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All Aboard The Official 2022-23 Championship Tank Thread

Ron Mexico said:
Why the negativity in this thread! This is just setting your expectation low to not get hurt. I don't think JC needs rest days unless he gets hurt. We have shown we can win without Conley now. This team is very very deep, which helps a ton against bad teams. Plus our coach is letting players who are doing well play more. If a starter or guy isn't playing hard, taking a game off against a bad team, or just having bad night or bad matchup he's riding the pine that game.
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What part of my comment made you think I was "being negative" ? Just an observation that most surging teams in the NBA, eventually have to plateau a little bit. Given that this team is winning, they will certainly be looking to rest starters against teams that will not be in the playoffs. I won't be hurt by it if they don't continue this win streak either, because I have no emotional content relative to my fandom. I am just a ****ing basketball junkie that sometimes watches the Jazz and like what they are doing.
 

The Jazz have defied expectations to such a degree that many have wondered if Utah's front office might start trading players purely to push the team down the standings. This roster is simply too good to tank, but that's just fine by Jazz CEO Danny Ainge, who says he is "pleasantly surprised" by how his team has played.

"I like a lot of the players on our team," Ainge told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. "But the fact that they've jelled so well so early is fun. There is a lot of movement and a lot of guys moving the ball. That's a fun way to play. And I think they're all enjoying it very much." And as for the speculation that he might be unhappy with his team's success?


"I'm not commenting on other people's comments," says Ainge. "It's assumed that's how I feel? Give me a break. I've been accused of [building teams to lose] before. It's never been true."
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Eddie Zero said:
What part of my comment made you think I was "being negative" ? Just an observation that most surging teams in the NBA, eventually have to plateau a little bit. Given that this team is winning, they will certainly be looking to rest starters against teams that will not be in the playoffs. I won't be hurt by it if they don't continue this win streak either, because I have no emotional content relative to my fandom. I am just a ****ing basketball junkie that sometimes watches the Jazz and like what they are doing.
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Oh gotcha a casual bandwagon fan, welcome. I'm assuming you're a fan of one of the new guys we just picked up?
 
We converted our All-stars into our depth and bench. We have high paid bench guys that are making the other team pay. No other team has as much money into their bench like the Jazz. Plus Lauri has stepped up and matched Donovan's value - multiple times I pushed for a Lauri trade which involved Bogey. Jordan has raised his play. KO, Vando, Kessler, and Lauri has given us quality play at the 4 and 5. It's insane what this team can do. I predicted a winning record after 20 games but what they are doing is on another level.
 
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Ron Mexico said:
Oh gotcha a casual bandwagon fan, welcome. I'm assuming you're a fan of one of the new guys we just picked up?
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No bandwagon fan, as I was here before the season started/ Mostly of the Hardy fan club over anything else. However, I am interested in what Danny does next. Curious if the Jazz can sustain this anomaly like start, of winning more games than anyone else in the league , after a major roster blowup. They really are holding a lot of Aces, with Sexton not even back to himself yet and yet buying in it seems. Then the playmaking of JC, the dunkenstilskin version of the Finnish Hammer .Lets not forget the coaches on the floor in Mike and KO. That is not even utilizing any of the ready to play youth like the Young Och.
 
fishonjazz said:
Bump
Just beat the #1 team in the west twice in a row.
With the clippers losing tonight we move into a 3 way tie for the 6th spot. Tank on.
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Kinda cool to see some new teams in there. Sacramento is having a nice year. Memphis and NO both look great despite missing starters. I don’t think the warriors are going to repeat with these young juggernauts surging at the right time.
 
fishonjazz said:
Bump
Just beat the #1 team in the west twice in a row.
With the clippers losing tonight we move into a 3 way tie for the 6th spot. Tank on.
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I mean it’s only proper really! After we win the title, the term tank will be restored to its original meaning as something powerful that can destroy and run over anything. Somebody must’ve confused tank with ****. Wankers are the ones that lay down and get run over.
 
The Thriller said:
Kinda cool to see some new teams in there. Sacramento is having a nice year. Memphis and NO both look great despite missing starters. I don’t think the warriors are going to repeat with these young juggernauts surging at the right time.
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Nobody as unlikely as we were though going in with only a hope and a prayer with a new team of filler players and a coach that prolly couldn’t even grow a beard. :p
 
Our record against current top 4 teams in the west this season:

2-0 vs Grizzlies (both home)
3-0 vs Pels (clean season sweep)
1-2 vs Nuggets (all games won by the home team)
1-1 vs Suns (both got 1 point home wins)

Combined 7-3 against them inspires confidence. Also, not one of those teams have really bullied us. Nuggets blew us out once but we also blew them out and gave them trouble even without Lauri, JC, Conley and Sexton. Instead, we bullied both Pels and Grizzlies.

