Markkanen signing long-term extension (untradeable this season)

[Nate505]

I'm not really getting Utah's plan here.

The whole point of getting all of these first round picks were to rebuild quickly through the draft. Keeping Lauri stops them from at the very least being a bottom feeder team, so they can't get higher draft picks through themselves. They'll get the lottery, but I doubt they manage anything in the top five. Minnesota has found their groove and looks like they'll be a top team for years to come. And Cleveland locked up their core four on long term deals. Baring any unforeseen circumstances, I don't see a path for Utah to truly build themselves through the draft in the same matter that OKC did.

Top 5 picks are really important. That have catapulted the Pistons into contenders.

[Inigo Montoya]

Cool Utah, have fun gunning for the 11 seed.

You take that back! We're aiming for the 15th seed.

[whatisacenter]

Cool Utah, have fun gunning for the 11 seed.

See you there!

[Mamba Mentality]

See you there!

As long as the Lakers are the 12 seed, that's a win.

Haha, willing to bet you guys anything that doesn't happen.

[HadAnEffectHere]

I'm not really getting Utah's plan here.

The whole point of getting all of these first round picks were to rebuild quickly through the draft. Keeping Lauri stops them from at the very least being a bottom feeder team, so they can't get higher draft picks through themselves. They'll get the lottery, but I doubt they manage anything in the top five. Minnesota has found their groove and looks like they'll be a top team for years to come. And Cleveland locked up their core four on long term deals. Baring any unforeseen circumstances, I don't see a path for Utah to truly build themselves through the draft in the same matter that OKC did.

The plan was to trade picks for star players but Ainge has found

1. Any player with an expiring contract has refused to extend in Utah during trade talks
2. Any player with a long term deal has gone for much more than Ainge was willing to pay

So the plan currently to do nothing and hope a miracle eventually happens because everything has failed.

[jazzfan1971]

I'm not really getting Utah's plan here.

The whole point of getting all of these first round picks were to rebuild quickly through the draft. Keeping Lauri stops them from at the very least being a bottom feeder team, so they can't get higher draft picks through themselves. They'll get the lottery, but I doubt they manage anything in the top five. Minnesota has found their groove and looks like they'll be a top team for years to come. And Cleveland locked up their core four on long term deals. Baring any unforeseen circumstances, I don't see a path for Utah to truly build themselves through the draft in the same matter that OKC did.

I think that the Jazz believe that they can tank with Lauri.

The West is crazy strong this year. I doubt we will be favored in any matchup besides home games vs. Portland. So, that's only 2 of 41 games in the West we would expect to win. (with Lauri)

The East is a different story. I would imagine that we'll be favored to win vs. all of the East's bottom feeders. But, we only play them 2x which means maybe two wins each. They have to play each other 4 times so they also can expect 2 wins each. I think with questionable PG play and shutting things down after the all-star break that the Jazz will be on pretty even footing with the other tanking teams, largely by virtue of the strength of the West.

Jazz are essentially bringing back the same team as last year and i would hope to see some growth from Kessler and George. Yea the west is tough but there is always injuries (see Memphis last year). They are definitely better than the true bottom feeders (Wizards, Pistons, Nets and Blazers). I don't think they'll be in the mix for a bottom 4 seed.

Well, yes. Ish. We don't have Olynyk who was pretty good for us. And we don't have Dunn who really stabilized our PG position. I think a lot of losing in the NBA comes down to poor PG play. It can really lower your floor. The Jazz can be expected to really run the young guys this year.

C - Kessler, Filipowski
PF - Lauri, Collins
SF - Hendricks, Williams
SG - Clarkson, Sexton
PG - George, Collier

I would expect that to be the Jazz 10 man depth chart as of now. I could easily see any of Collins, Sexton, or Clarkson moved before the trade deadline in a very Jazz like move.

Even in that lineup, I have 1 3rd year guy, 2 second year guy and 3 rookies as rotation players. Lets say that the Jazz pay a couple 2nds to send Clarkson out to the Lakers or something similar and put Sensebaugh in the rotation.

C - Kessler, Filipowski
PF - Lauri, Collins
SF - Hendricks, Williams
SG - Sexton, Sensebaugh
PG - George, Collier

Now you are extremely young. I think you might look at that roster and see a team that could go into Detroit and come out with a loss.

[HadAnEffectHere]

Collins and Clarkson are untradeable, but trading Clarkson is irrelevant for tanking, he was the worst rotation player in the NBA last year other than Scoot Henderson and Keyonte George.

