Post Mortem #1 - Utah Jazz

[Clav]

14th March, 2025

INTRO: In the past, we had some amazing near-end-of-season threads with a little poll and current outlook of teams officially out of the championship hunt. I am no ElectricMayhem, and he did some great study on the poll results, but I will attempt to hold onto this tradition even though I don't think I have the time to perform the same statistical analysis that EM did at the end. I think we'll still get a nice picture of each team's performance throughout the year! Let's begin.

FIRST UP, the Utah Jazz.

Time of death: March 12, 2025
Record at elimination: 15-51

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/utah-jazz/yearly

Contract summary:
Markkanen - signed max through 28-29
Collins - 26M PO this offseason
Sexton - extension eligible, expires NEXT season 19M
Clarkson - expires NEXT season 14M
Kenyon Martin Jr. - non-guaranteed 8M
Mykhailiuk - non-guaranteed 3.5M
Juzang - non-guaranteed 3M

Rookie Scale/minimums
Filipowski
Kessler
Hendricks [broken leg ended his season]
Cody Williams
Keyonte George
Brice Sensabaugh
Isaiah Collier
Jaden Springer

TW
Harkless
Potter
Tshiebwe

Dead-cap - none retained NEXT season, 11M off the books this season.

25-26 Capspace - ~35M


PICKS for 2025 draft
UTA 1st (unless 11th, then conveys to OKC) - 1-8 prot. in 25-26
MIN 1st
LAC 2nd
UTA 2nd



A SMALL SEASON REVIEW:

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/utah/utah-jazz


Utah has had a season of near the bottom of the WC table with a roster unable to compete with the top, but that may never have been the goal. The goal could be landing the No. 1 overall selection in the 25 Draft, and that still looms large. Losing six games to start the season was ominous, but the Jazz have scrapped together some decent wins, though I must admit I haven't watched much Jazz basketball this season. Wins in San Antonio, and at home vs Dallas were evidence there's talent on the roster. Another 2-game win streak(s) happened in DEC/JAN with DET/BKN and MIA/ORL both falling to Utah. However, overall those wins are few and far between. They are currently 1-3 in OT games (beating the Nets again), but also have the 3rd worst defense at the time of this post in terms of OppPPG. That's gotta be a huge priority for them in the offseason. There's a lot of money available to work with, and obviously some of the veterans could be moved, too. What do you think ?

Some surprising players, from my perspective, were George and Collier (both of handling a pretty solid year in terms of Assists) and Juzang, who has shown he's a viable shooter at times. Still, lots to learn for this team, but there's some promise there if Markkanen and the 25 draft selection form a base to build on. Unfortunately Hendricks broke his leg, and Kessler is still a big trade target it seems. Kessler is a valuable player and makes a difference on the defensive end for sure.

[Godymas]

Ainge has completely failed the last few years and somehow managed to turn one of the best contracts into the league into one of the worst.

Donovan Mitchell and Lauri Markkanen are 1 year apart and every single team in the NBA would rather have Mitchell instead of Markkanen.

Now if Mitchell wanted out, it's nice that they obliged, but the inactivity at the deadline and then the questionable decision to extend Markkanen has basically backfired. Markkanen is not SGA, he is not young and unproven.

This off-season if they try and off-load Markkanen, they would be lucky to even get a 2nd rounder in return considering his contract. The best case scenario is pulling off what Chicago did with LaVine where he slotted in the Fox trade to fill money and secure a few 2nd rounders.

In terms of young talent, Cody Williams has a lot of work to do, Keyonte George might one day be a solid NBA starter, Walker Kessler is still good, and there are still a bunch of veterans that really don't make sense on there.

[SomeBunghole]

Donovan Mitchell and Lauri Markkanen are 1 year apart and every single team in the NBA would rather have Mitchell instead of Markkanen.

This is stupid, even by your standards.

Of course every team would rather have Mitchell over Markkanen. That's like saying you'd rather own an Accord than a Civic. The Jazz didn't make that trade thinking they'd be getting the better player in it.

[Inigo Montoya]

I voted that they performed better than expected because I never thought they'd be able to tank as well as they do.

[Doctor MJ]

Frustrating to watch a team on a glaring multi-year tank, but obviously this was what they intended to do, and frankly, Cooper Flagg seems like a dream guy for Utah.

Here's hoping that next year they actually try to win.

[Johnny Tomala]

Keep, keep, as expected, treadmill.

