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Why coaching and leadership matter so so much...

Joncolton

Joncolton

Well-Known Member
Putting together a winning team isn't as easy as it would seem. Utah has always managed to do it somehow, we've almost never missed the playoffs and our highest draft pick in the history of the franchise is #3. We've rarely been high in the lottery picks. We used the #7 pick on Thurl Bailey (great choice) #3 picks, one was Thurl Bailey, in 2005 we used a trade to get the #3 pick in Deron Williams, and more recently used the #4 pick on Dante Exum. The Jazz have never had the 1st or 2nd pick in the draft in all of Utah Jazz history - despite this we have been consistently in the playoffs more often than the teams that have had multiple #1 picks. I attribute a lot of this to the team leadership and the culture that has been developed within the Utah Jazz organization - like the great Vince Lombardi once stated, "Winning is a habit, unfortunately so is losing."

Many a team has tried to create a culture of winning, defense first, sharing the ball and a team commitment to getting the win. They have not all succeeded.

Look at this roster from the 2017 Pelicans - which should have by all rights been a championship contender.

C- Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Omer Asik
PF - Nikola Mirotic, Josh Smith
SF - Solomon Hill, Tony Allen
SG- Jrue Holiday, Jordan Crawford
PG - Rajon Rondo, Jameer Nelson

Now that is a team with an MVP candidate, outside shooting, veteran leadership, play making, guys off the bench who would be starters on other teams, etc. And they should have at least made the WCF, but didn't. If you recall that was the year Rondo was arguing with the coach, AD wanted to play power forward instead of center and despite all the turmoil this was still a pretty good team - but not one that achieved it's full potential. They lost to the Warriors (it was the 2017-2018 season, everyone lost to the Warriors), but this team lost in the playoffs 1-4 in what should have been a 7 game series.

From the Nash-D. Howard- Kobe lakers to the new 76ers there are teams out there with tons of talent that don't quite play with the same intensity and connectivity as our Jazz - that's why Utah is winning and has a chance to make noise in the playoffs. Because we have a TEAM.
 
Joncolton said:
They lost to the Warriors (it was the 2017-2018 season, everyone lost to the Warriors), but this team lost in the playoffs 1-4 in what should have been a 7 game series.
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Saying it should have been a 7 game series implies the rosters were near even, talent-wise. They absolutely were not.

The Pels did about as well as could reasonably be expected in that series.
 
Thee Idiotic Minivan K said:
Yes they have. We traded the first pick to the Lakers the year they drafted Magic.
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Eh, the Jazz actually signed an aging Gail Goodrich in 1976 from the Lakers as a free agent, the NBA then proceeded to take away the Jazz 79 draft pick and award it to the Lakers as recompense, because they in no way wanted any more stars playing in New Orleans and they wanted to discourage free agency. Just to be fair they gave the Lakers the 77 and 78 Jazz first round picks too.

The New Orleans Jazz organization was run by first rate morons. Larry H. Miller was a ******* hero to this organization and it should never be forgotten.
 
framer said:
Eh, the Jazz actually signed an aging Gail Goodrich in 1976 from the Lakers as a free agent, the NBA then proceeded to take away the Jazz 79 draft pick and award it to the Lakers as recompense, because they in no way wanted any more stars playing in New Orleans and they wanted to discourage free agency. Just to be fair they gave the Lakers the 77 and 78 Jazz first round picks too.

The New Orleans Jazz organization was run by first rate morons. Larry H. Miller was a ******* hero to this organization and it should never be forgotten.
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People can also thank Sam Battistone’s wife for introducing him to the LDS church, as that was his impetus to moving the team to Utah.
 
Thee Idiotic Minivan K said:
Yes they have. We traded the first pick to the Lakers the year they drafted Magic.
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framer said:
Eh, the Jazz actually signed an aging Gail Goodrich in 1976 from the Lakers as a free agent, the NBA then proceeded to take away the Jazz 79 draft pick and award it to the Lakers as recompense, because they in no way wanted any more stars playing in New Orleans and they wanted to discourage free agency. Just to be fair they gave the Lakers the 77 and 78 Jazz first round picks too.

