My anger in the following point is directed at the universe and not you, but:
Can we ****ing stop with this “injury/bad luck” ********? KAWHI LEONARD TORE HIS ACL WITH THE SERIES TIED AND THE JAZZ WITH HCA. AD was done in the winter and LeBron had a rare real injury. Both Harden and Kyrie went down in their matchup with the Bucks. Giannis only didn’t **** up his knee by the miracle of his godly physique AND good luck.
No. The Jazz weren’t as good as the Clippers and anyone paying attention and was honest knew that. They were so much better that they won four straight, the last two without their best player.
It’s a fantasy to believe that the Jazz will have a better shot next year. There has never been a door wide open in league history.
IN ADDITION TO THAT: why are we supposed to believe that Conley’s obviously degenerative hamstring issue - that has caused him to miss ONE THIRD of his games over two seasons with the Jazz - is going to be any better the older he gets?
This roster hit its ceiling and I get the temptation to try again but it’s frankly a waste of an opportunity to get ahead on a retooling.
I can’t argue with that. I’m just playin’ DL’s advocate and trying to get inside the head of a FO that seems pretty set on running it back next year if TJ is to be believed.
If I were in control, I would hold onto Don and Rudy for one more year, but otherwise begin re-tooling and tinkering. I’d be fishing for S&Ts for Conley, and would try to find a way to turn Bogey into a Top 15 pick or a smaller contract from a younger, longer, more athletic dude.
As an aside, I would even add that our #1 seed finish was a bit flukey to begin with, because we benefitted from other teams being injured, never really played top teams at full strength, and avoided real injury problems of our own until we hit the softest part of our schedule to end the season and barely coasted to the finish line by a single game. I don’t at all think the current roster is worth going deep into the tax for, which is why the current messaging is confusing to me.
But what can I say, I believe the FO must be telling itself we need to give it another chance because of injuries during the playoffs. You could make a case we were the worst bit by the bug, because we had two all-stars impacted by the injury bug. I think it’s all BS, but that has to be their thinking, and it has to be really hard for them to step back and admit its a failed build as long as any valid excuses are still out there.
But I’ll say, the worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves. I think the current approach most likely leads to Don demanding a trade in the next year or two, but the FO is in too deep with the roster they built to see it that way. It all just means a longer more painful blowup when the blowup occurs.