The Utah Jazz should stay the course and not overspend on a major name.
Look around the league, what do you see? Team after team chasing superstars, risking their futures for a year or two of contention. Often times the teams that land these prized players don’t see any success. The Brooklyn Nets sacrificed their future for James Harden and got nothing back for him. The Cleveland Cavaliers gave away several pieces they’re still trying to replace, all for Donovan Mitchell, who got them eliminated in the first round. Now the Miami Heat are trying to go all in for 34-year-old Damian Lillard. This is not a winning mentality, and the Utah Jazz should avoid t.
When you think of the last 10 NBA champions, how many of them ended up in the NBA Finals due to superstar-chasing? The San Antonio Spurs built their team from the draft, as did the Golden State Warriors. Sure, they signed Kevin Durant but they didn’t give up anyone of value to get him. They traded Harrison Barnes in an unrelated deal that would directly help the team’s cap space. That was it.
The Milwaukee Bucks, Warriors again, and the Denver Nuggets all did through the draft, and select small trades or signings. Three teams; the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, and the Toronto Raptors went all in on a trade and won a title. Though, they all won just one title.
The Warriors and Spurs won multiple, the Bucks may still win another and many expect the Nuggets to repeat as champions. Star chasing doesn’t deliver results. While sure, the Lakers, Cavs, and Raptors prove that it can work, look at all the major trades that didn’t work.
The Timberwolves getting Rudy Gobert, The 76ers getting James Harden, the Houston Rockets getting Russell Westbrook, the Los Angeles Clippers getting Paul George, the Boston Celtics getting Kyrie Irving and the Atlanta Hawks getting Dejounte Murray, just to name a few.
Save for the Celtics, who were already pre-loaded with talent before Irving’s arrival, how many of those teams won anything? How many of those teams are still playoff caliber?
So you can see why it’s worrisome that some people in the NBA believe that the Jazz will follow suit. The Jazz has got to be smarter than the rest of the league when it comes to star-chasing trades.
The Jazz, more than anyone with the Mitchell and Gobert trades, knows that star-chasing doesn’t win titles. If it did, the Cavs and T-Wovles would’ve been dueling to close out the season. Instead, the Nuggets, a team mostly built through the draft, save for one Aaron Gordon trade (which at the time wasn’t a big deal), and the Heat, a team built through undrafted free agents, were the two final teams standing.
Player development, not star-chasing, is the way to success. Not just success, but prolonged success. The Jazz have a lot of draft picks and a new league rule that punishes teams for spending too much. They have got to develop those picks and turn them into stars of tomorrow. Trading them away for a 30-something superstar on his last legs, or a player like Karl Anthony-Towns who is historically unable to carry a franchise to the playoffs, would be an utterly foolish move.
The Jazz have got to keep their assets and build from within.