Leveling the playing field?

[Coach Ellis]

With the draft just a day away, I was looking at all the trade rumors and seeing the resources that the "big market" teams have at their disposal. It made me wonder what "small market" teams, like the Jazz, can do to help even things up.

It's been pretty well established that the Jazz have to build through the draft. Veteran free agents don't typically want to come to Utah unless the Jazz overpay for their services. So, how can the Jazz take that next step toward becoming a true contender, when the deck is stacked against them?

I have a lot of ideas on things the Jazz can do to get an edge over other NBA teams. Some are pretty simple (like investing a lot in international scouting - which the Jazz have done under DL's watch), while some ideas are significantly more complex and unorthodox.

Mark Cuban talked about the NBA getting involved in AAU and player development with grade school kids as a way to identify the best players and help them avoid the pitfalls that can occur when young, talented athletes are exploited. I actually don't hate that idea. Similar to the Sports institute that Dante Exum attended in Australia, I'd love to see the NBA affiliate and support private schools for athletes that focus on getting the best players academically ready for college, while also giving them the best training, coaching and competition that money can buy.

That's the kind of "outside the box" idea that I'm looking for. . . just more Jazz specific instead of general NBA. So, what are some ways that the Jazz can find an edge?

 

[Cappy_Smurf]

Blackmail. Target specific free agents with the hottest girls we can find and have the girls slip them a mickey. When they're passed out, taken scandalous pictures of them with dudes in leather butt chaps. They either play ball or we ruin them.

 

[Coach Ellis]

my first idea. . .

The Jazz already have one of the best coaching staffs in the league when it comes to developing young players. My focus this offseason is to add a coach who brings a key skill into the fold. I'd do everything I can to hire Chip Engelland away from the Spurs. They are on the way down, while the Jazz are on the way up. Imagine improved shooting across the board. That's exactly what this team needs. Adding accomplished shooters is good, but taking your core players and helping them is even better. To get him, I'd focus on 3 things.

A.) Promote him. Right now, he's just an assistant coach. I'd make him an associate head coach and add him to my bench. If the Spurs didn't have such quality assistants, this would have happened already. Quin wanted him last year, and it seems like Itah was willing to give him a significant role to get him.

B.) Pay the man! He's the highest paid non-bench coach in the league. I'd go ahead and make him one of the highest paid assistant coaches in the league. While money doesn't seem to be the overriding factor for him, a significant raise can help make it easier to take on a new challenge.

C.) Make it fun. Utah is a great community and the Jazz can be great ambassadors in that community. I'd focus on having his skills help the whole community with a top-down, trickle effect. I'd hire a whole team of "shot doctors" assistants to help him institute a coaching camps and clinic program that helps players improve their shooting form at the collegiate, high school and elementary school level here in Utah. I think that kind of environment would appeal to him.

Getting the "Shot Doctor" to round out the coaching staff would be an epic acquisition for this young and developing roster.

 

[Gameface]

If small markets HAVE to overpay to get talent why do the big markets do it so much?

 

[Coach Ellis]

If small markets HAVE to overpay to get talent why do the big markets do it so much?

Mainly because they (usually) can afford to. If it doesn't work out, they move on to the next big thing. Moves like that can cripple a small market team like the Jazz. Revenue sharing makes it easier, but missing on key acquisitions can set a team with a limited budget back years.

 

[LogGrad98]

Blackmail. Target specific free agents with the hottest girls we can find and have the girls slip them a mickey. When they're passed out, taken scandalous pictures of them with dudes in leather butt chaps. They either play ball or we ruin them.

I'm on it.

 

[mellow]

There is no level playing field, and never will be. The concept is a myth in the NBA and in life. The NBA is about money first, entertainment second and athletic competition a distant third. And it is all manipulated by the percentage stealing lawyers and agents.

I'm surprised Cuban said anything about a minor league, he already has the best minor league system. The teams from Texas, SoCal, and Boston get any player they really want from the rest of the NBA. 20 plus teams working each day to discover and develop the next big time player who will force his way out of town.

Look at all the story lines shaping up for this summer: Cousins to LAL, Love to LAL or Boston, Aldridge to Spurs, LAL, or Dallas, Gasol to LAL or Spurs. Bet the fans in Sacramento, Portland and Memphis feel grand.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

There is no level playing field, and never will be. The concept is a myth in the NBA and in life. The NBA is about money first, entertainment second and athletic competition a distant third. And it is all manipulated by the percentage stealing lawyers and agents.

