This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Heading into Thursday night's draft, the Jazz are where they've been for the better part of a decade now, the better part of two decades: Stuck in the middle.

They're not as good as they need to be to genuinely contend for a title and they're not bad enough to make any kind of huge difference from where they're selecting.

They haven't had the gall to follow the 76ers' scorched-earth route to ultimate improvement, the efficacy and appropriateness of which can be debated until fatigue sets in, and they haven't been fortunate enough to get generational players in back-to-back drafts from the mid-range, say, the 16th and 13th positions, like they did in 1984 and 1985 when they picked a couple of guys named Stockton and Malone.

Instead, they've muddled — like most of the other franchises in a league dominated by a small number of stars. You draft those stars, trade for them or sign them. You either have them or you don't. And if you do have them, you play for championships and you win them. If you don't, you try real hard and hope for the best.

Remember, the Cavs were 33-49 the season before LeBron James rejoined them. Now, they're ... well, you know what they are.

LeBron isn't walking through that door at the Zion's Bank Basketball Center anytime soon. Neither is Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul or Kawhi Leonard … although, the Jazz could have drafted Paul back in 2005 and Leonard in 2011, and instead ended up with Deron Williams and Alec Burks.

That's the ugly truth of the NBA, painted in broad-brush strokes. It's not an environment where upward mobility is prevalent. It's not a numbers game like the NFL, where teams can identify and draft enough great players from more disadvantaged positions, or sign enough free agents to go from worst to first. There are more fantastic football players, apparently, than there are fantastic basketball players, more variables leading to success, creating more opportunity.

There's only one LeBron James, only a handful of guys within shouting distance of him.

The Jazz know this, and are attempting to buck the trend and beat the odds. Dennis Lindsey and his staff are working themselves darn near senseless by bringing in players for workouts, nearly 200 over the past two summers, looking for exceptions to the league rule. Looking for a star whose talent most other teams don't recognize. In most cases, they'd be lucky to find a rotational player.

The difference in their muddling now is the promise of youth, a promise many Jazz fans have been patient to watch grow, but now are looking for results. That's the main delineation between the Jazz of a few years ago and the Jazz now. They are not a group of aging veterans in no man's land. They are a bunch of 20- to 25-year-olds in no man's land. Either way, 40-42 is getting hard to consume.

And that fact puts the Jazz in a difficult strategic spot spiraling into the draft.

They need help right away, a more experienced rookie ready to bolster their depth, who can, under ideal conditions, shoot from the perimeter, make plays, blend in with their core, come off their bench to add what was missing through the mounting injuries and adversity of the season past. Another thing that was missing: the playoffs. They need someone prepared to help them make those.

But they also need more high-end talent for all the reasons already stated. They need a player, even an underdeveloped one, who will ultimately be a difference-maker.

There are optimists who believe that with fortunate health the Jazz can do great things with their promising young group. If Dante Exum returns without limitation, his presence, given expected growth, by itself will be sufficient to get the Jazz into the playoffs. And, from there, that continued development of Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward, Rodney Hood and Trey Lyles will help them not just make the playoffs next season, but also contend for years to come.

And then, there are realists who look at the current batch of top-drawer teams in the West and wonder, even with good health and ongoing growth, how and where the Jazz can jump over that kind of competition.

History has taught that the Jazz rarely sign a free agent of consequence. Whether the fact that players now can make huge money regardless of the market in which they play — compare Westbrook and Durant in Oklahoma City with anybody the Lakers or Knicks have — changes that challenge is yet to be seen. It has not happened in the past.

Point is, the Jazz must approach and address their current status aggressively, not conservatively. They have to examine where they are now and make major improvements, not minor tweaks. Making the playoffs isn't enough, although for next season, that seems like a suitable goal. Beyond that, where do they go? Do they shoot for the moon?

They shoot for contention.

If there's a player that can make them better in this draft, according to their evaluations, pay the price to get wherever they must to select him. If a subsequent trade can be made to advance that cause, even if it includes one of their valued core players, and they can drop back in the draft, do that. Gordon Hayward will have the option to sign elsewhere, with no team compensation, after next season. That must bang loudly around the Jazz's brain right now.

Aggression should be the swing thought going in, not protecting the status quo. It's not easy. We all get that sometimes deals can be worked out, sometimes they can't. But nobody around here should be anything close to satisfied with where the Jazz are. Nobody should think they are close. They're 300 yards out, not a hundred.

Going into the next days and weeks, they need a driver in their hand, aiming for a big reward, not a pitching wedge, aiming for a small one.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.