Post#24 » by SoCalJazzFan » Wed Jul 10, 2019 5:35 pm
As far as the fans viewing Youtube being better or worse than the Jazz front office, the comment was tongue in cheek. However, there have been a few notable instances where the Youtube watching fans were right and the Jazz were wrong (e.g. PG13 vs Hayward and Lyles vs Booker). I guess this buttresses the argument that the draft is a bit of a crapshoot, but also leaves one wondering how expert the so called experts are.
I don't think that the Jazz are horrible drafters. In fact, I would put them in the top half of the NBA. What I would like to see, though, is an overarching philosophy and approach. The Jazz are a small market, undesirable free agent destination. So, occasionally hitting with draft picks is essential. However, giving away so many picks and making so many conservative draft selections (e.g. Grayson Allen) is so completely contradictory to the approach that makes the most sense with these limitations in mind.
I bet that one could find literally a couple of dozen or more good NBA players that have been selected in the 2nd round of the draft over the past decade or so. The old Jazz regime did well with those 2nd round picks (Paul Milsap, CJ Miles, etc.), but the DL regime has treated them with a certain level of disdain, as if they were the sprig of parsley on the plate of the main course to be tossed aside. If the draft is a crap shoot, and the Jazz aren't luring free agents, then it should be a numbers game and those 2nd round picks should be more valuable than DL has treated them.
IMO, the Jazz should very much have the philosophy of drafting players with the highest potential. If the player doesn't have "Jazz DNA", then when he hits, you have an asset to get value from (e.g. Pacers did ok with PG13). I give everyone a pass with Giannis, but if the Jazz had the "let's draft the guy with the highest potential" attitude, then maybe they would have selected him, which would have changed the trajectory of the Jazz in a big way.
I haven't been counting, but the Jazz have spent a lot of 1st round picks chasing a starting level PG. I get the reasons for most of them, but you have to admit that it hasn't gone well. We'll see this time next year if trading yet more FRPs for Conley was worth it. I don't hate the Conley trade, but I would have much rather chased DLo and another young free agent with the cap space and kept those picks, and circled back around to Conley if that didn't work out. There is a very real chance that Conley bails next summer or leverages the Jazz for a Conley favorable contract, though, even if everything goes as hoped.
I don't hate the Jazz front office or think that they've done a horrible job. In fact, they have done a good job keeping an NBA team in SLC in the playoffs and relevant, which probably isn't easy. I do think, though, that they could improve overall in the drafting department.