Did we miss our chance at a championship?

[countrybama24]

We started rebuilding after the Deron trade. The following two things occurred since:

1. We signed vets, lowered playing time for young players, and made the playoffs at the expense of a pick in the deepest draft in a decade. Next year's draft could be the worst in a decade. For all intents and purposes, it was our last chance at a top 5 pick (even if that was unlikely to begin with).

2. We didn't trade Al or Millsap, our best trade assets (outside of young guys we're keeping). You don't get a big return on expiring contracts, you get minor assets since there is no guarantee they stick around.

Both of those tell me the front office was just concerned about winning now at the expense of winning over the long-term.

Since then, we have traded for two players who unquestionably improve our roster, but only marginally and for exactly one year until their contracts expire.

Thus, we have the following assets:
-Al (expiring)
-Millsap (expiring)
-Cap Space (we've never capitalized on this)
-Late first round picks (barring injuries to GSW)

I fail to see how we turn any of those into the championship caliber, perimeter star we need barring some incredible luck in the draft, shocking development from anybody but favors, or an ahistorical home run in free agency. Am I wrong? Just looking to hear what Jazz nation thinks, since I obviously hope I'm not right.

[Jazzfan12]

You need top 50 players of all time to even think about think about a title, hard to say the Jazz ever had any real chance at that with this core (or most teams with most cores ever)

[countrybama24]

Sure, only 1 team wins a championship each year, and 90% of the time it's a team with a top 25 all time player. But at least 5 teams can say they have a realistic shot, I think that was achievable.

[Amish Mafioso]

I wouldn't say we missed our chance, but we certainly didn't make the most of our opportunity to stack the deck with this team. Trading Al last year would have given us a great shot at keeping both picks. It's possible we can still hit it out of the park next offseason, but it's more likely we'll lose considerable value on those picks, whether we keep them or trade them. You definately have to question ownership's dedication to building a serious contender. It would appear that if it comes down to taking a temporary loss at the ticket office, the FO would rather just maintain the treadmill of mediocrity.

[Xsy]

We just started rebuilding like, yesterday.

[DelaneyRudd]

We never had a chance.

[reapaman]

KOC made it loud and clear (again ....) when he aquired the two williams that he was more than content in just being a playoff team than winning a championship. Lots of cap room is useless in Utah unless he's willing to take on risky contracts in a trade or overpay for guys. I dought he does much of either given his history.

More years of marginal playoff success and/or getting swept out the playoffs here we come!!!!!!

[CAE15]

Favors,hayward,kanter,burks. and you are complaining about not having 2 more picks? You can't start 6 guys. You need a balance between vets and youngins. Jazz have arguably the most assets of any team in the league. Young talent with huge potential,expiring contracts, draft picks, solid veteran players. If we lose favors and hayward for nothing then maybe you can say we missed our chance. But who knows how kanter and burks develop. Another thing about favors,hayward,burks; they get to the line flat out.

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[DiscoLives4ever]

Where's the guarantee that these "risks" will pay off? Sure you can take a gamble and hope to have it pay off in a championship....but you are much more likely to hit rock bottom every year than win it all. A team that consistently loses games loses money, and therefore is more likely to be moved or sold. The Jazz' methodology is the right one for a team in our market: build conservatively to minimize variation. You still have a chance to compete every few years (Stockton/Malone did for a long time, Deron/Boozer could have if we hadn't hit the Lakers over and over). Impatience is what leads to teams like the Raptors or Kings who are perpetually rebuilding.

I would much rather be a fan of a team that contends 10% of the time, in the playoffs another 70%, and mediocre/lottery only 20% than a team that ends up contending 5% of the time, in the playoffs 20% of the time, and mediocre/lottery the other 75%.

Taking a gamble sounds great until you realize it's just that: a gamble. You might win, but you're more likely to lose.

[Hoops Addict]

I wish we would have played our young guys more last year and gotten the 8th and 12th pick.

We would have had 2 new players or assets to trade up for a better player.

I like how Phoenix does it.....if they are not good after 3 or 4 years they blow it up with trades.

For the people who don;'t like risk....how did you like the risk of unexpectedly trading our best player, D Will ...and getting Favors, Kanter, GSW pick and Harris ( Marvin) ??????

That was a risk.

Conservative management with few trades is not always a good idea.

LMH never took a risk, when we sahould have made a trade to get a big man or a little more talent to win the title when Stockton and Malone were good.

[Inigo Montoya]

We just started rebuilding like, yesterday.

What he said

[Deinonychus]

For the people who don;'t like risk....how did you like the risk of unexpectedly trading our best player, D Will ...and getting Favors, Kanter, GSW pick and Harris ( Marvin) ??????

That was a risk.

