Rumors, Random Thoughts, and Non-threadworthy Posts 17.0 The Least Random

[oldncreaky]

yea the games out due to rest for a 23 y.o. healthy C is kind of ridiculous. He probably agreed to an extension otherwise i dont see how/why he would go along with this when he should be playing his heart out to earn a 2nd contract

Yeah, they should do it the Raptor way. Have most of your starters play, but limited minutes, and close the game with the GLeague and 10-day squad. Of course, the problem for Utah is that their bench guys might be better than their starters given who is out injured.

Aside: Didn't the Raptors get fined in 2021 for exactly this i.e. sitting healthy players for "rest" and giving Kyle Lowry a few "DNP - old"?

[HadAnEffectHere]

I assume they don't have said handshake.
I assume the Jazz have not decided today to completely and shamelessly tank next year by holding out healthy players.

Bro, have you seen the Jazz's injury report recently.

Jazz vs. Blazers (Feb 24): Walker Kessler - OUT (Rest)
Jazz vs. Pelicans (March 2nd): Walker Kessler - OUT (Rest)
Jazz vs. Wizards (March 5th): Walker Kessler - OUT (Rest)
Jazz vs. 76ers (March 9th): Walker Kessler - OUT (Rest)

Ainge and Ryan Smith want AJ so bad that they spent tons of money starting a fake school in Utah for AJ to go to so they could funnel money to him before giving him even more money to go to BYU.

Yes teams tank at the end of the year every year. My little Mavs would be doing this except they don't actually have any healthy players so they can play hard and still lose.

But I disagree the decision has been made today with Kessler and Markannen's full blessing to have them barely play next year so the Jazz can tank (JAzz have lost plenty with both playing fwiw). And I strongly disagree the Jazz have a handshake agreement to badly overpay Kessler in place today.

I think Utah is smarter than that and those players are more competitive than that. But I get fans get ideas in their heads and I shouldn't bother here lol.

We literally rested our top 6 players last night to throw a game against the 76ers and now they're mostly back against the Celtics, we've been doing this for most of the season.

I do not think the Jazz are smarter than this either. The Jazz's master plan last year was to sign Paul George to a max and then trade a ton of picks for Mikal Bridges. That was plan A and it was only by the fact that no one wants to play in Utah that they didn't shoot the franchise in the head by doing those two moves.

Walker has the Jazz over a barrel to put up with the tanking and he'll exploit it like Markkanen did last year.

The Jazz have repeatedly told local media that they want to tank as shamelessly as possible in 2025, 2026, and 2027 and then have role players locked up and ready to go to compete in 2028 onward and that's why they're going to keep Markkanen and Kessler. This is a terrible plan, but it's the plan and they're going to have to pay out of the nose to keep both guys through these years of tanking.

[Texas Chuck]

Show me please where they have openly told Utah media they have a 3 year tank in place. Because my Mavs once tanked 3/4 of a game and Cuban admitted it and they got a big fine. So I can't imagine the consequences of 3 seasons not quarters.

[HadAnEffectHere]

Show me please where they have openly told Utah media they have a 3 year tank in place. Because my Mavs once tanked 3/4 of a game and Cuban admitted it and they got a big fine. So I can't imagine the consequences of 3 seasons not quarters.

They have not done so on the record, but both the propaganda outlets controlled by the team (KSL, play by play guys) and non-propaganda outlets (Andy Larsen, Sarah Todd) have said over and over and over again that the plan from the team is a three year tank done by resting Markkanen and Kessler as much as possible.

[Texas Chuck]

I mean if you know, and the media knows, why wouldn't the NBA know? I mean if its this obvious?

But okay, fair enough. The West will appreciate Utah not trying for two more years and badly overpaying their center.

[HadAnEffectHere]

I mean if you know, and the media knows, why wouldn't the NBA know? I mean if its this obvious?

But okay, fair enough. The West will appreciate Utah not trying for two more years and badly overpaying their center.

I'm sure the NBA does know, but the Jazz are so irrelevant that the national media isn't making it a scandal so the NBA doesn't care.

