StocktonShorts wrote:Neon Black wrote:So, what's this ultra-intelligent "OKC model" people keep gushing about?
Draft the best player available?
Ground breaking! I am enthralled.
Trade your vets, play your young guys, get several high draft picks, draft really well...
Let's look at what SEA/OKC did in detail:
2006-07:
This team, led by Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, went 31-51. Allen and Lewis both missed over 20 games. They landed the second pick in the 2007 draft despite having just a 10% chance of getting it. They used that pick, of course, on Kevin Durant. In the second round of that draft they picked Carl Landry and Glen Davis. They traded Landry to the Rockets for cash then traded Glen Davis and Ray Allen to the Celtics for Jeff Green and fillers.
They then traded Lewis to the Magic for a 2nd round pick and a TPE.
10 days later they traded that 2nd round pick to the Suns for Kurt Thomas, a 2008 1st round pick and a 2010 1st round pick. Phoenix basically gave them two first round picks for absorbing Kurt Thomas's contract.
2007-08:
They turned the team over to Durant and Green. Durant played more minutes on that squad than anyone except Earl Watson. Green was third in minutes played. The team went 20-62 and ended up with the 4th pick in the draft as well as the 24th from the Phoenix trade. They used the 4th pick on Russell Westbrook and the 24th pick (acquired from Phoenix) on Serge Ibaka.
2008-09:
Once again they let Kevin Durant lead the team in minutes. The top three players in minutes played were Durant (PER 20.8), Green (13.9) and rookie Russell Westbrook (15.2). The team finished 23-59 and received the 3rd pick in the draft, which they used to select James Harden.
Would the Jazz FO have traded Allen and Lewis and handed the team over to the young guys the way SEA/OKC did? I think we know the answer to that one. The day the Jazz traded Deron Williams they should've followed it up by cleaning house the rest of the way, letting the young guys play and acquiring a few more lottery picks along the way.
Instead they've done this half-assed rebuild that's not helping anyone. It would be like if OKC had kept Allen and Rashard Lewis after drafting Durant and tried to make the playoffs with that core. Would Durant be the same player he is today if he was playing third fiddle to those guys? Would OKC have ended up with Westbrook or Harden? Seems unlikely.
The Jazz had a real opportunity to set this franchise up very nicely in the long term but they've sacrificed that chance for short-term revenue. I guess whatever keeps the Landcruisers rolling.
I've posted the pertinent OP, which was really good.
I agree the Jazz would have been better off longterm shedding Al and Sap at the time, but it would have been a huge risk as DF hadn't played much and was an unknown (still is somewhat) and we didn't have Kanter yet. However, having a top 5 pick last year and possibly a top 10 pick this year would have been huge.
So, what now? Is all lost?
Along the OKC model lines discussed above, it would seem to make sense to s&t sap and al for undesireable contracts and picks this year. Pau Gasol, Humphries, and Ben Gordon are all players that the Jazz could afford for a year if they got back decent picks in return (if they unload Al and Sap they have to spend some $ to meet the min payroll) so that they could either find themselves in a good lottery position or move up to one in the future (although one would think that the time to do it would have been last week).
The other option is to S&T, for example, Sap for Granger, or give up assets making moves for players, such as Bledsoe if CP3 resigns.
I'm afraid staying the course will only net tem mid-first round picks as the young guys develop and more talent is slowly drafted, and an average to somewhat below average team for years, unless one or more of the core 4 surprises and becomes elite.