The New Orleans Jazz organization was run by first rate morons. Larry H. Miller was a ******* hero to this organization and it should never be forgotten.
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So we've never had a #1 pick.
 
Joncolton said:
Putting together a winning team isn't as easy as it would seem. Utah has always managed to do it somehow, we've almost never missed the playoffs and our highest draft pick in the history of the franchise is #3. We've rarely been high in the lottery picks. We used the #7 pick on Thurl Bailey (great choice) #3 picks, one was Thurl Bailey, in 2005 we used a trade to get the #3 pick in Deron Williams, and more recently used the #4 pick on Dante Exum. The Jazz have never had the 1st or 2nd pick in the draft in all of Utah Jazz history - despite this we have been consistently in the playoffs more often than the teams that have had multiple #1 picks. I attribute a lot of this to the team leadership and the culture that has been developed within the Utah Jazz organization - like the great Vince Lombardi once stated, "Winning is a habit, unfortunately so is losing."

Many a team has tried to create a culture of winning, defense first, sharing the ball and a team commitment to getting the win. They have not all succeeded.

Look at this roster from the 2017 Pelicans - which should have by all rights been a championship contender.

C- Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Omer Asik
PF - Nikola Mirotic, Josh Smith
SF - Solomon Hill, Tony Allen
SG- Jrue Holiday, Jordan Crawford
PG - Rajon Rondo, Jameer Nelson

Now that is a team with an MVP candidate, outside shooting, veteran leadership, play making, guys off the bench who would be starters on other teams, etc. And they should have at least made the WCF, but didn't. If you recall that was the year Rondo was arguing with the coach, AD wanted to play power forward instead of center and despite all the turmoil this was still a pretty good team - but not one that achieved it's full potential. They lost to the Warriors (it was the 2017-2018 season, everyone lost to the Warriors), but this team lost in the playoffs 1-4 in what should have been a 7 game series.

From the Nash-D. Howard- Kobe lakers to the new 76ers there are teams out there with tons of talent that don't quite play with the same intensity and connectivity as our Jazz - that's why Utah is winning and has a chance to make noise in the playoffs. Because we have a TEAM.
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You lost me on that Pelicans roster having talent (plus Cousins didnt even play in the playoffs, plus you posted the wrong roster for the year they made the playoffs w/ Cousins on the roster. Their core bench players were Ian Clark, Darius Miller, and Hill, a bunch of dudes who wouldnt play above Georges Niang on our roster). They starting late career Rondo, Hill, and Mirotic and their bench was a bunch of over the hill players combined with Demarcus Cousins. That team isnt half as talented as the current Utah roster.

I contribute Utah's success way more to roster building than leadership or coaching. They finally put together a roster of elite shooters to surround Gobert/Mitchell and they are all healthy and playing at a high level.
 
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And both Gobert/Mitchell are either the 1st or 2nd best player in their draft class. So yeah, Utah didnt get the 1st or 2nd pick, but they wound up with the 1st or 2nd best player in both those years (obviously Gobert is 2nd to Giannis and Mitchell is either 1 or 2 next to Tatum).
 
Utah doesnt have the top end talent most champions have. No one on the team is top 10 this year. It's just two All-Stars and a bunch of starting level players. The only non-starter caliber player the Jazz play is Niang. You can't say that about too many other teams, if any.
 
Saint Cy of JFC said:
Utah doesnt have the top end talent most champions have. No one on the team is top 10 this year. It's just two All-Stars and a bunch of starting level players. The only non-starter caliber player the Jazz play is Niang. You can't say that about too many other teams, if any.
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This is what the Warriors announcers also mentioned during our game a few days ago. Our top 2 players are not as good as the Clippers’ and Lakers’ big two, but they couldn’t think of a team that is as good 1-9 (apparently including Niang for whom they actually had some praise too).
 
Niang, in the minutes he's played, has played starter quality.

Now, if he really had to play starters minutes against starters, would he look as good? Probably not, but that is speculation.
 
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