We're Too Good To Tank, Dammit.

[tugs]

JC was clutch during that run towards the end, making the right plays

[jazzkid]

The amount of trade capital we have gained will give us opportunities to move up in this draft regardless of where we finish. Plus the with the rising value of the players we have now is the silver lining. Tanking hardly ever works out. I think we will have the assets to get a good haul in this draft - may not be number 1 but two out of the top 10-15 kind of thing would be sweet. Let's just hope it's as deep of a draft as everyone says it is.

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[Crunch 99]

2/10/23 Utah Jazz 122 Toronto Raptors 116. No Conley, no Clarkson, no Beasley? No problem!

New Jazz point guard outplays VanVleet to score 22 pts on 14 fga with 6 ast, 5 rebs and 2 blks. THT gets 8 assists as backup pg. Early season Kelly Olynyk returns to score 15 points with 8 ast and 7 rebs. Markkanen fights his way thru the Toronto defense that was loaded up on him to score 23 points. And Kessler doesn't miss!

[Inigo Montoya]

[Crunch 99]

The Jazz still have a good potent offense that can win games, even after losing Conley and three rotation players at the trade deadline.

[SoCalJazzFan]

What's worse is that we made the TWolves better by trading Conley to them.

[Crunch 99]

Bump.

The Jazz have gone a respectable 7-8 since shipping out Conley and three rotation players in the February trade. We may still be too good to tank. But the Jazz have an extremely difficult remaining schedule, so we will see what happens.

[AGE1207]

The only way to tank is going to be by shutting Markkanen en Kessler down. Conley didn’t move the needle much..

[Inigo Montoya]

Yep. It's time to shut Markkanen down. I'd still play Kessler for development reasons but Markkanen has nothing left to prove--he's legit. He also had injuries in the past so it may be prudent the keep him out for that reason. Having said that, Hardy is using this time to run sets for him and develop him as #1 option so it's not like the time is wasted but still, we need that pick.

[tugs]

Jazz losing the rest of the games, what would be the chances they get a high pick? Might as well play the post season or still get a shot at Wemby?

[edededtut]

Yep. It's time to shut Markkanen down. I'd still play Kessler for development reasons but Markkanen has nothing left to prove--he's legit. He also had injuries in the past so it may be prudent the keep him out for that reason. Having said that, Hardy is using this time to run sets for him and develop him as #1 option so it's not like the time is wasted but still, we need that pick.

One of the knocks on Lauri in his NBA career has been his perceived (or real) injury proneness, he has never played more than 68 games in a season, so he would probably want to play to 70 at least.

Just a guess and I'm sure it won't be a problem going forward if that's what the Jazz decide to do.

[Crunch 99]

I am not going to go back and listen to Markkanen interviews to verify, but I recall thinking that Markkanen sounded very interested in getting to the playoffs.

[TNJazz]

I am not going to go back and listen to Markkanen interviews to verify, but I recall thinking that Markkanen sounded very interested in getting to the playoffs.

He hasn't been to the playoffs correct? I intend Dramond Green's podcast when Lauri was the guest and he mentioned not having been to the playoffs, at east that is what I thought I heard. I am not surprised that he is wanting that opportunity. I think all of the players want it and are doing their best to win, as is Hardy, just look at the Celtics game. Down by 19, end up winning and beating the best road team in the league and without 2 starters.

I've said all along, creating a winning culture is more important than going all in on an unsure bet for the future. Now the best would be to create the winning culture, (Check) slip into the lottery (Almost there) and then lucking out and getting a top 5 draft pick. Our chances are increasing with how poorly MN is playing and Edwards in a waking boot or at least not able to go right now. If MN falls out & we stay out of play in, our chances increase of getting a higher draft pick, that to me is a win and we have created a culture where the players play to win, the coaching staff has had a terrific season where they have been able to really evaluate young talent for the future, and they can keep their plans on course fro improving both internally and through the draft.

Sarah Todd had a nice article about this in todays DN. https://www.deseret.com/2023/3/19/23644890/utah-jazz-rebuild-didnt-begin-with-full-on-tank

[edededtut]

the Cavs made the play-in last season and lost to Nets and then Hawks, with the Bulls no post-season games in 4 seasons.