zero24gravity wrote:SoCalJazzFan wrote:
(Edit: Ainge's aggressive moves have got the Celtics to where they are now. Same with Morey and the Rockets. The Jazz got super lucky drafting Stockton and Malone, but their passiveness probably preventing them from winning a Championship during that era. Passivity rarely pays off for professional sports teams).
I've never understood why so many Jazz fans view the Utah front office as being passive. Due to the market they don't have the same access to all types of players, but they've certainly done their due diligence and have made tons of big moves over the years, regardless of who has been the GM. Here's a reminder:
During the glory days, didn't they trade for a All Star, who's jersey now hangs in the arena rafters? These days, that team would have been considered a Superteam; 2 HOF players, and All Star (Horny), and role players filling in the gaps. During the late 90's they also had a trade in place for Ronny Seikaly (who was a very competent player) that fell apart (the reason why depends on who you ask), and also made a trade for Derek "you play in Utah" Harper, that would have been a strong addition. They brought in Tom Chambers in the early 90's as a good complimentary piece as his career wound down, also added guys like Danny Manning & A.Carr, who were 20ppg scorers at one point, and grabbed Chris Morris as a free agent. They signed quality FA's J.Stark, C.Cheaney, M.Harpring & M.Jackson at the end of the Stockton-to-Malone years. (We won't discuss John Amaechi.) They also traded for D.Marshall, who was a really good player, IMO.
There were rough times once the statues retired, but it's not like the team sat on their hands. They traded scraps for T.Gugliotta (and a draft pick that turned into Haywood), who was a very good player in his prime, and signed Raja Bell (twice, but the second time was a mistake). The "down years" didn't last long as AK47 came into his own, which lead us to the next group of Western Conference Finalists.
They traded up to get DWill, and signed Okur and Boozer. Boozer's signing was especially aggressive, since he had already "agreed" to re-sign with the Cavs. They also traded for D.Fisher, and later Brevin Knight, who were both starters in the league. The team made another big trade by grabbing Al Jefferson on 2010. The team also traded for Kyle Korver. We all know how this group ended though, with the HUGE trade of DWill being moved for Favors, D.Harris (a former All Star), and high draft picks.
After that, they traded to bring Mo Williams back, and swapped Harris for Marvin WIlliams. They signed R.Foye (who broke the teams all time 3 pointers made record in his short stay). They later flipped Foye & trash for Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson, Brandon Rush & a 2014 1st round draft pick (Rodney Hood was later selected). They traded up to get T.Burke (didn't turn out too well, but we're talking about the FO "passiveness" not them always being perfect). During that 2013 draft, they then traded up to get Rudy Gobert, and used a 2nd round pick to trade for R.Neto. (Made up for the T.Burke trade, I'd say.) Hey, they even signed John Lucas III! (ouch) In 2014-15, they signed T.Booker, and cut losses with Kanter via trade, which opened up time for Gobert. (And Claimed Joe Ingles off waivers.)
The move to trade up to get Gobert (and trading for Favors earlier) started to shape the current Jazz team. But wait, there are more moves from our "passive" FO that got us what we have now. During the last couple seasons, they signed Diaw, Sefelosa & Jerebko, and they traded to get G.Hill (again, this is about activity, not if you like the trade). They signed Joe Johnson. In 2017 they traded for Ricky Rubio, traded up for Donovan Mitchell on draft day, and made a deadline deal for Jae Crowder.
Yup. Passive.
