We're doing what the franchise did in the Stockton and Malone era: essentially keep the core two and throw in minor pieces and hope it elevates the team to an actual contender.
You've just got to hope there's a Horny out there and that the two can stick together while the process unfolds like S&M did for so many years.
I mean, I kinda get it. The Jazz with Mitchell and Gobert is a playoff team, maybe one that lucks out and somehow gets to the Conference Finals one year, but probably not a real contender. Still, it's a guaranteed winning team and playoff berth, where blowing it up is a huge risk. You could trade Mitchell or Gobert, fail to get return value and the next thing you know, we're the Kings.
Of course, the risk of not blowing it up is prolonging the inevitable and everything crashing and burning anyway.
It sucks. The Jazz is in that comfortable middle where it's not so bad you gotta blow things up (see: the Lakers) but not good enough to give you any hope this team will be a contenders, even with some marginal moves (see: Memphis or even Dallas).
But like I said, maybe they can find their Horny.
Prior to 1996-97, I don't think many expected the Jazz to get over the western hump. They were too old and too flawed. LA with Shaq and Kobe, and Seattle with Payton and Kemp, were the new WC elites. But then the Jazz won the West finally.
Maybe something similar happens. Or maybe we're just destined to have a ceiling that's the semifinals.
