I didn't word it clearly, but I was saying that it doesn't make sense for us to tank the last 10 games like it did for the Warriors to tank because they had a lot more to gain then we did. Was just addressing the, "we should always tank cuz warriors ranked and now they are good" comments from earlier. I would have wanted the Jazz to tank in the same position as the Warriors that year, but that doesn't change the fact that it was the most disgusting tanking ever and made a mockery of the league.
I wanted us to miss the playoffs instead of being the 8th seed and playing the Spurs that year, but this is night and day different.
That year we were an obvious treadmill team that had reached its ceiling as a fringe playoff team. There was no momentum at all.
This year we have a core in place where the sky is the limit and we have momentum. It's go mode. You don't pump the brakes to mayyyyybe move up a few spots in the late lottery.
I've wanted the Jazz to lose every single game for a couple years now, and I probably still would if it meant a bigger difference than it currently does.
This convo is stupid anyways because the Jazz never have, nor will they ever tank. We're just talking about what they should do, but we know they will always try and win (see season ending game vs Minnesota last year)
I agree with most of that, with a couple exceptions. Lakers, Philly and New York are all worse tanks than GS, and that's just this year. GS let it come down to a coin toss, which means they really should have cranked it up a notch, and they almost paid for it. They also started the year trying for the playoffs, and only started tanking when hit by injuries.
-
Utah has absolutely tanked before. Down the stretch of the season before we drafted Deron, for one. KOC had a spot targeted to get one of two point guards, and we sat multiple players that were banged up with injuries. We also tanked last year and started out tanking this year, before Rudy killed it. If I had any doubts about this year(I did), there are two things that clear it up for me. Continuing to start Kanter over Rudy for so long. If Utah was prioritizing winning this year, that change would have made regardless of Kanter's contract status. But the clincher for me, and I brought this up before the trade, was what kind of return DL would take back, win now pieces or future pieces. Utah could have easily brought back player/s to help us win now in the Kanter trade, and we instead opted for future pieces. That's by design, and it's because DL considered this a rebuilding/development year.
-
I guess I should mention that everybody seems to have a different definition of tanking, so I should clarify mine. I don't consider tanking to be doing anything and everything necessary to lose every game. That just doesn't happen. Tanking is simply operating in a way where you have higher priorities than winning now. You're trying to develop players, while at the same time not overachieving to the point you're getting mediocre picks every year. Obviously some teams tank more aggressively sometimes, but even Philly this year, who everybody labeled the worst tankers ever, have won enough games that they aren't even the worst team THIS year, let alone ever.
-
Finally, we agree that Utah shouldn't tank outright at this point. The one exception I would make is to be overly cautious with banged up players. I've said it in another thread, but I would prefer to see Dante kinda start to get it to end the season, than to drop a few games for a better spot.
