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What’s the point of this season?

NAOS_pt2 said:
I’m not totally sure about that. There’s some potential for a dumpster fire in Memphis. Did y’all read that in-depth ESPN piece recently on Ja?
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The instability on Ja is why they need Smart even more. Maybe Ja is the one they trade, but I doubt they blow it up with JJJ and Bane still locked in. If Ja was banned from the NBA forever, they'd still want to move forward with those two and all the other young talent they have.
 
Ron Mexico said:
No, they are not at all. We had shut down most of who was left on that team. We had starters most games at that point that aren't in the NBA. We started winning after the trade and had to try real hard to lose at that point.
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If the veteran core of our team is Dunn, Clarkson, Lauri, Collins and Olynyk, then I think Vegas is probably pretty accurate projecting the Jazz to finish at 11 or 12 in the West.
 
KqWIN said:
The instability on Ja is why they need Smart even more. Maybe Ja is the one they trade, but I doubt they blow it up with JJJ and Bane still locked in. If Ja was banned from the NBA forever, they'd still want to move forward with those two and all the other young talent they have.
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It’s certainly why they think they need Marcus. That’s not the end of the matter, though.
 
One thing was set in stone at last season's trade deadline:

Ainge is never going to "build around" Lauri. He sees him as a Robin. The decision not to go for the playoffs was, among other things, a giant vote of no confidence. In essence, DA was telling Lauri, "My guy, you're not gonna be good enough to carry a team as a top dog in the long run, so let's not even start pretending."

Now, that doesn't mean Danny won't gladly hand LM an absolutely huge extension. Of course he will. But as the face of the franchise, Lauri's a placeholder. That's just how it is, and Ainge may turn out to be right in the end. Personally, I think tanking the rest of the season did a huge amount of damage on several fronts and we accomplished little.

The trade deadline, coupled with Lauri's emergence, was a chance to accelerate the rebuild in a way that's incredibly rare without hitting big in the draft. It was a chance to streamline and improve the team and give it more respectability/gravity, all in one fell swoop. Most likely we would have been starting this season without a stupid guard logjam, and perhaps with an actual young co-star for Lauri on the roster.

But Danny didn't see it that way.
 
KqWIN said:
I think that's part of the reason why a Quickley trade is so appealing. It's a unique situation where the other team is in a bind even though the player's future is team controlled with RFA. Maybe he's not a future all star like I believe he can be, but we wouldn't have to trade a star package for him.

Luka is the perfect guy and we have the perfect double agent Kyrie working for us....but I wouldn't really get my hopes up on that one. I feel as though we're probably looking a tier down in stars. Trae, Ingram, Siakam, Lavine ect. Those are the only guys that come to mind who could be moved soonish.
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I prefer taking a chance on guys in that mold as well. Like this guy would cost one pick (and a decent sized extension) but might already be a borderline AS type in the right situation. Then with 1st round picks hope to find a star. Its all low percentage bet type of stuff so anyone can poke holes. When/if Luka becomes available he will have 1-2 years left on his deal and will cost a ton and very likely will not give any assurances on a contract extension. Will DA take that bet (if it even becomes a thing)?
 
Tremendous Upside said:
One thing was set in stone at last season's trade deadline:

Ainge is never going to "build around" Lauri. He sees him as a Robin. The decision not to go for the playoffs was, among other things, a giant vote of no confidence. In essence, DA was telling Lauri, "My guy, you're not gonna be good enough to carry a team as a top dog in the long run, so let's not even start pretending."

Now, that doesn't mean Danny won't gladly hand LM an absolutely huge extension. Of course he will. But as the face of the franchise, Lauri's a placeholder. That's just how it is, and Ainge may turn out to be right in the end. Personally, I think tanking the rest of the season did a huge amount of damage on several fronts and we accomplished little.

The trade deadline, coupled with Lauri's emergence, was a chance to accelerate the rebuild in a way that's incredibly rare without hitting big in the draft. It was a chance to streamline and improve the team and give it more respectability, all in one fell swoop. We would have been starting this season without a stupid guard logjam, and perhaps with an actual young co-star for Lauri on the roster.

But Danny didn't see it that way.
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If this season is about patience (which it is), then you’re absolutely turbo-****ed, my man.
 
Ferguson_Mellochill said:
If the veteran core of our team is Dunn, Clarkson, Lauri, Collins and Olynyk, then I think Vegas is probably pretty accurate projecting the Jazz to finish at 11 or 12 in the West.
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If you add in the young players who are seemingly solid like Agbaji and George I disagree. That core team last year took our team from the 11th seed to 8th seed and held on until we shut it down. I think they are right around that same level and if one of the young players really breaks out could be higher. I also dont see Dunn getting that many minutes going forward. Unless Sexton really sucks and George falls apart and/or injuries.
 
Tremendous Upside said:
My post was more about last season.

