In an attempt to throw more games, the Jazz are having Walker Kessler shoot five threes a game.

[floppymoose]

Madsen and Brian Cardinal both in that game. Two great tastes that go great together.

[vxmike]

If my team was already in the lottery, why not use this time to let the players practice things they aren't used to doing. Kessler is already a good player, could become great if he developed a three ball.

There are people who paid for a ticket to see the Jazz play and this is not what they expected the product to be. Kessler won't magically develop to be a three point threat, likely never.

It's not outside of the realm of possibilities, Brook Lopez couldn't shoot worth a damn when he was drafted but turned into a mid 30 percent guy halfway through his NBA career. Times are changing players are going to have to adapt.

He can practice 3s in the offseason…

[Inigo Montoya]

There are people who paid for a ticket to see the Jazz play and this is not what they expected the product to be. Kessler won't magically develop to be a three point threat, likely never.

It's not outside of the realm of possibilities, Brook Lopez couldn't shoot worth a damn when he was drafted but turned into a mid 30 percent guy halfway through his NBA career. Times are changing players are going to have to adapt.

He can practice 3s in the offseason…

He does.

[zimpy27]

This is not an attempt to lose games.

Kessler himself wants to shoot 3s, this was part of the reason Jazz wanted to trade him as he was focused on this path they didn't see as worthwhile.

So by letting him shoot now he can get it out of his system, prove he can do it or flounder and stop wanting jt

[Broadcaster]

If my team was already in the lottery, why not use this time to let the players practice things they aren't used to doing. Kessler is already a good player, could become great if he developed a three ball.

I’m open to this but that doesn’t seem like the intention. How do you rationalize a DNP-CD after getting fined for sitting healthy players?

There was tension between Kessler and the Jazz about a year ago about how he should play. He wanted to shoot more threes and the Jazz wanted him to play like a more traditional big. Now that the Jazz are tanking, there is no reason not to see if Kessler had a point or if the Jazz were right, and develop his game to the point where by the time the are good, he could attempt to shoot one or two threes per game if he's open.

I do realize that and have no contention with Walker shooting threes. Considering their other behaviour though I don’t trust their intentions with doing it. It mostly feels like they’re mocking the rules more than they are trying to develop him.

[Sethaholic16]

The solution is simple. Bottom 4 teams cannot get the top 3 picks and will instead pick #4-7. It disincentivizes blatant tanking, and now all teams must at least try to win some games to avoid being at the bottom. It also gives teams in the "middle" some hope. For decades, teams in the middle are forced to blow it up and tank because being "stuck in the middle" is the worst. But with this simple change, teams in the middle can at least have some hope

[HadAnEffectHere]

This is not an attempt to lose games.

Kessler himself wants to shoot 3s, this was part of the reason Jazz wanted to trade him as he was focused on this path they didn't see as worthwhile.

So by letting him shoot now he can get it out of his system, prove he can do it or flounder and stop wanting jt

The context is that the Jazz keep thumbing their nose at the league and this was immediately after they gave Walker Kessler a DNP-CD and gave no reasoning as to why (but it was to tank).

[Gert42]

Wouldn't it be crazy to let Kessler start shooting threes in hopes he can become like Brook Lopez? The same Brook Lopez who is now a 35% career 3 point shooter and was never over 15% in his first seven years?

And guys there's a 86% chance the Jazz don't pick #1 and 72% chance they pick 3 or later, I don't understand what people are stressing so much...

[Drakeem]

Wouldn't it be crazy to let Kessler start shooting threes in hopes he can become like Brook Lopez? The same Brook Lopez who is now a 35% career 3 point shooter and was never over 15% in his first seven years?

And guys there's a 86% chance the Jazz don't pick #1 and 72% chance they pick 3 or later, I don't understand what people are stressing so much...

