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Jazz rebuilt too fast

And lets look at a few other teams in the west.
Clippers: we all know they are going nowhere, ever
Warriors: One season of barely making the playoffs and winning one series and having some fun and then losing all of their players and now sucking and having no hope for the future
Sac: They had a team that should have done better in the early 00's, but now, they are nothing and have no hope for the future
Minny: They went to the playoffs every year for a while, but had no real chance, one good year they went to the conf finals, then were forced to give up their star and now they have no hope for the future
Memphis: Had a couple of years of going to the playoffs, but were forced to give away gasol and now don't have much hope for the future
New Orleans: Scored chris paul, had a couple of decent years, but overpaid a few stiffs and are now stuck with a pissed off paul and a team full of overpaid stiffs without much hope for the future
 
Add Phoenix to the disgruntled list. Steve Nash was having MVP-type years and saw Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire each defect and get replaced by players like Raja Bell, Matt Barnes, Grant Hill and now Hakim Warrick. End of an era there.

Dallas couldn't get out of the first round more than once or twice despite getting a number of players they wanted with a heavy payroll--Erik Dampier, Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd, Caron Butler.

San Antonio is finally aging and in decline, now that Duncan and Manu are in their mid-thirties.

Denver is declining along with Chauncy Billups.

Portland won the lottery and was supposed to have the next Patrick Ewing, but hasn't been out of the first round...

Houston had two All-stars who couldn't get healthy. They had a 22-game winning streak and lost in the first round to us a few years ago.

I agree that the Gasol trade changed the face of the west. But I'm not sure the Jazz would have gotten past San Antonio or Phoenix in the past few years.

I still think the Jazz are close to being a contender, just a player or two away. The team is fairly well put together once you plug in Ante Tomic in a year.

Oh, and keep an eye on Sacramento. With Tyreke Evans, Demarcus Cousins, 3 decent PFs, and 2 okay SFs, they're on the rise.
 
You have to build the way we did before. Overpay for a FA or two, and then pick up a great player in the draft. Or, just be the Lakers.
 
06-07: caught a major break getting GS in round 2 but literally 1 series away from a championship (no way we were losing to that Cavs team)
07-08: so many people don't realize we were a championship-caliber-team, especially from Jan-May. One of the best offensive seasons in franchise history, and if any one of the following doesn't happen (#1 Gasol trade #2 Boozer's playoff struggles (attributed to his marital problems) #3 blatantly fixed officiating in Game 5 in LA) I'm sure we're in the Finals against Boston.

Obviously the post-Stockton/Malone rebuilding effort was made with a championship in mind, but you can find dozens of instances around the nba in the past decade of rebuilding plans that were drastically less successful than Utah's. Aiming for consecutive years in the lottery is like quitting your job and hoping you win the lottery.
 
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