First & foremost, thank you to all of those who provide information & insight in the seemingly never-ending (but hopefully soon-ending) conversation on how to get the Utah Jazz that elusive, first NBA championship. Also, I apologize in advance for the length of this post.
As everyone on this site knows, the Jazz have assembled one of the best collections of young talent throughout the entire league. What is unknown is how this front office should use that collection of assets to best position this franchise to win it's first title.
Also common knowledge is the fact that, in this current NBA, it is extremely difficult to win a championship without a "superstar" or two. As a small market team, acquiring just one of those caliber of players is equally difficult. While Utah may yet already have it's superstar, it is far too early to tell & far too risky to count on.
While the Jazz have made large contractual commitments to Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, & Alec Burks, they also having young players such as Rudy Gobert & Dante Exum, both of whom represent the team's best chance at having it's own, homegrown superstar(s). Obviously, there are also several other young talented players, such as Enes Kanter, Trey Burke, & Rodney Hood, who may have potential roles with the team.
Due to the current state of the NBA, it has become clear that teams (especially those of the small market nature) are best off being either a legitimate championship contender or a legitimate contender for the #1 pick in the NBA draft. The Jazz realized this a few years ago & decided to attempt to be the latter type of franchise, although they appear to have done too good of a job acquiring talent as they have been good enough to not get that necessary, surefire superstar, yet bad enough to remain in the lottery.
This roster was not assembled to compete this year, but instead assembled to develop into one that potentially could. From what I've seen, given a legitimate bench that includes a key veteran or two, this group of young talent could potentially do just that in the future. But, being a small market team, the Jazz need to give themselves the best opportunity to do that by stockpiling assets, which they have certainly done. Now, while players such as Kanter & Burke could provide tremendous value off of the bench, it is clear that the roster contains certain players at their positions whom not only arguably have more talent, but also seemingly fit better alongside the other key pieces of the team.
I would have also included Burks in this list if it weren't for what I suspect to be an untradable contract extension due to his injury - although I do believe he can (& will) be an ideal sixth man on a contending team. I would include Rodney Hood as well if not for his injury & currently (I suspect) low trade value. If not for their injuries & inability to contribute this year, I would be in favor of trading both - not because I don't value either player, but because of what I believe to be the best option for the team going forward. Which brings me to my next point . . .
Due to the increasingly rapid growth of what seems to be the core of the future team - hayward, favors, gobert, & (hopefully soon) exum - the window to acquire one last potential star appears to be quickly closing. It is this reason that I think the best move going forward is to extract as much potential, future assets as possible by dealing burke, kanter, & booker. While I certainly believe that all of those players could contribute as key role-players off of the bench, both in the future as well as the present (which they are doing & while is valuable, is much less so to a lottery bound team such as this one), I firmly believe that those players would provide more value through whatever non-contributing (to this year's team) assets that they would bring back in return.
All in all, this is a long-winded way of saying that I believe the front office should gut the roster (aside from exum, hayward, favors, gobert, burks, & hood) & throw in the towel of what has clearly become a lost season, rather than continuing to essentially be the lottery version of what they were with millsap & jefferson. Call it tanking or whatever you'd like, but I believe that this team would be best suited by making one last attempt to position itself to draft another potential star to play either pg (with exum sliding to the 2) or on the wing alongside hayward at the 2 or 3, depending on who is available (ideally a potentially elite scorer such as De'Angelo Russell), & then fill out the rest of a bench built around burks & hood using any remaining assets - whether it be in this draft or a future one (preferably this one in order to speed up our ascent to contention by allowing the key members of the team to build as much chemistry as quickly as possible).
I know that most of this is recycled information, & apologize for that, but without having any say in the moves that this front office makes, I would rather repeat what most of you are assuredly already aware of than do nothing; not that any of this will make a difference. For what it's worth, I have faith in this front office & trust whatever moves they make (or dont) going forward. I would just hate to watch as another Jazz team comes up an impact player short of realizing it's ultimate goal, which is what I think will be the likely outcome should the team stand pat & continue developing it's current group of players.
Regardless of what happens from this point forward, I will do everything within my power to see the Utah Jazz win an NBA championship, or die trying. Go Jazz!
