Okay so we all know the Utah Jazz gave the Warriors a gift by letting them drop 3 bad contracts solely so they could go and use that money to sign Andre Igoudala. A lot of initial reactions among Jazz fans were “why did we do this?”, “dumb trade” or “Jazz don’t care anymore”. The exact opposite of that though is happening and arguably the Jazz got the better end of that trade by a mile. Golden State gets an All-star caliber player to help Curry and company push to compete with the elite in the West. While the Jazz went the opposite way and are arguably competing for the worst spot in the West.
While all that is true the Jazz got exactly (EXACTLY!) what they wanted. Not only is Dennis Lindsey playing the Patriot game (stash as many picks as you can possibly get) but he is also playing the rebuilding game. That is something no other Jazz GM has been able to really stomach. It seems like everybody today is trying to cut corners or skip steps so that they can reach their destination faster. Well Dennis Lindsey understands that you can cut corners but the end product will NEVER be as good as if you do it the right way.
So the Jazz are finally starting at step 1 of a rebuild: get rid of all players that don’t have a future with the team or can harm a rebuild and start using the guys that are the future. Step 1 in the rebuild is complete since the Jazz signed John Lucas III and decided to forgo a starting veteran point guard.
Step 2 is bring in guys that know their role and can supplement the key guys. That’s what happened when the Jazz brought in Brandon Rush, Andris Beidrins and Richard Jefferson. These three have been in the league and will definitely know their role as Dennis Lindsey has sat down with all of them and told them exactly what he expects from them. In no way are they here in Utah to try and start or take time away from the core 5. They are here to teach, bring energy and help in whatever way they can.
All three of those guys have expiring contracts but just know that most likely the Jazz will bring back Rush and possibly Beidrins next year depending on how this year winds up. Throw in a mentor for Burke (John Lucas) and a training staff (Brad Jones and Karl Malone) that has as much enthusiasm for these young guys as they have for themselves and voila the rebuild begins.
This should be a dream for Jazz fans as they get to see this through from start to finish. This year might be rocky and even years to come (dependent on injuries), but for the first time for people born in the eighties or later they have their own team. Stockton and Malone’s era was my dad’s era and even though I watched a lot of games from those days he got to watch them from the beginning. That’s what we have now. Sure we also got to see Deron and Boozer but let’s be honest, that was more of a fallout from the earlier era that it wasn’t the same as this time around.
This team is my team, your team and everybody else old enough to know what they are watching and be able to watch it all the way through for the next 8-15 years. This is what Spurs fans have had since 1999 and their time still isn’t done and we should be hoping and praying for the exact same thing. Will we win 3 or more championships? Probably not. Could we win 3 or more championships with these 5 as our core? Absolutely!
Buckle up Jazz fans as a new race begins now!