I'm surprised Cuban said anything about a minor league, he already has the best minor league system. The teams from Texas, SoCal, and Boston get any player they really want from the rest of the NBA. 20 plus teams working each day to discover and develop the next big time player who will force his way out of town.

Look at all the story lines shaping up for this summer: Cousins to LAL, Love to LAL or Boston, Aldridge to Spurs, LAL, or Dallas, Gasol to LAL or Spurs. Bet the fans in Sacramento, Portland and Memphis feel grand.

Houston is the only team from TX who signed a big name FA, Dwight Howard.

 

[Dr. Jones]

There is no level playing field, and never will be. The concept is a myth in the NBA and in life. The NBA is about money first, entertainment second and athletic competition a distant third. And it is all manipulated by the percentage stealing lawyers and agents.

I'm surprised Cuban said anything about a minor league, he already has the best minor league system. The teams from Texas, SoCal, and Boston get any player they really want from the rest of the NBA. 20 plus teams working each day to discover and develop the next big time player who will force his way out of town.

Look at all the story lines shaping up for this summer: Cousins to LAL, Love to LAL or Boston, Aldridge to Spurs, LAL, or Dallas, Gasol to LAL or Spurs. Bet the fans in Sacramento, Portland and Memphis feel grand.

This. Also, the majority of fans don't want a level playing field. The big market fans outnumber small market fans and why would they want more competition? It's just not within the fiber of belief for a sports fan.

 

[Game6Conley]

the Jazz being a well managed, small market team that fly's under the radar are paramount reasons I root for them.

 

[Game6Conley]

They can level the playing field by having a 3rd consecutive monster draft, fa sho.

 

[Coach Ellis]

Maybe my wording is wrong for what I'm looking for. Obviously, the deck is stacked against teams like Utah. What are ways that the Jazz can buck traditional norms to gain an edge or an advantage?

Off the top of my head, I'd say that scouting and strong player development coaches are areas that some teams overlook. These both appear to be areas that DL has highlighted as strengths this team needs.

The fact that they've beefed up their international scouting department AND that they work out almost twice as many prospects each summer over other teams speaks volumes about how DL is trying to gain an edge.

 

[Coach Ellis]

I personally think that the Jazz are missing out on an opportunity with how they run their D-League team. Instead of thinking as if it's a feeder team for the Jazz, they should be running it as a feeder team for the whole league.

If players know that Utah/Idaho is investing in their success, and trying to get them that elusive NBA opportunity, then better players will want to come play for the Stampede. They should work out agreements with teams that don't have 1-to-1 affiliations and let them send their prospects to Idaho instead of making them all go to Ft. Wayne. The Jazz would then be in a position to evaluate young, potential NBA prospects up close and their own guys would have significantly better competition. I would make it an organizational goal to get as many NBA call ups each season - both within and without the Jazz.

 

[Coach Ellis]

After careful consideration, I have one other idea that I'll throw out there. The Jazz have clearly put a lot of time and money to beef up their international scouting department.

The problem, as I see it, is that drafting international prospects is an even bigger crapshoot than drafting U. S. college players. A.) You have to hope your scouting is dead-on and they're worth the pick, then B.) they have to continue playing on an upward trajectory and then C.) you have to navigate the international player's contract and buyout situation.

So. . . what's the solution? My very simplistic answer is to essentially "buy" an international team. Since I doubt that's legal in the NBA bylaws, my plan would be to partner with a mid-level European parent and affiliate team (in a Varsity/Junior Varsity format). Some of those teams struggle financially, so I'd help prop them up financially if I'm able to. Then I put my NBA resources to good use. I have my scouting department start steering the team towards kids who have NBA potential and get them signed to fair contracts with favorable NBA buyouts. I advise the teams on hiring the GM, coaches and training staff of my choosing to train these kids with an eye toward putting them into the NBA as soon as possible. Essentially, this team would become the Kentucky of international basketball. I'd also make sure that my Junior Varsity contracts don't violate NCAA rules so that kids can go to college if they choose to. After players are drafted by the Jazz, I have the international team try to acquire their contract and re-work the buyout to more favorable terms.

I would essentially try to make it so that my team functions like a high level college team with a lot of turnover. For kids who want to play in the NBA, this team becomes an attractive option for them because they'll play a lot and the mission for the team is different from other European clubs. I have a feeling that they would be successful enough that it would attract some young stars and allow them to be competitive as well. The kids in that program would be years ahead of other international prospects whose clubs aren't interested in developing them for the NBA to swoop in and the contract situations would be significantly more simple. Maybe a standard buyout number that allows the kids the opportunity to leave as soon as their teams want them to regardless of where they are drafted.