The Jazz won 30 games despite shoving minutes to a bunch of the absolute worst players in the NBA (THT, Keyonte, Clarkson, Sensabaugh, Agbaji) so any improvement from Keyonte, Kessler, and Hendricks to like... even remotely NBA caliber guys... Would see them as mildly better.

You have to just be extremely low on Keyonte if you think he's going to be as absolutely terrible as he was last year.

[JustBuzzin]

Curry probably wants out. Feels like that was GSW last big move to get a star with Curry.

[Lo Wang]

But I was told by the geniuses here that Ainge's trade demands were nuts and that Lauri would become an unrestricted FA next year because of...uh, reasons.

I think majority of posters just thought his trade demands were nuts, not that Lauri would walk in FA next season. And given no one caved to Ainge's demands, sounds like they were correct in that assumption tbh

Yeah, but there were some when told "who gives a damn if Ainge's trade demands are nuts, he'll just sign Lauri to an extension if they aren't met", they responded with "he'll just be an unrestricted FA next year because who wants to stay in Utah/who wants to stay on a losing team/Ainge is playing with fire and will lose him for nothing and blah blah blah", when in reality that situation was never going to happen and it was completely stupid and illogical to think it.

Revisionist history.

Ainge was highly criticized for his absurd gamble and the same people said there was a risk he could walk, which was true. They didn't say he was 100% going to walk. They only pointed out a risk.

Ainge realized nobody was playing his game so he offered an extension so he wouldn't lose him. The risk was real.

[Woodsanity]

Shame cause Lauri would have been a great 2nd option for a few teams.

[Nate505]

I think majority of posters just thought his trade demands were nuts, not that Lauri would walk in FA next season. And given no one caved to Ainge's demands, sounds like they were correct in that assumption tbh

Yeah, but there were some when told "who gives a damn if Ainge's trade demands are nuts, he'll just sign Lauri to an extension if they aren't met", they responded with "he'll just be an unrestricted FA next year because who wants to stay in Utah/who wants to stay on a losing team/Ainge is playing with fire and will lose him for nothing and blah blah blah", when in reality that situation was never going to happen and it was completely stupid and illogical to think it.

Revisionist history.

Ainge was highly criticized for his absurd gamble and the same people said there was a risk he could walk, which was true. They didn't say he was 100% going to walk. They only pointed out a risk.

Ainge realized nobody was playing his game so he offered an extension so he wouldn't lose him. The risk was real.

It's not revisionist history. It's literally history. When people where whining about the high asking price, they were met with the absolutely logical and utterly predicable response of "he'll just sign an extension," because that was the end game here. Either pay the Jazz a massive price or they just extend the guy. When that response was made, there were some people were actually stupid enough to think there was a risk he wouldn't.

The risk was not real at all. The risk was theoretical.

Don't call other posters stupid. You can go after a post as strongly as you'd like but don't insult posters themselves. -b

[Lo Wang]

Cool Utah, have fun gunning for the 11 seed.

As long as the Lakers are the 12 seed, that's a win.

How is that a win when they are out of the Cooper sweepstake?

Ainge's malfeasance is a black eye on the organization. This is a huge fail.

[Catchall]

I'm not really getting Utah's plan here.

The whole point of getting all of these first round picks were to rebuild quickly through the draft. Keeping Lauri stops them from at the very least being a bottom feeder team, so they can't get higher draft picks through themselves. They'll get the lottery, but I doubt they manage anything in the top five. Minnesota has found their groove and looks like they'll be a top team for years to come. And Cleveland locked up their core four on long term deals. Baring any unforeseen circumstances, I don't see a path for Utah to truly build themselves through the draft in the same matter that OKC did.

I think that the Jazz believe that they can tank with Lauri.

The West is crazy strong this year. I doubt we will be favored in any matchup besides home games vs. Portland. So, that's only 2 of 41 games in the West we would expect to win. (with Lauri)

The East is a different story. I would imagine that we'll be favored to win vs. all of the East's bottom feeders. But, we only play them 2x which means maybe two wins each. They have to play each other 4 times so they also can expect 2 wins each. I think with questionable PG play and shutting things down after the all-star break that the Jazz will be on pretty even footing with the other tanking teams, largely by virtue of the strength of the West.

Jazz are essentially bringing back the same team as last year and i would hope to see some growth from Kessler and George. Yea the west is tough but there is always injuries (see Memphis last year). They are definitely better than the true bottom feeders (Wizards, Pistons, Nets and Blazers). I don't think they'll be in the mix for a bottom 4 seed.

Jazz tanked pretty hard after the trade deadline last year. Not having Olynyk, Fontecchio and Kris Dunn helps their tank this year. They're going to give a lot of minutes to their 1st and 2nd-year players, and their bench production should keep them in the loss column.