[SkyHook]

I haven't seen anything that the Jazz have done this season that violates either the spirit or the letter of the law in regards to the current player resting rule implemented at the start of the 2023-24 season. It's simply a non-issue for the league if a team is in compliance.

https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/09/NBA-Player-Participation-Policy.pdf

[Godaddycurse]

I haven't seen anything that the Jazz have done this season that violates either the spirit or the letter of the law in regards to the current player resting rule implemented at the start of the 2023-24 season. It's simply a non-issue for the league if a team is in compliance.

https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/09/NBA-Player-Participation-Policy.pdf

yup i'm sure the fans appreciate watching the entire starting line up rest on the bench

[Astaluego]

Show me please where they have openly told Utah media they have a 3 year tank in place. Because my Mavs once tanked 3/4 of a game and Cuban admitted it and they got a big fine. So I can't imagine the consequences of 3 seasons not quarters.

They have not done so on the record, but both the propaganda outlets controlled by the team (KSL, play by play guys) and non-propaganda outlets (Andy Larsen, Sarah Todd) have said over and over and over again that the plan from the team is a three year tank done by resting Markkanen and Kessler as much as possible.

And wouldn't it be better to trade them? They are good players, but we are not talking about irreplaceable talents... Why pay them for years to not compete, nor for the fans to enjoy them? And it does not speak well of the competitive spirit and passion for the game of Kessler and Markkanen...

[Ell Curry]

Barrett is averaging +20 ppg and +5 assists...the Mavs could use that...how would the trade go? Hardy/Powell/Gafford match salary, what would he have to add?

Maybe this?

Toronto - Gafford, 10-12M in bad money (Team X) + #25 (Team X)
Dallas - Barrett
Team X - Naji Marshall, #40 (TOR)

Would Orlando do #26 + Cole Anthony for #40 + Naji Marshall? Save 4M, get a better player.

[HadAnEffectHere]

Show me please where they have openly told Utah media they have a 3 year tank in place. Because my Mavs once tanked 3/4 of a game and Cuban admitted it and they got a big fine. So I can't imagine the consequences of 3 seasons not quarters.

They have not done so on the record, but both the propaganda outlets controlled by the team (KSL, play by play guys) and non-propaganda outlets (Andy Larsen, Sarah Todd) have said over and over and over again that the plan from the team is a three year tank done by resting Markkanen and Kessler as much as possible.

And wouldn't it be better to trade them? They are good players, but we are not talking about irreplaceable talents... Why pay them for years to not compete, nor for the fans to enjoy them? And it does not speak well of the competitive spirit and passion for the game of Kessler and Markkanen...

The idea from the Jazz is that they want to have their supporting cast locked up when they get stars in the draft so they should just keep high level starters around so they can instantly start winning when they get stars. If they trade away Kessler, the thought is that they may struggle to find a good center when they start to compete in 2027-2028.

To be clear, this is a terrible plan as it involves any stars they get being ready to go as soon as the three year tank ends and this timing working out exactly is not at all likely. It also is hedging against a pretty unlikely scenario.

[SkyHook]

I haven't seen anything that the Jazz have done this season that violates either the spirit or the letter of the law in regards to the current player resting rule implemented at the start of the 2023-24 season. It's simply a non-issue for the league if a team is in compliance.

https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/09/NBA-Player-Participation-Policy.pdf

yup i'm sure the fans appreciate watching the entire starting line up rest on the bench

I think that most of the fans understand the team's priorities and the young players have been fun to watch. The best games are when everyone plays well and they barely lose. Win-win

[SkyHook]

Show me please where they have openly told Utah media they have a 3 year tank in place. Because my Mavs once tanked 3/4 of a game and Cuban admitted it and they got a big fine. So I can't imagine the consequences of 3 seasons not quarters.

They have not done so on the record, but both the propaganda outlets controlled by the team (KSL, play by play guys) and non-propaganda outlets (Andy Larsen, Sarah Todd) have said over and over and over again that the plan from the team is a three year tank done by resting Markkanen and Kessler as much as possible.

And wouldn't it be better to trade them? They are good players, but we are not talking about irreplaceable talents... Why pay them for years to not compete, nor for the fans to enjoy them? And it does not speak well of the competitive spirit and passion for the game of Kessler and Markkanen...

