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.
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.