[AmusingFiddle]

Ainge has shown no plans on the assets he has collected. I am presuming he is attempting to land a Tatum type trade for the Jazz. Highly unlikely.


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[mg]

I voted that they performed better than expected because I never thought they'd be able to tank as well as they do.

Considering they actually have a few useful veterans on their roster they've done a masterful job of resting players and tanking games this season. Of course the league actually took notice of it too.

[Hugi Mancura]

It was expected that they would tank this year. Because of good coaching they really needed to find even the smallest injuries to keep players out of playing roster. So I think Hardy did a good job this year.

Players: Kessler had his best season. He probably keeps his starting center role now and in the future. Collins had a good year. He almost looked like he is worth 20M$. Sexton kept playing like he did last year, so he was a positive player. So even if Markkanen had a bad year and Clarkson is pretty much worthless now, the vets of the team played well. Too well almost.

young ones. No one is really shining, well except Kessler. From others I think Collier might have best future, but even for him it is too early to say. Most of them showed some promise, but also if they want to have a career in NBA they need to improve (including Collier). I personally don't believe in George. He is way too similar to Clarkson and Sexton, and if you want to have a career as a one dimensional scoring guard in today's NBA you need to be really really good. Rookies are way too early to tell and Hendricks had a really bad injury, so for him just playing basketball next year is a win.

Next year. I don't think they will add any current NBA players. They add those 3 rookies and that's it. They off course hope that at least one of them is named Flagg. So they will be bad next year too. I don't think they go after anyone over 30 year old, but if some young stars become available they might try to make a trade. Mainly thinking about Booker, but according today's news this ain't happening. I don't think they want Zion or Ingram anymore. So expect them to tank next year too.

They might try to trade all those older guys; Markkanen, Sexton, Clarkson and Collins, but probably price need to be right. I don't think they don't mind if all of them play with them next year. I don't think they mind keeping Markkanen until the end of the contract, cause they need to spend their money to someone and they are not getting any free agents. Similar situation as Van Fleet with Houston. When you need to start paying your young players Markkanen's contract is over or is not that bad anymore (due to salary cap increase).

Maybe in season 28-29 they are relevant again.

[Sofia]

Trust the Process pt 2

[SweaterBae]

I don't understand the people who voted for improving team. They don't have a single all nba caliber player. Losing is winning somehow because they might draft a great player? Hell, and correct me if I'm wrong, but they have exactly one all star appearance on the entire roster(Lauri in 2023). How are they improving?

[mg]

I don't understand the people who voted for improving team. They don't have a single all nba caliber player. Losing is winning somehow because they might draft a great player?

Yeah I don't think they fit any of the poll answers. It's obvious they are going to keep trying to lose until they are able to draft a "franchise player". Ainge obviously must feel very comfortable in his position in order to tank so blatantly.

[badpotato]

Tanking by refusing to play perfectly healthy players is the worst kind of tanking, hope lottery gods won't be merciful.

[Clav]

I don't understand the people who voted for improving team. They don't have a single all nba caliber player. Losing is winning somehow because they might draft a great player?

I voted improving, well, because maybe I'm an optimist, this is a cogent point though, a chance at a great player does not mean a great player is already rostered. Jazz have to make this year's Draft hit big

[meekrab]

I don't understand the people who voted for improving team. They don't have a single all nba caliber player. Losing is winning somehow because they might draft a great player? Hell, and correct me if I'm wrong, but they have exactly one all star appearance on the entire roster(Lauri in 2023). How are they improving?

Well they can't be declining because they're already as bad as a team can realistically get, and they can't be treadmill because they're deep in the lottery

[Lalouie]

salt lake is too remote and its weird
either move the team or add seattle and vegas because salt lake is too frontiersy-lookin'. it's like the last outpost to no-mans land

[mikejames23]

Markannen's pretty good, rest aren't all that. Keep rebuilding and hope for the best. Really fell off since Mitchell/Gobert days.

[Chuck Everett]

My grade will arrive on Lottery day. If they're picking 4-6, it will be humorous. They better land top 3.

[Big J]

I don't get why they kept Lauri if they just planned on tanking anyway. Why didn't they just trade him to GS before the season?

[SkyHook]

Tanking by refusing to play perfectly healthy players is the worst kind of tanking, hope lottery gods won't be merciful.

Wanting to punish franchises for making the best decisions for their present and future—in accordance with the contradictory incentives that the league has itself created—seems silly. I prefer to advocate for a different system, but I have zero problem with a team working to their advantage within the constraints of the current one.