They're probably a bottom 5-7 team.

[Iwasawitness]

I'm not really getting Utah's plan here.

The whole point of getting all of these first round picks were to rebuild quickly through the draft. Keeping Lauri stops them from at the very least being a bottom feeder team, so they can't get higher draft picks through themselves. They'll get the lottery, but I doubt they manage anything in the top five. Minnesota has found their groove and looks like they'll be a top team for years to come. And Cleveland locked up their core four on long term deals. Baring any unforeseen circumstances, I don't see a path for Utah to truly build themselves through the draft in the same matter that OKC did.

Top 5 picks are really important. That have catapulted the Pistons into contenders.

Are you saying the Jazz have people running the show as incompetent as the ones in Detroit?

[Nate505]

Cool Utah, have fun gunning for the 11 seed.

As long as the Lakers are the 12 seed, that's a win.

How is that a win when they are out of the Cooper sweepstake?

Ainge's malfeasance is a black eye on the organization. This is a huge fail.

Didn't the Hawks just literally win the lottery having the 10th best odds?

Does anyone who makes these claims understand just how the lottery works in the NBA now? Do you all realize that the Pistons have had the best odds two years in a row only to get passed up by four teams for two years in a row?

[Nate505]

I'm not really getting Utah's plan here.

The whole point of getting all of these first round picks were to rebuild quickly through the draft. Keeping Lauri stops them from at the very least being a bottom feeder team, so they can't get higher draft picks through themselves. They'll get the lottery, but I doubt they manage anything in the top five. Minnesota has found their groove and looks like they'll be a top team for years to come. And Cleveland locked up their core four on long term deals. Baring any unforeseen circumstances, I don't see a path for Utah to truly build themselves through the draft in the same matter that OKC did.

Top 5 picks are really important. That have catapulted the Pistons into contenders.

Are you saying the Jazz have people running the show as incompetent as the ones in Detroit?

No, because they aren't relying on the lottery to be the savior of the team, thank god.

[brackdan70]

[x][/x]

I'm not really getting Utah's plan here.

The whole point of getting all of these first round picks were to rebuild quickly through the draft. Keeping Lauri stops them from at the very least being a bottom feeder team, so they can't get higher draft picks through themselves. They'll get the lottery, but I doubt they manage anything in the top five. Minnesota has found their groove and looks like they'll be a top team for years to come. And Cleveland locked up their core four on long term deals. Baring any unforeseen circumstances, I don't see a path for Utah to truly build themselves through the draft in the same matter that OKC did.

By signing him long term he becomes a more valuable trade asset. Pretty simple. More valuable than a tank with the new lotto system

[HadAnEffectHere]

Top 5 picks are really important. That have catapulted the Pistons into contenders.

Are you saying the Jazz have people running the show as incompetent as the ones in Detroit?

No, because they aren't relying on the lottery to be the savior of the team, thank god.

They absolutely are. I don't see what you see the path as.

[Jay 20]

Yeah, but there were some when told "who gives a damn if Ainge's trade demands are nuts, he'll just sign Lauri to an extension if they aren't met", they responded with "he'll just be an unrestricted FA next year because who wants to stay in Utah/who wants to stay on a losing team/Ainge is playing with fire and will lose him for nothing and blah blah blah", when in reality that situation was never going to happen and it was completely stupid and illogical to think it.

Revisionist history.

Ainge was highly criticized for his absurd gamble and the same people said there was a risk he could walk, which was true. They didn't say he was 100% going to walk. They only pointed out a risk.

Ainge realized nobody was playing his game so he offered an extension so he wouldn't lose him. The risk was real.

It's not revisionist history. It's literally history. When people where whining about the high asking price, they were met with the absolutely logical and utterly predicable response of "he'll just sign an extension," because that was the end game here. Either pay the Jazz a massive price or they just extend the guy. When that response was made, there were some people were actually stupid enough to think there was a risk he wouldn't.

The risk was not real at all. The risk was theoretical.

I was one of those people who brought up he could walk. Just because you were right doesn't mean people were "stupid" to bring up that chance as a possibility.

Not sure why you feel the need to criticize a fair point.

Anyway if you are happy the Jazz are keeping Lauri then congratulations. He's a good player and I for one would have loved him on the Warriors.

[Nate505]

Are you saying the Jazz have people running the show as incompetent as the ones in Detroit?

No, because they aren't relying on the lottery to be the savior of the team, thank god.

They absolutely are. I don't see what you see the path as.

I hope not. That hasn't worked out in years. It might work for the Spurs if you get a Wemby level talent, but that's about it.