Anyway, you're free to pretend this team somehow improved over the summer. Quite a few people seem to.
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Read my posts before you start jumping to conclusions about them (in the way you’re jumping to conclusions about everything else).
 
I can't watch Trae... I just can't... that would be what makes me check out.
 
Ron Mexico said:
If you add in the young players who are seemingly solid like Agbaji and George I disagree. That core team last year took our team from the 11th seed to 8th seed and held on until we shut it down. I think they are right around that same level and if one of the young players really breaks out could be higher. I also dont see Dunn getting that many minutes going forward. Unless Sexton really sucks and George falls apart and/or injuries.
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There were numerous crucial differences last season.

Both Lauri and Kessler came "out of nowhere" and it took a long while for the league to adapt. Now everybody knows about them.

Conley was limited in many ways, but his role as the only real point guard on the roster was absolutely crucial. Together with Vando, those two guys brought a pass-first mindset to the starting lineup that was infectious, and Lauri and Kessler benefitted more than anyone.

The inmates didn't start running the asylum until the very late stages of last season. Until then, everyone bought in and stuck to the game plan. That's a major reason why we kept winning. Now everything feels different. All preseason Hardy looked either annoyed, bored or apathetic. It's almost like he either doesn't have a game plan or doesn't believe in this group enough to try to get them to buy in. Our 45 interchangeable combo guards are running wild and Hardy looks on with his thousand yard stare.
 
Ron Mexico said:
If you add in the young players who are seemingly solid like Agbaji and George I disagree. That core team last year took our team from the 11th seed to 8th seed and held on until we shut it down. I think they are right around that same level and if one of the young players really breaks out could be higher. I also dont see Dunn getting that many minutes going forward. Unless Sexton really sucks and George falls apart and/or injuries.
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Last year, the Jazz had Conley to steer the ship, and the Jazz got off to a fast start. They don't have that this year, and even coming in a few wins behind last-year's team would drop the Jazz in the crowded west. Also, while the Jazz may have held out Clarkson and Sexton late last season, the guys they played--like Toscano-Anderson, Samanic, Ochai, etc.--played more defense.

The Jazz have a few fundamental problems right now:
1) They're starting three guys who are non-shooters in Collins, THT and Kessler, resulting in no space for their drive-centric offense to operate.
2) They have precious little on-ball creation and have a hard time running an offense as a result.
3) The guys who offer some on-ball creation, like Clarkson, Sexton and Olynyk, are defensive liabilities.

This isn't an easy fix given who the Jazz have on their roster. Maybe the Jazz can make a trade or two to help their team. Maybe they can get to 40 wins this season. What that means is that the Jazz will then win one or two post-season games and hand a late lottery pick to OKC.

In the bigger picture, the Jazz are better off playing their youngsters and going after Holland, Edwards or Matas in the draft.
 
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Conley led Memphis for over a decade with scrubs surrounding him and got his teams to overachieve. No wonder we had a hot start last year. We couldn't be scouted and the other players followed the dictates of Conley. Into the vacuum we have who with what kind of track record? There is a difference.
 
NAOS_pt2 said:
If Keyonte ends up being just as good as Scoot, then you’d be forced to upgrade your conclusion about last season. And if Tay Heny ends up a good player….

And, look, besides either of those things, providing a context for Lauri to break out—and for him to know he’s broken out—is pretty substantial in itself.

This year is about patience.
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Good post
 
Ferguson_Mellochill said:
Sure, but the Jazz are essentially the same team they were at the end of last season when they won at about a .350 clip.
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I disagree. I dont see zuzang or jones or dok or potter or any of them dudes getting minutes. I dont see lauri or sexton or clarkson sitting on the bench healthy.
 
Ferguson_Mellochill said:
If the veteran core of our team is Dunn, Clarkson, Lauri, Collins and Olynyk, then I think Vegas is probably pretty accurate projecting the Jazz to finish at 11 or 12 in the West.
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Ok but that isn't what you said. you said this team is the same as the team that finished last season. that statement is easily provable to be untrue. Simply have to look at the names of the players getting minutes tonight vs the names of the players getting minutes in the last games of last season. They are different names.
 
fishonjazz said:
Ok but that isn't what you said. you said this team is the same as the team that finished last season. that statement is easily provable to be untrue. Simply have to look at the names of the players getting minutes tonight vs the names of the players getting minutes in the last games of last season. They are different names.
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The main difference between today's roster and last season's post All Star roster is adding John Collins. I get that the Jazz aren't giving fringe minutes to JTA, and they'll give fewer minutes to Samanic and Fontecchio, but the roster is otherwise the same. Our PGs are still THT and Dunn. Clarkson will get more minutes relative to Ochai. Kessler is still Kessler. Yurtseven replaces Damion Jones and Dok. The Jazz only held out Lauri and Clarkson for a handful of games at the end of last season. Sexton missed games with a hamstring last season, but he's not exactly a game-changer either.

Post AS break last year, the Jazz were a solidly below-.500 team. That's where they're starting this season.
 
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