Smith and Ainge have destroyed the Jazz

[ProudUte]

I understand trying to tank for a year or two in an attempt to get some top-tier players in the draft. But, this has got out of hand. Interest in the Jazz is way down. It will not be easy to build things back up. I do not understand their approach.

Honestly, I have lost any interest in the Jazz.

[AlohaUte]

It is concerning. I hate the tanking strategy. But I do think we need to give Ainge a chance to right the ship. He had huge success in Boston, I think he needs more than two years.

It is hard to see the Cavs having the success with Donovan Mitchell. I know he wanted to leave Utah, but I suspect they could have convinced him to stay and built a solid team around him. But honestly, I could be talking out of my rear as I don’t follow the NBA all that much.

[alexsmith]

This is the conclusion of year 3. Additionally, people talk about the success that he had in Boston but he only won 1 title (2008) while he was there from 2003-2021. He took a team that wasn’t making the playoffs (Boston made it in 4 of the prior 11 seasons) to making the playoffs (15 out of 18 seasons) but he was only able to win one title.

Additionally, people want to give him credit for the recent Celtics title because he drafted Tatum and Brown, but they were unable to get over the edge to a title until Brad Stevens made moves to get Porzingis and Holiday, crucial pieces to their title.

I think fans are losing patience because we have had three consecutive bottom dweller type seasons and there doesn’t seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. They keep saying that they are waiting for “the guy” to become available on the trade block, but how long are we going to sit and wait? I’m just not sold that they actually have a game plan. I think they’re waiting for something to fall into their lap, which just doesn’t happen very often (see the reaction to the Luka trade as an example).

[AlohaUte]

Honestly, that’s reasonable. Good points. I totally understand fan impatience here. I mean Utah has never been consistently the crappy team in the league when the Miller’s owned it, despite being one of the smallest markets. I’m ok being patient here and giving benefit of the doubt, but i get others not feeling the same way.

[utefansince79]

My perception was that while Donovan was unhappy with Rudy (who was among the first to go) but otherwise seemed happy with being in Utah. Was engaged with the community and a few times was seen sitting courtside at the Hunty.

[UtesRule]

As much as I agree that I hate the tanking strategy at face value, unfortunately, with the Utah Jazz not being a destination team to play for ala, the Lakers, the Knicks, et al, this is the strategy the team has to take in order to have a shot at a really high draft pick that will really make a difference. The NBA truly is a league of stars. If you don’t have at least two stars, you don’t have a shot at winning the title.

[Red Rhino]

The concern I have is that since the departure of Karl Malone and John Stockton, on the rare instance where the Jazz have developed a rookie into a star, as soon as those stars make an All Star team, they typically fall in love with themselves and want out of Utah. It generally takes at least as long as a rookie contract to develop a rookie into a star. What good does it do to draft and develop rookies into stars if they just leave after their rookie contract? This is why I struggle to get excited about the NBA anymore and why college sports is becoming increasingly harder to digest.

[AlohaUte]

True, but to play devil’s advocate a bit, Denver has been solid the last few years and it isn’t a destination either, heck, for that matter the two conference leaders are Cleveland and Oklahoma City. So it’s still possible for our markets to be successful, but to your point, it’s still hard to hold onto that talent and that hurts fans and fan interest.

[Utes 69]

good deal! not a fan of either one of them.

[jamarcus24]

The Jazz are trying to take the OKC Thunder route. The Thunder have spent the last decade stockpiling draft picks and assets and they full-on tanked two seasons in a row for high draft position and now they’ve been the top team in the west for the last two seasons. Even after all that, the Thunder still own THREE first round picks in the draft this year.

The Jazz have a pretty large bank of draft picks and trade assets for the foreseeable future. Now they just have to coach it up and develop it into something competitive.

[AlohaUte]

And therein lies the challenge.

[Red Son]

I am absolutely pro tank and like it was mentioned above it can be done well with some added luck (OKC). In fact, to me, they have not tanked hard enough. They should have traded Clarkson, Collins, and probably Sexton (but I love him).

Donovan was not staying period. You absolutely cannot let him go for nothing. Rudy was not good enough, young enough, or cheap enough to lead a competitive team. We do not attract free agents to Utah and there are only 3 ways to build a team. Draft/grow talent, free agency, and trades. Stars aren’t coming to sign, so that removes that. Then it is just the other two. Trades are not always available because it takes two sides, so homegrown talent becomes the most important part for a competitive team in a small market. I am aware that top draft picks don’t always hit, however there have been studies that the show on average, the higher the pick the greater the odds for a better player. Continually, having a pick in the range of 12-20 obviously lowers the success rate dramatically, and then you really have to rely on luck. Jazz also have tons of assets to set up for trades too.

So, with that in mind, Jazz have two options. Either tank or maintain mediocrity. To me, mediocrity is 10x worse than tanking and there is nothing worse than remaining stale forever. There is no hope with mediocrity and in my opinion hope is the greatest part of fandom. My 2nd favorite thing next to consistently winning is watch young players grow and seeing what they become. The Jazz have Kessler, Hendricks,, George, Collier, Fillipowski, and Williams (not playing all that great but lasts years lottery picks were pretty terrible). They are all trending upwards at what appears to be an exponential rate. They are also all competitive and hard workers. While I understand fans not enjoying tanking perhaps maybe change your point of view and embrace the good parts of it. Closer to home, think about when we get freshmen Ute players, and you start hearing about how good they are in fall camp and that they may start. Ty Jordan’s play was intoxicating and there have been many others. Thanks for reading and here is too tanking harder than ever before 😉

[jamarcus24]

Funny enough, the year the Jazz were really supposed to tank was the year they blew it all up in the off-season. We shipped Rudy and Donovan away and we were supposed to be in the tank sweepstakes for Victor Wembanyama, but the Jazz started the season on a 10 or 11-game win streak.

I think the fan sentiment here in this state is that we’re not used to seeing the Jazz at the bottom of the standings in consecutive seasons. In most seasons the Jazz have a couple all-star-level players and are competing for a home playoff spot. It’s also my opinion that the Donovan/Rudy years just kind of fell into our lap and the front-office wasn’t prepared to see it through long-term. We had a short window to build a contender and when the Mike Connelly/Joe Johnson/Bojan Bogdonovic acquisitions didn’t pay off right away it seemed like the fire sale approach was the only way to go from there.

“Trusting the Process” is a hard sell to pitch to your average Jazz fan.

[AlohaUte]

I do think that Free Agents would come if they are star #3 or something. Like if the Jazz got two top players, a star who wants to win more than be in LA would be gettable.

[Uteanooga]

My life improved when I stopped caring about the NBA.

[The Miami Ute]

Currently in the running for comment of the year so far…

[thirtyfour-thirtyone]

Well, I am glad they are successfully tanking this year. The last two years seem like a bit of a waste.

I’m much more excited for the Mammoths, and it warms my heart to see everyone chugging their beer on the jumbotron in honor of Ryan Smith.

[GameForAnyFuss]

Smith and Ainge have not exactly covered themselves with glory, but I would say the NBA itself has destroyed the Jazz just as much as those two have. Utah is a small market and a state with no “street cred”, making it hard to get free agents to come. That’s the result of the NBA doing what the NBA does, and it seems to suit them fine.

[tarheelio]

The 76ers tried tanking for a few years to get picks, how is that working out?

[Red Son]

OKC Thunder tried tanking a few years back, how is that working out? Also, Philly went to the conference finals and lost on a crazy Kawhi game winner. Had they went to the finals they most likely would have won for the same reasons that Raptors won.

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