People are mad bc teams like Utah/Toronto/etc blatantly tanking is just not a good product to watch. Above everything, basketball is an entertainment product that people place their time and money into. Why am I buying a ticket to see players if they're sitting and not caring? Even if they don't win, put up enough of a fight so we can see the other teams starters play meaningful minutes.

I get we're on "RealGM" where people want to armchair GM and have talked themselves into not caring about on court products bc of long term benefits, but for the family taking their kids to a game, for the group of people who set aside a few hours of their little free time to watch a game at home together, etc, it sucks when half the team is benched, when teams are selling the game, and when night in and night out games just end up not being worth the energy.

Utah is just a symptom of a bigger problem, but they're the most egregious abusers of "rest".

[cgf]

There are people who paid for a ticket to see the Jazz play and this is not what they expected the product to be. Kessler won't magically develop to be a three point threat, likely never.

It's not outside of the realm of possibilities, Brook Lopez couldn't shoot worth a damn when he was drafted but turned into a mid 30 percent guy halfway through his NBA career. Times are changing players are going to have to adapt.

He can practice 3s in the offseason…

That is not the same as practicing something during live games. Mitchell Robinson is a sniper with handles for days...in the offseason. Doing it against NBA players, with live game energy and fans in the stands, is a totally different proposition.

[shi-woo]

The solution is simple. Bottom 4 teams cannot get the top 3 picks and will instead pick #4-7. It disincentivizes blatant tanking, and now all teams must at least try to win some games to avoid being at the bottom. It also gives teams in the "middle" some hope. For decades, teams in the middle are forced to blow it up and tank because being "stuck in the middle" is the worst. But with this simple change, teams in the middle can at least have some hope

Should we also take home court advantage from the Top 8 teams that rest players for the playoffs or sit stars against bad teams, and make contenders that throw games for favorable match ups/better place in standings automatically play the best teams without homecourt?

Literally the only people that don't throw games in the league are the teams you all hate that win 30-40 games every year

The regular season is simply not about competition anymore, so who cares what the worst team in the league is doing, they have 82 extra practices a year and that's how they view it.

[lambchop]

Reminds me a bit of Popovic making Sohan a lead ballhandler for months. Team don't want to win and just trying to "develop" their guys through unconventional play, trying yo fix their weaknesses through trying.

It was 20 games. Didn't work. We moved on.

Yes, but Spurs went on that losing streak during that time and they wouldn't have done it if they really tried to win that season. That experiment was dumb from the start. This season failed, injuries, but I remember a lot of people criticized Spurs over under line for this year, saying its way too high, team can't improve by that much, but I think people didnt pay attention to last season, because Spurs record significanly improves if they just don't do Sohan experiment for two months. Thats just what I am saying.

Didn't they have Sochan shoot free throws with just one hand too? I wouldn't call it losing deliberately, but it's simply not caring about winning and understanding that there is so much upside to losing as many games as possible aka tanking.

[G R E Y]

It was 20 games. Didn't work. We moved on.

Yes, but Spurs went on that losing streak during that time and they wouldn't have done it if they really tried to win that season. That experiment was dumb from the start. This season failed, injuries, but I remember a lot of people criticized Spurs over under line for this year, saying its way too high, team can't improve by that much, but I think people didnt pay attention to last season, because Spurs record significanly improves if they just don't do Sohan experiment for two months. Thats just what I am saying.

Didn't they have Sochan shoot free throws with just one hand too? I wouldn't call it losing deliberately, but it's simply not caring about winning and understanding that there is so much upside to losing as many games as possible aka tanking.

? This one handed FT increased his % by leaps. He went away from it for a short time this season then returned to it. Only connection is support for improvement of foundations in all aspects of the game.

[Effigy]

Wouldn't it be crazy to let Kessler start shooting threes in hopes he can become like Brook Lopez? The same Brook Lopez who is now a 35% career 3 point shooter and was never over 15% in his first seven years?

And guys there's a 86% chance the Jazz don't pick #1 and 72% chance they pick 3 or later, I don't understand what people are stressing so much...

