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ESPN's Amin Elhassan almost sounded like he was going to insult the Utah Jazz organization last week … but pretty much praised the team for doing everything it could to hang on to Gordon Hayward. Despite failing.

On ESPN's NBA show "The Jump," Elhassan broke down Hayward's move to the Boston Celtics by pointing out that teams essentially have a "minimum of seven years of guaranteed time to show your star player that you are an organization that is both serious about and capable of winning a championship."

With the implication that Utah did not.

And Elhassan argued that Hayward did "what's best for [his] career."

A clear statement that playing for the Celtics is a step up from playing for the Jazz. And it certainly sounded like a slap at the team in Salt Lake City.

But Elhassan went on to say that the Jazz did all they could to keep Hayward by building a "solid roster with a nice mix of vets and young guys that was well-coached and a rather complete team."

He even went overboard, calling the Jazz "one of the best teams in the NBA over the last few years" — a statement that, quite frankly, was ludicrous. The Jazz finished fifth in the Western Conference this year, after finishing 11th, eighth, ninth, 15th, 11th and ninth the first six years Hayward was in the league.

So yeah, Elhassan tried to break it gently to Utah fans.

"Even as the Jazz did most everything right," he said, "they couldn't control for the massive imbalance between West and East. They couldn't control for Hayward's college coach to be leading one of the strongest East teams. And they certainly couldn't control for the rise of the greatest team in NBA history to dominate from within their conference."

So … Golden State drove Hayward to the Celtics — a popular theory, to be sure.

Elhassan didn't absolve the Jazz, arguing they "made mistakes along the way." But "a lot of factors had to fall in line" for Hayward to leave. And he compared Hayward's departure to Kevin Durant leaving Oklahoma City for Golden State.

Comparing Hayward to Durant is a huge compliment to the ex-Jazzman. And not quite as ludicrous as that bit about the Jazz being one of the NBA's best teams in recent years.

The Celtics certainly hope it turns out to be a good analogy. And lots of Jazz fans will be rooting rather fervently against that happening.

Dunseth gets excited

Brian Dunseth had a great time analyzing Real Salt Lake's 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy last week, and who could blame him?

It's been a rough season, and goals have been tough to come by. RSL has scored just 23 goals in 20 games — six in that one game.

And even though L.A. was not fielding its strongest team, it was a win over the always-arrogant Galaxy. Plus, it was only the second time in L.A.'s history that it has given up six goals in league play.

Still, you rarely hear a TV analyst sounding any more pleased than Dunseth did.

"Aw, it feels so good," Dunseth said. "It's been so long since it's felt this good."

But did he get carried away?

"Is this the turning point?" Dunseth asked, questioning whether the big win over the Galaxy could be a "catalyst."

"Is this the time when everything changes, with a result like this?" he asked.

Maybe we'll be able to point to this moment and give Dunseth a big round of applause for his prescience.

Or maybe not.

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.