Haha, you can't argue that our FO doesn't take risks and then cite an example of when they took a risk. Almost everything is a "risk." You just have to measure risk vs reward and decide if it's worth it. The Deron trade was worth it - mainly because we knew Deron would probably leave this offseason. I don't mind taking a risk, but what kind of reward are all of you looking for? Us sucking more would not have netted us the 8th pick - that was due to Golden State's sucking so I don't know what you're talking about there. Do you really think the 12th or 13th pick or whatever was another superstar waiting to happen? Seriously? Others say we should have traded for a star wing - who were these wings that you KNOW we could have had? The most realistic chance seemed to be Iggy, but would he really have put us over the top?

I think we have one player who can truly be special - Favors. We also have a lot of assets and good young players to build around him. Why are we freaking out here?

[idajazz]

if the way this team is run is such a problem for some, I suggest that you switch to a different team.

I like the way this team is run. I don't need them to win the championship to be a proud fan.
when they do win it will be all the sweater.

[StocktonShorts]

if the way this team is run is such a problem for some, I suggest that you switch to a different team.

I like the way this team is run. I don't need them to win the championship to be a proud fan.
when they do win it will be all the sweater.

Indeed!

[outerspacefella]

For next season, if Kanter, Favors, Hayward, Burks options are picked AND Marvin Williams opts in for his final season, then the Jazz have only about 25M commited. If none of these things happens then the Jazz have--- ZERO DOLLARS COMMITTED for 2013-14. That's a hell of flexibility. That amounts for a major free agency player.

There's nothing we can say right now about championship chances. There will be probably many changes between this and next season, and only then we will know something about where the Jazz are headed. For now, we can afford to start the season right where we are and expect to compete at good level with a team that will be fun to watch and root for.

The thing we can say at this very moment is that KOC's managed to get out of the Deron/Carlos/AK/Memo era in a very smart and efficient manner, while keeping HUGE flexibility and a decent and competitive playoff team. That's a GIANT accomplishment in today's NBA.

[CAE15]

LMH never took a risk, when we sahould have made a trade to get a big man or a little more talent to win the title when Stockton and Malone were good.

Jazz traded for Rony Seikaly. Not utahs fault he decided to be a douche and not report. He very well could've put us over the top giving us a 4th big. Also on that note its not like utah had a ton of assets that teams wanted. Russell and morris and eisley? We aren't getting anything decent back for them.

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[reapaman]

Our cap flexibility means nothing. The free agency class of 2013 sucks unless you believe we have a shot at Dwight or Paul (dought harden even sniffs free agency). And in the position we are in we gotta keep competing and can't take a step back. Unless we can trade our soon to be expensive veterans with other expensive veterans who may be a better fit; then AL, Millsap, and Mo Williams will all likely be back. The two Williams we got were not one season moves, KOC wants to build from this. The problem with that is if not enough of our young guys turn into stars then a championship will likely be out of reach.

If we don't win a championship then fine. But at least try. You don't have to do stupid moves in order for it to be risky. I never asked for us to do things like trading for Joe johnson. Also Trading Deron was not risky at all, keeping him would have been. All I asked for was a full rebuild which is way more risky but alot more rewarding then this half rebuild thing we are doing. In the situation we are in now, if our young guys don't turn out to be stars then its not crippling to us making the playoffs and being competitive since Al and the other proven veteran are good enough to carry us to that type of success. The problem is they can't be the keys to us being a championship contender. Hence why I say this route is low risk and medium reward.

BTW Yes the #12 or #13 pick wouldve gave us a very valuable player. MARSHALL WILL BE BEAST!!!! I also love lamb chops and Sullinger if healthy has multi-time allstar potential. quote me. Any one of them would have been invaluable to our team and well worth not making the playoffs just to be destroyed by the spurs. Thats just my opinion tho.

[FJS]

Two things:

1) Offseason it's not done

2) Step by step. Great teams, champs contender aren't build from one year to another (but Miani signing Lebron, Bosh and having Wade alredy). So those player will make grow our team.
Let's gonna be patient.
After Deron trade we weren't a playoff team. We are right now a playoff team. We have to try yo pass first round now.

Remember that Stockton and Malone teams weren't in the WCF until the 7th year of Malone...

[Dozer!]

Seikaly would of been out starting center, he was a very good player and I think would of been enough for us to win it all.

I'll be honest, I didn't like the way our season played out last year. Most of the year we started a team with players that I didn't even give a rats ass about (Harris, Bell, Howard,Al). We gave up on Favors starting after two games! Hardly played any of our rookies, and made the playoffs when we clearly were not ready to compete. But I don't think it cost us a championship.

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

There is a part of me that wants to believe that had we kept the Deron, Booze, Memo, AK, Korver, Brewer team together that we probably could've won a championship... but it's hard to see how or when.

I think we're in an awesome position right now so I can't complain. I love this team. Probably more so than the aforementioned team above.