Teams would draft those kids with confidence that they'll get good training, coaching and be able to come over as needed without contract drama. Imagine if the Jazz had an affiliated European team that they could steer Tomic, Neto and Pleiss towards. And then young players like Antetokounmpo, Schroder, Vezenkov, De Paula and any number of kids came up through the pipeline before they were drafted. I think that there's great appeal in being an international club that focuses on player development.

So far, it's more of a half-formed idea with no details. . . but I've never heard of anything like it and I think it could be very successful if done correctly.

 

[Stifle Tower]

I personally think that the Jazz are missing out on an opportunity with how they run their D-League team. Instead of thinking as if it's a feeder team for the Jazz, they should be running it as a feeder team for the whole league.

I think that's how the DLeague is essentially set up. Outside of the players a team can assign and retain the rights for, all the rest have contracts with the league, not the teams. So no one can step in and prevent players like Cotton or Johnson from signing with a NBA team that has a need for a particular position.

We'll likely see some changes to the DLeague once every team has a 1-to-1 affiliation. I know Stern had talked about trying to keep the better players who don't make NBA teams playing in the U.S. instead of signing with Euro teams. That's going to require some major dollars invested by each team in their DLeague affiliates.

 

[stitches]

Sounds a bit like the bit I proposed in this one:

https://jazzfanz.com/showthread.php...What-is-the-better-place-for-stashing-players

... with additional emphasis on using the team not only as a farm team for the Jazz but for the whole NBA.

My idea was more like - draft players(second rounder stashes)->get them to the team and develop them in accordance with your system and with your coaching before you get them to the Jazz.
Your idea seems like - develop young players, even the ones that are not drafted yet and don't care if other teams draft them and use what you've build. I guess the idea is that you build good reputation and good relationships with the players from young age and thus they'd be more likely to sign with you in free agency for example when the time comes. The problem is that the team that holds their bird rights usually holds their future for 8-9 years after they are drafted. Still, maybe it's worth exploring.

 

[Coach Ellis]

I think that's how the DLeague is essentially set up. Outside of the players a team can assign and retain the rights for, all the rest have contracts with the league, not the teams. So no one can step in and prevent players like Cotton or Johnson from signing with a NBA team that has a need for a particular position.

We'll likely see some changes to the DLeague once every team has a 1-to-1 affiliation. I know Stern had talked about trying to keep the better players who don't make NBA teams playing in the U.S. instead of signing with Euro teams. That's going to require some major dollars invested by each team in their DLeague affiliates.

I think that's eventually the idea, but that's not how it functions yet. The Jazz would be well served to use theirs that way before everyone else comes around. I'd like to see them be the pioneers on something like this. If they can keep finding players from the D-League who can contribute like Elijah Millsap, Bryce Cotton and Hassan Whiteside. . . well. . . I think it's worth their investment.

 

[Coach Ellis]

Sounds a bit like the bit I proposed in this one:

https://jazzfanz.com/showthread.php...What-is-the-better-place-for-stashing-players

... with additional emphasis on using the team not only as a farm team for the Jazz but for the whole NBA.

My idea was more like - draft players(second rounder stashes)->get them to the team and develop them in accordance with your system and with your coaching before you get them to the Jazz.
Your idea seems like - develop young players, even the ones that are not drafted yet and don't care if other teams draft them and use what you've build. I guess the idea is that you build good reputation and good relationships with the players from young age and thus they'd be more likely to sign with you in free agency for example when the time comes. The problem is that the team that holds their bird rights usually holds their future for 8-9 years after they are drafted. Still, maybe it's worth exploring.

The problem with waiting until they're drafted is that many of these international kids have already been playing with a pro team for a couple of years by the time they are 19 and they're locked into crappy contracts.

The first tier of players are identified while they're young and brought into the fold before they're drafted. Aside from that, Jazz picks are brought to the team as soon as it's reasonable to do so. Tomic in 2012 had no contract and changed teams. Neto did the same here in 2014. The trick is to develop a good relationship with the players and their agents so that more of the best ones with NBA dreams will sign up early.

Doesn't mean the Jazz will draft them, but hopefully it means that the ones the Jazzz do draft will have better training, coaching and contracts should they decide to bring them over. That way, DL and company have a better idea of their ability to play and how they might fit into the system.