The problem isn't in wins. The problem isn't in competitiveness. The problem is settling. Everything is supposed to be leading to something better. We put up with the lean post-Stockton and Malone years because we thought it would lead to something bigger and better. That was the reality. 2003 and 2004 and 2005 was only tolerated because it meant we could go out and get Deron Williams, the supposed apparent heir to the Stockton throne. For a brief period, it looked like our feelings were vindicated - Utah went to the Western Conference Finals in 2007 and looked every bit the potential contender in 2008. Sure, they ran into the Laker buzzsaw, but I remember the feeling of that '08 season and it felt like the Jazz could pretty much beat any team in the league. Maybe we were fooling ourselves, but even that Lakers series in 2008 was fun as ****. I remember it. You all remember it. We lost the first two games, came back to SLC, won the next two and played tough as nails in game five before a furious rally in game six ended our dreams. It was more than just contending - it was being competitive in the playoffs. That two-year stretch between 2007 and 2008 was fairly respectable because the Jazz just didn't win 45 games and bow out in the first round. They went on the road and defeated Houston in the seventh game - an amazing feat for a franchise that had never won a seventh game away from SLC. They went and beat an upstart Golden State Warriors team, who had the most difficult home court in basketball, and did it by winning a huge game four on the road - a place no one thought the Jazz could win. Then they turned around and advanced to the West Finals and gave the Spurs about as good of a series as you could expect out of 4-1 outcome. It was lopsided, but who knows what happens in that series if there isn't substantially bad officiating in game four.
The next year, they go down to Houston and win two road games to open a 2-0 series lead on the Rockets and then win the series 4-2 when a lot in the media had predicted a Rockets win, as they did the year before. I already mentioned the series against the Lakers.
What I know is that those playoff games were amazing because you actually believed in the Jazz. Maybe it was blind faith - but hell, I'll take blind faith over no faith at all. And right now, even tonight, even after a very good win on the road, I don't see anything that indicates to me this team can go out and even contend for a playoff series win - let alone a championship.
That's what it comes down to as a fan. Every struggle is supposed to be leading to something better. When we sucked in 2005 and only won 26 games, and everyone was at each other's balls demanding Sloan resign and the entire franchise blow up, there was at least the hope of a Williams coming in and fixing things - there was the hope that Boozer might be able to make it through an entire season injury free. We put up with it because we felt there was at least something at the end of the tunnel - and it certainly wasn't just darkness. Sure enough, a year later, a rookie Williams leads the Jazz to a .500 record and then a year after that, we're once again an elite team in the west.
But it didn't last. There was only really a two-year window where everything came together to give us fans some hope. In 2009, a year after challenging the Lakers in a tough second-round series, Utah is nearly swept in the first round after backing their way into the playoffs. They see an improvement a year later, actually getting past the first round (a very good series win over Denver), but they're swept by L.A. and then a year later - Sloan is gone, Williams is gone, Boozer is gone at certain points of the season and the Jazz miss the playoffs. Then Ty does a fairly admirable job last season and guides 'em to the 8th seed in an emotional win over Phoenix and we get swept in the first round. No biggie - it was a step in the right direction. We put up with it because it was going to lead us to better results this season.
We all know what's likely to happen, even if Utah makes the playoffs. Unlike in '07 and '08, there is no real hope. The best we can hope for is winning one game, and not get swept. That's the problem. Since the Stockton & Malone days ended, only twice has the Jazz put up a competitive run. Every other year, even in 2010, when we somehow managed to make it to the second round, no one expected anything out of the team - they just kind of went through the playoff motions. That's how I feel right now. We're probably going to the playoffs if we win Tuesday against Oklahoma City - but what does it matter if it results in the same outcome as last year?
There is no question I would take 2007 and 2008, hell, I'd take 2010 right now - but we're stuck with 2013's team - a very average squad that isn't going to get anywhere in the postseason. That's the problem we're facing. Since Stockton and Malone retired, hell, since Stockton and Malone last made the second round (so, 2000), Utah has either missed the playoffs or failed to advance beyond the first round nine times in the last 12 seasons. Is that tolerable? Are you happy that our success post-Stockton & Malone can be whittled down to just two years that are now five years ago?
I'm not. I'm disappointed with the direction this franchise has taken the past five seasons. I don't see how any fan can be happy with what's happened since that 2008 season because it's all been down hill. So, we make the postseason...but what does it matter?
