vegas
Well-Known Member
Let me preface by saying that I am usually a perpetual optimist, so this is out of the norm. Also, as a warning I'm sure this is long and boring for everybody.
It reminds me of OKC's trouble when they had Westbrook, Durant, Harden and to a lesser extent Ibaka. They had to choose and couldn't turn an asset (Harden) into a younger cheaper version that had the same or greater value toward the goal of a title to satisfy the cap/payroll constraints.
Let me interrupt to say Hayward is the only comparable player we have to those 3, so we aren't as close as they were.
As I see it there are 3 ways to accumulate talent within the constraints of the CBA.
1. SA model where players trade money for the system, because they want to win/trust the franchise and their teammates.
2. Lebron chooses to come to your team, and even at a max salary talent-wise is a bargain and is enough to give a great advantage.
3. GS model. Sign injury prone players that the rest of the league believes won't last physically and then they magically don't get injured, plus a few hits in the draft.
It's no secret the Jazz are going for the SA model. The difference is SA started with Duncan/Robinson. Perhaps Hayward/Gobert can reach their level--maybe it's not fair to say we don't have players on that level since both have improved every year. The trouble is that so far imo only Favors has accepted a below market contract from the team. That is not enough to move the needle. This is one reason why I'm sure Larry Miller hated the Malone negotiations. When Malone made $19 mill, Stockton took $7.8 mill.
I think the FO has done a lot to get players give a hometown discount. P3, everybody was showing up to preseason games to support the young guys. I'm sure there is a ton of things they do to create camaraderie that we don't hear about. They have been very careful to select a specific types of players. Long, no head cases and work-a-holics. Lots of them have kids the same age even. It's a group that a guy like Joe Johnson likes because there are no knuckleheads. They made a goal to create camaraderie and I think they did a good job.
So back to the heart of this. If we are going to bring a championship, we have to acquire talent for below max money. Right now we have Dante, Trey, Neto, Bolomboy, Ingles and Rodney that will be RFA in the future. The rest are UFA. It was a huge deal that Favs and/or Hill didn't extend for a hometown discount. Not to mention we also lost the opportunity to front load and pay some of it this year.
So we have Gobert, and let's just assume we can convince Hayward to stay for the max, we are basically hoping to pull another Gobert draft miracle or develop some guys that hit ala Millsap. It's frustrating to know we are building around guys that are demanding the max. I know it's logical for players to want as much money as possible, but I believe signing talent to below market salaries is a key ingredient to bringing a championship to Utah, and so far we haven't had a ton of succes.
It reminds me of OKC's trouble when they had Westbrook, Durant, Harden and to a lesser extent Ibaka. They had to choose and couldn't turn an asset (Harden) into a younger cheaper version that had the same or greater value toward the goal of a title to satisfy the cap/payroll constraints.
Let me interrupt to say Hayward is the only comparable player we have to those 3, so we aren't as close as they were.
As I see it there are 3 ways to accumulate talent within the constraints of the CBA.
1. SA model where players trade money for the system, because they want to win/trust the franchise and their teammates.
2. Lebron chooses to come to your team, and even at a max salary talent-wise is a bargain and is enough to give a great advantage.
3. GS model. Sign injury prone players that the rest of the league believes won't last physically and then they magically don't get injured, plus a few hits in the draft.
It's no secret the Jazz are going for the SA model. The difference is SA started with Duncan/Robinson. Perhaps Hayward/Gobert can reach their level--maybe it's not fair to say we don't have players on that level since both have improved every year. The trouble is that so far imo only Favors has accepted a below market contract from the team. That is not enough to move the needle. This is one reason why I'm sure Larry Miller hated the Malone negotiations. When Malone made $19 mill, Stockton took $7.8 mill.
I think the FO has done a lot to get players give a hometown discount. P3, everybody was showing up to preseason games to support the young guys. I'm sure there is a ton of things they do to create camaraderie that we don't hear about. They have been very careful to select a specific types of players. Long, no head cases and work-a-holics. Lots of them have kids the same age even. It's a group that a guy like Joe Johnson likes because there are no knuckleheads. They made a goal to create camaraderie and I think they did a good job.
So back to the heart of this. If we are going to bring a championship, we have to acquire talent for below max money. Right now we have Dante, Trey, Neto, Bolomboy, Ingles and Rodney that will be RFA in the future. The rest are UFA. It was a huge deal that Favs and/or Hill didn't extend for a hometown discount. Not to mention we also lost the opportunity to front load and pay some of it this year.
So we have Gobert, and let's just assume we can convince Hayward to stay for the max, we are basically hoping to pull another Gobert draft miracle or develop some guys that hit ala Millsap. It's frustrating to know we are building around guys that are demanding the max. I know it's logical for players to want as much money as possible, but I believe signing talent to below market salaries is a key ingredient to bringing a championship to Utah, and so far we haven't had a ton of succes.
