Utah Jazz were 18-19 in games that George Hill did not play last season.

[Anonymous]

Ricky Rubio lead Minnesota to a 31-51 record last season despite having some very good young talent on that team.

 

Is Gail Miller retarded??? How on earth did the Jazz not have an open and frank discussion with Gordon Hayward and find out what his intentions were so they could at least get a sign and trade done with Boston? And how do we end up downgrading an already weak point guard position??? Poor leadership being displayed by the Jazz owner, it’s really a shame.

[Utah]

Yes! This is 100% on Utah. Hell, why did they not talk to anyone while waiting for Hayward to decide? 

[Anonymous]

It was very obvious that Hayward wanted to join Brad Stevens. Really, the Jazz should have traded Hayward before the trade deadline during the season. I don’t want to sound sexist, but come on, what other NBA team is run by an old lady?

[ladyinred]

Yes, your comment about Gail Miller does indeed sound sexist. No, she’s not the only ”old lady” that owns a pro sports team: http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/forbes-list-richest-owners-steve-ballmer-denise-york-gail-miller-joan-tisch-martha-ford-030116

What about Dennis Lindsey? Does he get a pass as the GM?

I’m just as ill as many other fans about what has transpired. The Jazz should’ve seen this coming and had a better contingency plan, but GH sure dragged his ass letting the Jazz know what was really on his mind. In any case, hindsight is 20/20.

[Anonymous]

So you came up with ONE other old woman owner in all of sports, and not a very successful one at that….okay. Why don’t you mention Marge Schott?? She’s the only other old woman owner I can think of and she’s bright enough to constantly say the n-word in meetings. No, old women owners do not have a good track record, that is absolutely a fair generalization. 

[ladyinred]

There were more than one in that list, but as someone else pointed out, the owners – male or female – have very little to do with this kind of thing anyway. So then your other example of a bad track record is of a woman making racial slurs? Really? Men don’t do that kind of thing too?

No, that generalization is certainly not a fair one.

[Tony (admin)]

A sexist girl (presumably).  Sounds fishy to me.

[ladyinred]

Does seem strange. I just hope, if this person is serious, that she doesn’t have a daughter who hears her say things like this.

[Stone]

It is strange to me that there wasn’t a better understanding between Hayward and the Jazz. Not having been privy to the discussions, I cannot say who is to blame (Hayward or the Jazz). If I were the Jazz owner, I probably would have issued an ultimatum to Hayward: we are willing to offer you the max contract and build our team around you, but you need to let us know by the end of the season whether you are staying.

It’s possible Hayward really did not know what he was going to do until after he met with the teams, and that he did not intend to string the Jazz along, but ultimately, that is what he did, and the manner in which he did it left the Jazz in a lurch. So I blame Hayward. And, I blame the ownership for not tightening the screws on Hayward sooner and making him commit one way or the other.

[Utah]

There was an article last year saying that Hayward asked to be traded to Boston. 

If so…

[Stone]

Yikes, if that is true, the Jazz should have seen the writing. It makes me wonder what was said (if anything) by Hayward that would have given the Jazz optimism about signing him. In hindsight, it now seems obvious that he would not re-sign, but I imagine there must have been some indications that he might stay, right?

[Utahute72]

I think the issue with Hill was availability. Add to that that he was only interested in coming back if Hayward did and the free money that brought in Rubio was expiring. The Jazz waited as long as they could.

[Stone]

Yes, I think the Rubio deal was right call. The Jazz had money that needed to be spent or lost by that Friday deadline, and Rubio fit the bill. George Hill would have been nice, but he wasn’t committing.

In essence, the Jazz took different approaches with Hill and Hayward. With Hayward, the Jazz waited and lost. With Hill, the Jazz chose not to wait (and risk losing him anyway). It would be hypocritical to complain that the Jazz should have dealt with Hayward sooner, but then also complain that the Jazz should have waited on Hill.

[pedro]

I love Hill.  But let’s look at the entire picture.  Hill was hurt all of the time.  He’d pull a muscle in his big toe tying his shoe laces.  The guys got talent, but is a tough as a wet paper sack.  Talent will do you nothing if it’s in street clothes.  Furthermore, from what I’ve heard, Hill wanted out of Utah.  Didn’t like it here for whatever reason.

To me, the Jazz as a whole are just continuing their trend of putting too many eggs in one basket.  They get a player like GH, bet the bank on him and then he bolts.  That is the nature of the NBA now.  The days of Stockton and Malone are gone.  The jazz either need to throw the checkbook at somebody big or settle for being an ‘also ran’.

[BCSx2]

You do realize Gail Miller isn’t the one doing all the behind the scenes work on the Jazz right?  She’s the owner.  She hired people to do all the work and make decisions and they then go to her for approval when necessary.  Even Steve Starks isn’t involved in all of the day to day discussions regarding every possible move.  That’s Dennis Lindsey’s job.  He then proposes optoins to Steve and they look at the financials. 