I don't agree at all. Tanking Development years make perfect sense for rebuilding franchises given the league's draft structure. I don't hold suffering through these seasons against the players at all.

[Devilanche]

I haven't seen anything that the Jazz have done this season that violates either the spirit or the letter of the law in regards to the current player resting rule implemented at the start of the 2023-24 season. It's simply a non-issue for the league if a team is in compliance.

https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/09/NBA-Player-Participation-Policy.pdf

yup i'm sure the fans appreciate watching the entire starting line up rest on the bench

I think that most of the fans understand the team's priorities and the young players have been fun to watch. The best games are when everyone plays well and they barely lose. Win-win

They at least could have delayed raising ticket prices and I doubt the less hardcore fans are tuning in to watch a bunch of kids that aren’t even competitive on most days.


https://www.sltrib.com/sports/jazz/2025/03/07/utah-jazz-fans-upset-season-ticket/

[SkyHook]

yup i'm sure the fans appreciate watching the entire starting line up rest on the bench

I think that most of the fans understand the team's priorities and the young players have been fun to watch. The best games are when everyone plays well and they barely lose. Win-win

They at least could have delayed raising ticket prices and I doubt the less hardcore fans are tuning in to watch a bunch of kids that aren’t even competitive on most days.


https://www.sltrib.com/sports/jazz/2025/03/07/utah-jazz-fans-upset-season-ticket/

Fans are never happy with ticket price hikes, but the timing was particularly bad here.

[shrink]

Fun fact I learned today -- MIT and the Jargon File have deemed 17 the least random number, based on a study when asked to select a number 1-20, its the most common.

When random people are asked to pick a number between 1 to 10, the most commonly picked number will be 7, followed by 3. There may be cultural significance where some people find seven “lucky” and our culture gravitates towards it (7 days in a week, Magnificent 7, etc) - and three as well with the trinity .. Schoolhouse Rock also taught me 3 is a magic number. Some psychologists believe that our memories aren’t built to store lists longer than 7, so we focus on the seventh item. It’s why local phone numbers were only 7 digits back in the day, people couldn’t remember an 8th.

[ejftw]

Fun fact I learned today -- MIT and the Jargon File have deemed 17 the least random number, based on a study when asked to select a number 1-20, its the most common.

When random people are asked to pick a number between 1 to 10, the most commonly picked number will be 7, followed by 3. There may be cultural significance where some people find seven “lucky” and our culture gravitates towards it (7 days in a week, Magnificent 7, etc) - and three as well with the trinity .. Schoolhouse Rock also taught me 3 is a magic number. Some psychologists believe that our memories aren’t built to store lists longer than 7, so we focus on the seventh item. It’s why local phone numbers were only 7 digits back in the day, people couldn’t remember an 8th.

Love random trivia like this.

[parsnips33]

Well there's the fine for the Jazz lol

[jayjaysee]

So KD to LAL, but finding a center as part of it?

Reaves to “Orlando”
“Goga”+KD to LAL
Rui, other LAL salaries as needed, “Orlando asset”, LAL 2031 first, (LAL swaps in 28/30?) to Phoenix

Goga/KD/LBJ/Knecht/Luka with DFS, Vando, Vincent, and whatever else being the Lakers can make happen? Assume that’s a good destination for CP..

Worth it?

Dallas makes some sense with Gafford+2025 first for Reaves. But didn’t want to lead with that. Or guess Reaves value.

[Stanq]

So KD to LAL, but finding a center as part of it?

Reaves to “Orlando”
“Goga”+KD to LAL
Rui, other LAL salaries as needed, “Orlando asset”, LAL 2031 first, (LAL swaps in 28/30?) to Phoenix

Goga/KD/LBJ/Knecht/Luka with DFS, Vando, Vincent, and whatever else being the Lakers can make happen? Assume that’s a good destination for CP..

Worth it?

Dallas makes some sense with Gafford+2025 first for Reaves. But didn’t want to lead with that. Or guess Reaves value.

I don’t think LA wants to go older, and not sure KD wants to play with Bron.

Reaves is worth more than Galford and Dallas 2025 first.