Important Hornets intel is music to the Jazz's ears

After having a much better - not to mention more watchable - season, it's now been confirmed that the Utah Jazz will embrace the tank. They have quite a bit of ground to make up if that's the case - and their decisions since this has come to light have basically confirmed they are - but the Charlotte Hornets don't want to stand in their way.

NBA Insider Jake Fischer revealed that the Hornets hope to play well enough to reach the play-in, signaling that they have every intention of being better than the Jazz this season.

"Sources say that the Hornets, furthermore, are also open for business to a degree, but that might only mean shopping veteran guard Collin Sexton as Charlotte — sporting the league's longest playoff drought at nine seasons and counting — clings to hope that it can still be a Play-In team," Fischer wrote.

The Hornets are currently 10-20, half a game worse than the Jazz are, though the Jazz's recent losing stretch would signify that they are pretty well within range to usurp the Hornets for the seventh best odds for the No. 1 pick in the draft.

Utah wouldn't be completely out of the woods in their hopes of not giving up their pick to Oklahoma City, but any NBA fan knows that, in a nutshell, seven is better than eight when it comes to tanking.

Several teams currently worse than the Jazz want to be better

Charlotte hoping to be in the play-in means that they want to be better than the Jazz are when the season wraps up. That's one less team to worry about in the tanking game. It gets better for Utah's tanking hopes that some of the other teams that are ahead of them in tanking game also want to better than their current standing.

Teams like the Pelicans and the Clippers have no incentive to tank whatsoever because their pick will go elsewhere this season. If a team like the Jazz throw their season away, that's good news for them because it gets them one step closer to avoiding the lottery. Whether they succeed in that endeavor is yet to be determined, but Utah's tank should help.

It's one of oddest cases of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" that is definitely feasible. The Jazz do a favor for the Clippers/Pelicans and vice versa if they tank. Plus, don't look now, but thr Nets are suddenly playing much better basketball after a dreadful October/November start.

Currently, the Jazz are playing with fire with the eighth-best lottery odds, but in a month, it could be a whole new ball game. The Hornets are in position to give the Jazz better odds before the calendar year is over, and the tank could get better from here if all goes well.