Is this Ainge? Smith? The Salt Lake media influence?
Mitchell, Gobert, Conley–just for starters.
When did winning become boring?
Be patient they are strategizing for a 2035 run.
If you land enough #8 first round draft picks your bound to discover one gem over a 10 year period.
It’s pathetic nobody in the Salt Lake media will question this approach.
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Tanking isn’t original, and it has worked before.
The problem is the draft apparently is pretty thin this year, and Ainge dealt away players like Fontecchio…who was actually becoming good!
That’s when Markennan started losing faith, and I can’t blame him, because his prime years are being wasted.
The jury is out on Ainge’s approach, and word is the jury is rappelling outside down the courthouse walls and getting into Ubers.
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Blowing up the team worked in Boston, but really hasn’t worked anywhere else. Chicago hasn’t seen anything since post Jordan. There are other examples of no bueno, too.
As the league has an unequal salary cap in play, teams like the Jazz are at a disadvantage because they can’t spend the way the LA teams, Boston, and many of the others can to retain players or buy talent.
In short, as it stands right now, the Jazz are more likely to become a “Star Developer” for the bigger pockets team than a championship level competitor. The only way the Jazz can be competitive is to use some form of saber metrics and build a team of high level role players that bring it on the court every night. We had those guys. Maybe we get them again; but as the players in the Association have a general dislike for Utah…good luck with finding veterans who will want to stay here.
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I did not know about this. Interesting.
I suppose it makes business sense; the large markets should be given the lion’s share of the victories, trophies, marquee players, etc.
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A friend of mine, knowledgeable in such things, let me know that the salary cap is exactly the same for every team in the Association.
Are they in error?
Unless the new CBA changed things, it has always been unequal. Add to the fact it is a soft cap, where teams pay a fine…eeeerrrrr….”Luxury Tax” for spending over the cap, and high revenue teams like LA, Boston, etc. can just buy their way to talent. The Lakers pay the fine every year.
For the record, teams who stay under the cap receive a portion of the fines from the teams who overspend. It’s also important to note teams that spend under the league minimum (they have one) get their share of the fine-sharing reduced.
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Silly that there is such ambiguity that y’all can be saying different things, but be correct about the system as a whole.
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I don’t get the angst about the Ainge plan.
Once Mitchell wanted out the house of cards came down. What were the Jazz supposed to do, rebuild around an aging Gobert and and even more aged Conley? Yes, they still had tread on the tires, but had that been the direction, the Jazz had nothing more than to look forward to first and second round bounces from the Playoffs until Gobert ran out of gas.
OR…
Do what they’re doing which was trade Mitchel, Gobert and their supporting cast while their value was the hightest, get as much as we can in return, then start building the thing again.
The funny thing with Markannan is that he was, IMO, a pleasant surprise. Once they got a good look at him I think Ainge and Smith saw a longer term pillar for this franchise than a 1 or 2 year rental he probably was initially. The only problem with him is does he want to wait through the rebuild or move on while he’s in his prime?
I think if he wants to stick around for the rebuild, he can be part of something special, but we’re still a year away from going all in on being good. I think Ainge and co. want to take a serious bite out of this next draft with the likes of Cooper Flagg and the Boozer boys. To do that, they need to sandbag for one more year and pick in that 1-5 range. If they’re in that range, they can possible trade future picks and to move up to a kid like Flagg or Cam Boozer.
I don’t think the sucking will go on forever.The Jazz can build a contender after next season. But next season will guaranteed be rough.
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