[ladyinred]

According to GH’s agent who was interviewed today, GH didn’t like confrontation, and the Jazz did everything they could. Which, by the way, included signing Rubio because GH had said at one point he was interested in playing with the guy.

"The Jazz did everything they could."

— 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone (@KSLSportsZone) July 7, 2017

"[Gordon] doesn't want to disappoint anyone… he's what I call a 'pleaser.' He doesn't like confrontation."

— 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone (@KSLSportsZone) July 7, 2017

[Stone]

Interesting. Hayward does not like confrontation and wants to please. So he probably was not comfortable telling the Jazz sooner because he knew it would require confrontation. So he waited as long as was reasonable. He probably knew sooner what he would do (maybe even as soon as the day Stevens was hired as head coach for the Celtics), but was afraid to acknowledge it to even himself. Ah well. Good luck to him in Boston. Maybe it will be a blessing in disguise for the Jazz.

[GoUtes]

Do you guys really think that Dennis Lindsey, who worked with championship organizations in both Houston and San Antonio and is now an experienced NBA GM didn’t think through all of the scenarios with GH leaving? I’m sure he was talking to agents about other players, but they had to take what was offered and couldn’t wait. He had to wait for GH’s decision and take that risk.

Also, my favorite critique of him is that he should have drafted guys like Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, and Draymond Green. Wow, what an idiot! Guess what, you can play that game with every other team in the league. People say this and then say he got lucky with Gobert/Hood in the draft. You can’t have it both ways. He has missed on a few draft picks but everybody does.

I think DL has made some mistakes but overall he’s done a great job. If Brad Stevens isn’t in Boston, we’re all saying what a great job DL has done with the rebuild and looking forward to the Jazz competing for the 2/3 seed in the West next year. The Jazz have some good pieces, especially with Gobert. It sucks though that GH left because now I feel like they are in no-man’s land. Not bad enough to get a high lottery pick but not good enough to be any sort of contender. Let’s just hope we get lucky with a later pick (Donovan Mitchell??? way too soon). Anyway, Go Jazz.

[Utah]

I disagree about not being able to critique his drafting. I don’t give him full credit for Gobert for two reasons:

1 – Lindsey said he never imagined Gobert would be that good

2 – The Jazz started with the 14 and 21 picks (I believe). They traded those two picks for #9. That means that Lindsey passed on Gobert with 14, and 21 then the 9th pick. 

Gobert was luck. 

NOW, the real criticism on DL is his other picks. He (and KOC) have picked 6 times in the lottery. SIX TIMES. And have little to show for it (BUT, to be fair, Exum and Mitchell have looked good this summer). 

He deserves all the criticism in the world for those picks. If you can’t hit on one out of six picks (and out of the “gradable” picks: Kanter, Burks, Burke and Lyles he is 0-fer)…you suck. 

Had he drafted better, Hayward would probably still be here. It’s that simple. If Lindsey had traded for Teague instead of Hill and Utah was the #2 team, Hayward doesn’t walk away from that. 

If Utah had just added Butler or George, I doubt Hayward walks from that. 

If Utah had drafted Klay or Leonard or Butler or Thomas, etc…I doubt Hayward is leaving right now. 

Gobert was a great lucky pick. 

That is the only feather in Lindsey’s cap…a lucky pick. 

Not too impressive. 

Danny Ainge destroys Lindsey when you look at actual accomplishments. 

[noneyadb]

Utah – Guess who drafted George Hill, Goran Dragic, and Kawhi Leonard? 

Seriously I don’t get all the bitching about Hayward, he’s a top 40-30 player and will never be the guy that leads a team to a championship. Paying him a max contract puts the franchise in a terrible position. Thanks for leaving.

[GoUtes]

You can critique his draft picks for sure but I don’t think you can call his great picks lucky and attribute his bad picks to ineptitude. You have to give credit where credit is due.

As for Ainge, sure he has done well with FA signings. I don’t think it hurts to have the Celtic mystique to recruit with. But go back and look at his draft picks. They are abysmal. I think DL has a better draft record than him. Also people were killing Ainge for not pulling the trigger on anything and now with GH signing he is a genius? Story would be a lot different if Stevens wasn’t in Boston and GH doesn’t go there as a result.

[RedLine]

>>>Do you guys really think that Dennis Lindsey, who worked with championship organizations in both Houston and San Antonio and is now an experienced NBA GM didn’t think through all of the scenarios with GH leaving?

Not for a second. Hayward was gone at no fault to the organization, coaching, talent, team achievment, or fabase (who funded a banner for him). The_Gordon gone and done a Gordon. No playbook on that one.

[Author]

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