What's new

Official Positivity Thread

Elizah Huge

Respect All, Fear None
Contributor
2024 Award Winner
Can you believe we finally traded Exum?

Better yet we didn’t have to give up a 1st-round pick! The front office realized it was a mistake re-signing him. It was a much needed move is.

Andy Larsen mentioned the Jazz can trade Clarkson again before the trade deadline if they want in a one-for-one deal. Because Clarkson makes $13.4M, not $9.6M, the Jazz could acquire up to $18.4M in a trade in January or February.

This trade frees us of 9.6M that Exum was guaranteed next year. It also makes it a lot easier to acquire more salary back in a trade (up to 18.4M) if it’s a one-for-one trade.

Some players in that range that makes sense would be any of the Knicks PF (Portis, Morris, Randle). All three work in a straight up trade. Morris is an expiring contract but the other two would free up some cap space for them next year if they dealt one for Clarkson.

One deal that works and I think would make sense for both team is with the Thunder.

Clarkson, Davis, Bradley, 2021 Golden State 2nd and 2023 Utah 2nd for Gallinari.

They are still getting an expiring contract with Clarkson plus a young prospect in Bradley who is essentially the equivalent of a late 1st. They also get a couple 2nd’s. I still it’s a plausible trade from both sides.

Worst comes to worst we hold onto Clarkson. We need bench scoring desperately and I think he can help in that aspect if he can improve on his efficiency some more.

The previous two seasons we’ve been 14-16 at the end of 30 games. This year we are 18-12 and have been in the top half of the strength of schedule ratings. We finish the rest of the season in the bottom half of the ratings.

This team hasn’t hit its full potential yet and we’re still 4 games ahead of where we have been the last two seasons. Great times are ahead and I can’t wait to watch when this team starts to hit its rhythm.

How great have Mitchell and Bogey been this year by the way? Mitchell is on the cusp of averaging 25 PPG with better efficiency than his first two seasons. He is a superstar in the making. Bogey is averaging over 21 PPG as well. What a great addition this off-season. He has definitely been our best signing since Boozer and Memo.

Great times are ahead my friends. I have an amazing feeling about this team and think we can do something special. It’s going to take some more time but once we start clicking you better watch out!
 
The FO realized that we weren’t actually in the tier of contenders, so they started repositioning themselves early. That’s better than waiting.
 
Dude talks about one-for-one trades, then suggests a whopper with the Thunder.
C'mon Naos, this is a positivity thread!!!! Did you think it would be realistic as well? (Julius Randle makes in the twenties and wouldn't be a one to one trade candidate as well.)
 
If I understand correctly, we can only trade Clarkson in a one on one type of deal. We can't package him with other players and we can't receive more than one player in return.
 
Even though you're putting some crazy *** Trumpian exaggerated spin on this thing, I do sincerely respect your positivity WC! I agree that the Clarkson trade, getting a solid contributor for a project with a history of serious injury, was a total coup!!!
 
If I understand correctly, we can only trade Clarkson in a one on one type of deal. We can't package him with other players and we can't receive more than one player in return.

That’s very dumb if true.
 
^Well I stand corrected then. It's a graduated contract apparently - 20 mil average. Would totally welcome Randle on this team!!!
 
If I understand correctly, we can only trade Clarkson in a one on one type of deal. We can't package him with other players and we can't receive more than one player in return.
I don't think the second part of this is true. We can't package him with other players but can get multiple players in return.
 
I don't think the second part of this is true. We can't package him with other players but can get multiple players in return.

You're probably right. I think that would make more sense.
 
I was at a Game Stop store in Sugarhouse this afternoon, and Rudy Gobert came in to shop for some console video games. Dude is indeed quite big. I don't think I could get a shot off with him nearby.
 
I loved how you referenced Larson’s comment about one-for-one trades without understanding what you were referencing. Really helped me feel positive.

For some reason I thought we could take more salary back if it was a one-for-one than if it was multiple players.
 
I have no idea what his contract is like (I understand that can make this a dumb question, but I'm too lazy to google it and wanna ruffle some feathers) but would anyone trade Clarkson for Davis Bertans? He's not know for his defense or rebounding, but his shot is smooth af.
 
So here are the reasons that I still have optimism for the Jazz season ...

- Our top six players ~ Gobert, Mitchell, Bogdanovic, Conley, Ingles and O'Neale have been exactly as good as we expected overall this season. Yes I know that Conley has struggled with his shot. But stats say that the lineups he is involved in work. Eventually he is going to start making shots. Assuming that this six is healthy come playoff time we'll be in good shape. It's a six that is good enough to contend for a championship.

- The front office is obviously not aftaid to shake things up when something isn't working. Which is GREAT news. Sticking with the bench unit we were running wasn't going to work. And while I have my doubts that the changes that were made were the correct changes, at least the FO didn't sit on their hands like they've done historically.

- Our pool of developmental talent is very strong. We have a load of talented youth with the Stars. A group that is destroying the Gleague. Tucker, Morgan, Brantley, JWF, Oni, NWG, Collinsworth. It reminds me of Raptors 905 a few seasons ago. A good NBA team with a loaded developmental team. If the Jazz ever decide to give some of these guys a chance we could find a few gems for our bench. And with the great top 6 players we have that could be all we need to push over the top for a championship.

- Jordan Clarkson is an obvious talent upgrade at guard on our bench. I question how well he fits in lineups involving our other expected bench players (Mudiay, Niang, Davis). But he should fit well on the floor with anyone from the top six. I think he fits our offensive system.
 
Last edited:
I’m thinking we may be underselling Davis. Cy has been his biggest supporter and I think the metrics (maybe just defensive?) support Davis’ positive performance iirc what Cy has said.

I guess it’s sort of like the idea of putting Ben Wallace with a bunch of dimwits offensively. He would’ve seemed like a scrub. Okay, that’s hyperbole. But the point is with offensive talent around him, he can be free to rebound and play d as bestbhe can and his offensive shortcomings won’t be so glaring just like Ben’s weren’t with Chauncey, Rip, Tayshaun and Rasheed around him. Hell, and that was in a starting lineup that won it all. We just need Ed to play solid on half that time off the bench.
 
Back
Top