not sure I would attend if given Spazz tickets given they are deliberately striving to finish in the basement again.
In all honesty, I haven’t paid to watch the Jazz play since 2002. I haven’t watched a single Jazz game since about 2009. In fact, to me, the NBA died in the early 2000s.
Edit: Over the years, I have casually kept track of former Utes Bogut, Wright, Poetl, and Kuzma, just to see how they’re doing. But I definitely don’t follow the league as a whole. As the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, nothing beats the NBA of the 80s with Magic and Bird and of the 90s with MJ.
I’ll watch NBA games because I’m a basketball junkie and the skill level is so high. It’s the highest level of hoops, besides the Olympics.
But when teams start tanking, it takes on a Monty Python motif. Before I switched channels, there was some call that Will Hardy was ostensibly trying to argue, without actually giving a damn.
Terrible, terrible acting. Not even HS level acting skill.
Now it’s completely apparent why Quin Snyder after weeks of uncertainty finally wasn’t able to come to a deal with Ryan Smith and the Ainge cartel. He refused to tank. I take my hat off to him.
To be fair, I barely pay attention to the NBA and I haven’t seen a Qualtriczz, er “Jazz” game in years. But haven’t they been cellar dwellers for like, ever? What does tanking year after year after year actually do?
. Seeing the decline of a beloved team is just pathetic.