What if?

[dr0welf]

With the run the Timberwolves are having in the playoffs it got me thinking about the decision to trade everyone away. What would the team look like and what would our success look like if we had only traded Mitchell when we blew it up?

Gobert, Markkanen, Bojan, Sexton, Conley ?? Starting lineup
Clarkson, Agbaji, NAW, Not sure what picks we got with our own picks so I am not listing them.

Even though the Bomb brothers of Markkanen and Bojan would have been awesome to watch I don't think we would be getting as far in the playoffs as Minnesota is right now. Mostly because we would be missing our main star. So that tells me that I don't think Markkanen is that main star to build around. A very good #2 or 3 option but not #1. But we would have the 3 picks and 2 swaps to trade for that star player that we got from Cleveland.

Possibility of a decent team, and depending on trades we could have had it might be a good playoff team. Not sure how salaries would have worked out and if that would have handicapped us.

I really thought we only needed to trade one of Gobert or Mitchell and start rebuild. Maybe that was not the case.

[Gert42]

The problem in these scenarios is that the Gobert deal was on the table almost immediately and it probably would have been foolish for Ainge not to take it.

Would have been a fun team to watch for sure. My guess is right around that 7-10 range in the West last year, and maybe that or slightly lower in the West in 23-24.

They would win a lot of games against teams in the regular season based on the Conley-Gobert continuity but our perimeter defense would still struggle.

[Inigo Montoya]

I don't think it would have mattered. Even with that trade, the defense of that team would still be bad and it would also have a lot of redundancies with several players at the same position and still no real wing players. I guess we could then speculate about how this team would look if at that point Ainge would have continued to trade all the redundant players but that's too much conjecture. Bottom line is that core wasn't going anywhere. I have no issue with breaking it up, I just wish that after the Mitchell and Gobert trades some of the decisions the Jazz made were different.

[dr0welf]

I agree, if you are going to tank, then tank. We should have been one of the bottom 3 teams last year. This year I don't know if tanking all the way really mattered; as the separation between talent within the players of this draft is just not there. So the whole trade everyone at the trade deadline for nothing and following it up with the worst basketball since 5 year old jr jazz. I mean seriously what was this whole year all about? Does anyone know?

[Inigo Montoya]

I agree, if you are going to tank, then tank. We should have been one of the bottom 3 teams last year. This year I don't know if tanking all the way really mattered; as the separation between talent within the players of this draft is just not there. So the whole trade everyone at the trade deadline for nothing and following it up with the worst basketball since 5 year old jr jazz. I mean seriously what was this whole year all about? Does anyone know?

It's not a great explanation but Olynyk was expiring so I guess the Jazz preferred to get something for him instead of losing him for nothing. Fontecchio was probably not going to be retained (because another team would offer him more than the Jazz were willing to pay) so they preferred getting something for him as well, and with Agbaji, I suppose they just weren't all that high on him and had no issue with moving on. And doing all that served the purpose of: 1. getting some assets and 2. losing games to retain the pick. Can't say I liked what happened but I get the rationale, sort of.

So I guess the whole year ended up being about the 10th pick. With the benefit of hindsight, it seems to have worked very well for Dallas after last season.

[Denizfeital]

I agree, if you are going to tank, then tank. We should have been one of the bottom 3 teams last year. This year I don't know if tanking all the way really mattered; as the separation between talent within the players of this draft is just not there. So the whole trade everyone at the trade deadline for nothing and following it up with the worst basketball since 5 year old jr jazz. I mean seriously what was this whole year all about? Does anyone know?

I would go even further and say, "what were the last 2 years all about?"

Seriously, we should have tanked as hard as anyone last year, besides Wemby, there were like 5 guys that has All-Start written all over.

We got the nineth pick (not bad), but not ideal since we sucked.

This year was a joke. It seemed that we didn't know what we were doing, very confusing management. We will get the tenth pick in the poorest draft of the decade. This pick worths nothing. To make things worse, it seems next year it will be a strong draft, which means we will suck again for some luck in draft.

With that it will be three years in a row that we sucked, and this is terrible for a fan perspective.

I don't think I have watched a single Jazz game this season. How sad is this? If next season The Jazz will take the same approach, I don't know what is going to happen with our already small fan base.

I am extremely disappointed as a Jazz fan. It's been months (perhaps more than a year) since my last post.

Regards,

[babyjax13]

I agree, if you are going to tank, then tank. We should have been one of the bottom 3 teams last year. This year I don't know if tanking all the way really mattered; as the separation between talent within the players of this draft is just not there. So the whole trade everyone at the trade deadline for nothing and following it up with the worst basketball since 5 year old jr jazz. I mean seriously what was this whole year all about? Does anyone know?

I would go even further and say, "what were the last 2 years all about?"

Seriously, we should have tanked as hard as anyone last year, besides Wemby, there were like 5 guys that has All-Start written all over.

We got the nineth pick (not bad), but not ideal since we sucked.

This year was a joke. It seemed that we didn't know what we were doing, very confusing management. We will get the tenth pick in the poorest draft of the decade. This pick worths nothing. To make things worse, it seems next year it will be a strong draft, which means we will suck again for some luck in draft.

With that it will be three years in a row that we sucked, and this is terrible for a fan perspective.

I don't think I have watched a single Jazz game this season. How sad is this? If next season The Jazz will take the same approach, I don't know what is going to happen with our already small fan base.

I am extremely disappointed as a Jazz fan. It's been months (perhaps more than a year) since my last post.

Regards,

I was really excited to see your name!

Yes, picking a direction is what needs to happen, this half-in, half-out BS just really wrecks watching the team because you can't win and there is no hope for the future.

[Denizfeital]

I was really excited to see your name!

Yes, picking a direction is what needs to happen, this half-in, half-out BS just really wrecks watching the team because you can't win and there is no hope for the future.

Thanks babyjax13, that was very kind of you to say it

I agree with you, they need to decide their path. We can't keep doing it.

The worst part is that our coach may get tired of the mess and start looking around to a better organization to work for.

Regards,