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The NBA has a problem and the Jazz need a couple of stars.

In order to win and, in particular, contend in a league dominated by big guns, teams have to have the elevated talent to do so. In order for teams to have that talent, they must find a way to acquire it. There are four ways to accomplish that: draft it, trade for it, sign it, develop it.

The first and the fourth are the Jazz's realistic options, with the second, on a limited scale, also available to them.

On Wednesday, NBA owners failed to pass a proposal to reform the league's draft lottery process. The proposal would have diminished the odds of the worst teams getting the higher picks and increased the odds of better teams getting them. The adjustment was favored, 17-13, by owners, but fell short of the 23 required for approval. Some sources have reported the Jazz were one of the clubs voting against the change.

If those sources are right, questions about the club's faith in itself to improve quickly, moving away from the top of the lottery, could justifiably be asked.

On the other hand, is it really such a huge deal that the worst teams get the best opportunity to improve? Even with that advantage in the NBA's weighted lottery system, which has been in place since 1985, the team with the worst record has only gotten the top selection four times. The last time it happened was in 2004, when Orlando used the overall No. 1 pick to take Dwight Howard.

The motive behind the reform was supposedly to stop teams from tanking. League integrity is at stake. The other side of the equation, as NBA commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged, is, "allowing for appropriate rebuilding and the draft to work as it should in which the worst-performing teams get the highest picks in the draft."

What other reasonable way is there to make provision for rebuilding?

Let's take it a step further: What's wrong with scrapping the lottery and going back to drafting straight up from worst to first? It works in other leagues.

Bad teams need a route to get better. That's part of a league's integrity, too.

It's especially true for small-market teams, like the Jazz, who rarely have a legitimate shot at signing big-name free agents to cover for previous mistakes or limitations.

While what the 76ers are doing, namely, tearing down a roster and abandoning any chance at winning now to stock talent for the future through lofty picks — two of those picks were injured beforehand and unable to immediately contribute — is objectionable to some. But it just might work, if general manager Sam Hinkie makes good decisions.

Philly isn't exactly small market. And because the Sixers' actions have been so blatant, it's fair to claim that what they're doing compromises the league's competitive honesty.

What the Jazz have done — and are doing — is slightly different. Caught in the no man's land of mediocrity, they had compiled a group of talented-but-untested young players. They didn't re-sign, at what would have been considerable cost, free agents Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. That has allowed more time and space on the floor for Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter, among others.

Now, the Jazz roster includes Favors and Kanter, both No. 3 picks, Gordon Hayward and Trey Burke, two No. 9s, Alec Burks, a No. 12, and Dante Exum, a No. 5. And counting …

At some juncture, they need a couple of stars to contend. It's mandatory. Whether any of the above players — or maybe Rudy Gobert or Rodney Hood — will grow into that remains an unanswered question. Some say it will be Burke, others Favors or Hayward. Some say none of those players will rise to an elite level. If not, the Jazz will have to go back to the draft for one or two more dip(s) into those waters. They might have to do that, anyway, even with the emergence of a star.

Perhaps, in addition, with the financial flexibility they have so carefully preserved, the Jazz can find specific favorable circumstances in which a willing trade partner needs to unload a valuable veteran because of money considerations. But with the NBA's new lucrative TV deal, who knows what effect that will have on an expanding salary cap and residual ramifications?

Regardless, no matter how much energy they find under the direction of Quin Snyder, how much sharing of the ball they do and how much transition defense they play, the Jazz need pillars, they need clutch topflight guys. Where will they come from? When will they arrive? Who will they be?

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM/1280 and 960 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.