jimmy eat jazz
Well-Known Member
The illusion that the Jazz are just need to get rid of CJ and AL to become a powerhouse is laughable at best.
Seriously, does anyone actually believe this, or that we are one trade away from contending for the championship? I certainly haven't read much of this, so I'm not sure how you've reached this conclusion. This strikes me as a straw man argument.
If I may take a shot at accurately characterizing the arguments here, it is this. If the goal is to be a contender in the FUTURE, we are more likely to get there by developing a core of young talent by giving them playing time now and allowing them to learn on the job than we are by allocating the bulk of playing time to a core of veterans who have no chance of making us championship contenders, either now or in the future.
There is of course a middle ground in which we still try to win in the present by giving veterans a share of playing time but also giving the younger core enough playing time to allow them to develop.
The difficulty with the middle ground, however, is that there are so many vetrans who either deserve, or believer that they deserve, a large share of playing time that to reduce their time threatens locker room disharmony and instability, which in turn harms team performance as well as the development of the younger players.
In my view, Corbin is trying the middle approach, but has allowed the pendulum to swing too far in favor of the veterans. Also, I agree that Jefferson and Milsap have legitimate rights to complain if they're playing time is cut. They are proven performers who continue to play consistently at reasonably high levels. Bell, Howard, and Miles, on the other hand, have no right to complain. Their productive days are either long past or are too inconsistent. I am annoyed to no end of the extent to which Corbin and Jazz management appear to defer to Bell. Let the the guy whine; he just plain sucks. He brings nothing to the table that we can't get from Hayward or Burks or even Howard. Plant his *** firmly on the bench.
I'm convinced that to move forward with developing our young core, we need to get rid of the following: Bell, Miles, and either Milsap or Jefferson (but not both). Replace them with someone who knows his place in the pecking order and who isn't going to whine and ruin team chemistry if he doesn't get the playing time he (erroneously) feels he deserves.