More importantly, we have only 4 games left against that group. We play Grizzlies twice in their building, Suns once in Utah and Nuggets once in Utah. The only tough thing we havent done yet is play the top 3 in the east.. but even if you count those together its 10 of 20 toughest games played and sitting at 7-3 in them. If you want to count the Nets and Sixers as equally tough games, then add 3 games to that list.

However our cakewalk end of the season schedule includes 9 games against already verified tank teams (4 vs Spurs, 2 vs Hornets, 2 vs Magic, 1 vs Rockets) and also 4 games against OKC that all come after the AS break, so they might be out of the play-in race at that point.

So to summarize... 13 games against legit top teams and 9-13 against tanking or eliminated teams. The best part? We have almost no b2b games and way more rest advantage than disadvantage games, which should be huge towards the end of the season.

Playoff bound? First round upset chances?
 
^too early to tell. the goal right now is to send Lauri to ASG and that means winning more games ( and beefing up his stats) then we can think about playoffs. teams play much better after ASG.
 
Lauri is the closest thing the NBA has to Dirk right now. It’s a thing of beauty to see a 7 footer just be automatic from everywhere he shoots. It’s weird that it still feels like we barely involve him in the offense.
 
The Thriller said:
Lauri is the closest thing the NBA has to Dirk right now. It’s a thing of beauty to see a 7 footer just be automatic from everywhere he shoots. It’s weird that it still feels like we barely involve him in the offense.
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I think he will keep growing his confidence and we havent seen his ceiling yet. He will get more shots and learn to take charge of games as he is put to that position here for the first time in his career.

Can he have a Dirk-like career? Maybe. Defensively he is still behind Dirk but he has progressed a lot this year alone. Used to be a cone and a liability, but we have seen him play much better than he ever has in his career. Offensively... just check the per 36 minute comps, and remember that Lauri is just coming towards the peak of his career and has had few rough years in Chicago where he was just badly misused.

1671197579291.png
Obviously nature of the game has changed, so Lauri shoots from 3 a lot more than Dirk did. But other than that.....

Maybe the key to unlock full Dirk mode is we need to find him his Steve Nash.
 
HermanG said:
I think he will keep growing his confidence and we havent seen his ceiling yet. He will get more shots and learn to take charge of games as he is put to that position here for the first time in his career.

Can he have a Dirk-like career? Maybe. Defensively he is still behind Dirk but he has progressed a lot this year alone. Used to be a cone and a liability, but we have seen him play much better than he ever has in his career. Offensively... just check the per 36 minute comps, and remember that Lauri is just coming towards the peak of his career and has had few rough years in Chicago where he was just badly misused.

View attachment 13545
Obviously nature of the game has changed, so Lauri shoots from 3 a lot more than Dirk did. But other than that.....

Maybe the key to unlock full Dirk mode is we need to find him his Steve Nash.
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Actually if you just compare their 6th seasons, it looks even better for Lauri. Dirks 2002-03 season was better than his 2003-04 though... but the numbers are still perfectly comparable.

1671199101892.png
 
The Thriller said:
Lauri is the closest thing the NBA has to Dirk right now. It’s a thing of beauty to see a 7 footer just be automatic from everywhere he shoots. It’s weird that it still feels like we barely involve him in the offense.
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Yeah when I saw he was creeping up on 30 points last night I was like, when the hell did that happen? Just a quiet assassin. Needs to make a bit more noise, tbh.
 
The Thriller said:
Lauri is the closest thing the NBA has to Dirk right now. It’s a thing of beauty to see a 7 footer just be automatic from everywhere he shoots. It’s weird that it still feels like we barely involve him in the offense.
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Anybody wanna bet that he has a better career than Wemby? Gentlemen’s of course. I just think his durability, tenacity and defensive mobility gives him the edge, but I know the mere suggestion could be viewed by some as an act of blasphemy. :p
 
Release the Kraken said:
Anybody wanna bet that he has a better career than Wemby? Gentlemen’s of course. I just think his durability, tenacity and defensive mobility gives him the edge, but I know the mere suggestion could be viewed by some as an act of blasphemy. :p
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I am pretty sure Wemby is already the GOAT. As soon as he plays a game he will transcend GOAT and be instantly lifted up to *Valhalla and supplant Thor and Odin as the ruling Gods of eternity.


*feel free to replace this with any other religious metaphor you choose
 
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