People are mad bc teams like Utah/Toronto/etc blatantly tanking is just not a good product to watch. Above everything, basketball is an entertainment product that people place their time and money into. Why am I buying a ticket to see players if they're sitting and not caring? Even if they don't win, put up enough of a fight so we can see the other teams starters play meaningful minutes.

I get we're on "RealGM" where people want to armchair GM and have talked themselves into not caring about on court products bc of long term benefits, but for the family taking their kids to a game, for the group of people who set aside a few hours of their little free time to watch a game at home together, etc, it sucks when half the team is benched, when teams are selling the game, and when night in and night out games just end up not being worth the energy.

Utah is just a symptom of a bigger problem, but they're the most egregious abusers of "rest".

Yep. Once you hit the all star break, there's no point in watching a game unless it's against 2 teams that will both make the playoffs. If you see a team that isn't going to make the playoffs, chances are they are trying to lose, not playing their best players, etc. It's definitely a problem.

[LockoutSeason]

It’s possible that the Jazz just suck. They don’t have to try to lose games.

[SkyHook]

Sarah Todd had a good article a couple of days ago on this. I've got absolutely no problem with the Jazz using these last few games to try to expand players' skillsets.

https://deseretnews-deseretnews-prod.web.arc-cdn.net/sports/2025/03/17/utah-jazz-walker-kessler-3-point-focus-chicago-bulls/

[SkyHook]

Wouldn't it be crazy to let Kessler start shooting threes in hopes he can become like Brook Lopez? The same Brook Lopez who is now a 35% career 3 point shooter and was never over 15% in his first seven years?

And guys there's a 86% chance the Jazz don't pick #1 and 72% chance they pick 3 or later, I don't understand what people are stressing so much...

People are mad bc teams like Utah/Toronto/etc blatantly tanking is just not a good product to watch. Above everything, basketball is an entertainment product that people place their time and money into. Why am I buying a ticket to see players if they're sitting and not caring? Even if they don't win, put up enough of a fight so we can see the other teams starters play meaningful minutes.

I get we're on "RealGM" where people want to armchair GM and have talked themselves into not caring about on court products bc of long term benefits, but for the family taking their kids to a game, for the group of people who set aside a few hours of their little free time to watch a game at home together, etc, it sucks when half the team is benched, when teams are selling the game, and when night in and night out games just end up not being worth the energy.

Utah is just a symptom of a bigger problem, but they're the most egregious abusers of "rest".

If close, competitive games are the ultimate criteria... in this current 0-10 streak the Jazz were within a few possessions at the buzzer in 7 of the games, including 5 of the 6 on the road. And it's been surprisingly fun to watch the young players develop.

[JJ_PR]

To be clear

Kessler shoots 79% at the rim
He shoots 54.5% from the line
He's one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA

But following the outcry over Kessler sitting while healthy, the Jazz have seemingly turned up the hate attacking their critics, having Kessler stay far away from the paint where he could be effective and instead have him jack up three after three, Mark Madsen style.

This, of course, has not "worked" in terms of succeeding at offense. Kessler is 1/11 from three since the Jazz made this change and the Jazz have collapsed to close to the worst offense in the NBA in these two games. The Jazz own the worst record in the NBA and don't have to tank this hard, but are seemingly just very focused on taunting Silver as much as possible and it's very weird.

Aren't you a Cavs fan? Who cares about the Utah Jazz? Let them be bottom dwellers if that's what they want. The Cavs are playing beautifully, we Cavs fans are being treated with great, winning basketball.

The Jazz tried to screw us over, and it seems like it backfired. Isn't that great?

[ItsDanger]

Making decisions with integrity is lacking in NBA and on this board at times. The silence is deafening.

[Inigo Montoya]

The Jazz tried to screw us over, and it seems like it backfired. Isn't that great?

How did the Jazz try to screw the Cavs?