Game Thread Oct 22, 2025 07:00PM MT: LA Clippers @ Utah Jazz

[NUMBERICA]

Trading 2 guys who are playing great and helping the jazz get a lot of wins and have a good record would sound a lot like dirty tanking shenanigans which Austin Ainge said the jazz would no longer do. I guess we might find out if Austin was lying or not.

I actually disagree. I think there is and should be a distinction between roster moves and in-game fraudulence (faking injuries/pulling good players in crunch time/drawing wack plays).

I think Austin agrees because the Sexton/Clarkson/Collins moves were not trades made to win or preserve asset value or anything that really made much sense besides being bad and clearing the path for the kids.

He could also just have been lying or change his mind on the fraudulence. I’m not and never have been much of a fan of that strategy but sometimes it’s preferable to alternative scenarios (it paid off huge last year, lottery gods notwithstanding).

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

The answer to both problems is trading Walker if someone is willing to cough up a worthwhile package.

Within the genius of such a plan (wherein the Jazz could throw a max offer at him this offseason if they wanted) lies it’s potential crippling weakness; trading an impending RFA that isn’t a clear max player will probably ding his trade value substantially.

Trade him or pay him. If he is playing anywhere near the level we saw last night his value may go up substantially... but the @infection principle of trade value comes in.

It was just such an own goal not to settle something in the 25-30M range and just structure it so its friendly to our future. Outside of an achilles tear he would retain value or be able to recover future value. I'm already pretty insufferable but when we take on dead salary with our cap space so that we can get some seconds and have to pay $35M+ to Walker on a 3+1... yall will just want to put me on ignore.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Would be hilariously sad if we didn't tank hard enough in the two most fruitful drafts in our tank era.

 

[NUMBERICA]

If it’s basically impossible to tank (even after trading Lauri and Walker), then we better be competing for the 1 seed. The nightmare scenario is scrapping to make the play-in and coughing up a lottery pick to an already-emerging dynasty.

A middling year this year will setup a middling decade.

 

[Tanktastic]

A middling year this year will setup a middling decade.

This year doesn't matter any more than last year did any more than the year before that did. This year isn't something magical or decisive any more than any other year. And should the Jazz or any other team tank so m'fing hard that it hurts, their most probable scenario is still a #5-7 pick, that yields some dude that's pretty good, but in no way franchise altering.

ps. And whatever OKC is for the rest of the decade, whether they get the pick or not most probably has little impact on that.

 

[NUMBERICA]

This year doesn't matter any more than last year did any more than the year before that did. This year isn't something magical or decisive any more than any other year. And should the Jazz or any other team tank so m'fing hard that it hurts, their most probable scenario is still a #5-7 pick, that yields some dude that's pretty good, but in no way franchise altering.

ps. And whatever OKC is for the rest of the decade, whether they get the pick or not most probably has little impact on that.

Yes it is. Team performance isn’t terribly volatile year to year, and it is easy to predict that the Jazz are on an upward trajectory. This is their last chance to get to the top of the draft unless something crazy happens.

As or more importantly, the Jazz have to be terrible assure that they keep their pick, in a year with a seemingly exceptional class of talent at the top. They have one pick, their own, which means they also don’t have a shot at drafting some mid-round player that turns out awesome.

This is as straightforward as it gets. The landscape is completely different next year.

 

[framer]

I really hope we don’t have another repeat of the 2022 2023 season when the Jazz started 10-3 and finished with the 9th pick. That would be a nightmare season

The Jazz probably could have made the play in at least if they had wanted to that season. I doubt we end up at 9 if we get a start like that.

 

[framer]

Would be hilariously sad if we didn't tank hard enough in the two most fruitful drafts in our tank era.

Two years ago was an historically terrible draft.

 

[Thee Jazz Fan]

The Jazz probably could have made the play in at least if they had wanted to that season. I doubt we end up at 9 if we get a start like that.

Why would we want to make the plan? What’s the point of that? We’re not going anywhere we need a top eight pick nothing more to say nothing more to argue.

 

[fishonjazz]

Two years ago was an historically terrible draft.

I assumed he was talking about wemby. Who could be a multiple time MVP. Which is a rather fruitful player.

The two years ago time frame you mentioned wasn't in the post you quoted.

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[Handlogten's Heros]

I assumed he was talking about wemby. Who could be a multiple time MVP. Which is a rather fruitful player.

The two years ago time frame you mentioned wasn't in the post you quoted.

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This is correct. Having half assed tanks in the Wemby and Boozer drafts is just sad… in a kind of funny way?

 

[Isaiah 1:13]

Ainge was talking specifically about the phantom injuries, sitting guys with "rest" etc. Not actual team building. He will absolutely trade either or both of them if a good enough offer appears.

Kessler should absolutely be untouchable! Why the Jazz continue to sleep on a guy that outplayed one of the best centers in the league last night, constantly improving to include stretch five and galaxies ahead of Rudy at this juncture of his career is way beyond me!

 

[Tanktastic]

Yes it is. Team performance isn’t terribly volatile year to year, and it is easy to predict that the Jazz are on an upward trajectory. This is their last chance to get to the top of the draft unless something crazy happens.

What what now?

The Jazz have won 37, 31 and 17 games the last three years. This year their O/U was around 19 wins. The team has 8 guys 22 and under. Of those only Ace might change the franchise's direction. Keyonte might be a useful rotation guy. Williams is a bust. Others are still trying to prove they'll even stick.

The only place the Jazz are going right now is crawling in the gutter. Some are hoping we at least see a little bit of that upward trajectory. And others, like you, demand the team stays in the gutter. And then, suddenly, somehow, is fighting to be top of the West.

As or more importantly, the Jazz have to be terrible assure that they keep their pick, in a year with a seemingly exceptional class of talent at the top. They have one pick, their own, which means they also don’t have a shot at drafting some mid-round player that turns out awesome.

That is in no way decisive for the Jazz's future. At this point of the year Isaiah Collier was top3 in pretty much every mock his draft season. Whatever the Jazz pick ends up being or who uses it, the player is as likely to be Collier, Williams, Ace or someone really good.

This is as straightforward as it gets. The landscape is completely different next year.

No, it is not.

Just next year everyone will repeat the exact same thing with complete amnesia.