Hell and heaven.
That’s what the initial part of the Jazz’s current offseason has been for them.
And heaven doesn’t come easy or cheap. But then, neither did hell.
Dowsed and spinning in the contrails of their playoff loss to the Clippers, soaked as it was not just with a general disappointment stemming from their own unfulfilled potential, but also in seeing other teams move into the slots of opportunity left vacant by them, the Jazz since have done exactly what they intended to do.
They’ve regrouped.
They’ve made moves.
They’ve calmed jangled nerves.
They’ve been willing to spend money, to go on paying big salaries, taxes and penalties, to take a chance on a talented-but-risky rookie and add veterans to a team meant to win even more … like, now.
They reeled back in Mike Conley. They sent Derrick Favors packing. They agreed to sign Rudy Gay and Hassan Whiteside. They drafted Jared Butler. And thus far, they’ve resisted sending/dumping Joe Ingles — and his $13 million-a-year contract — to the City by the Bay. Oh, and they traded for one of Donovan Mitchell’s best buddies, childhood friend Eric Paschall.
What does it all mean?
It means this: They’ve held onto the ground they’d already won and are looking for more ground to gain.
And this: Ryan Smith is a mean mother who means business.
Everyone should know how competitively disheartening that playoff loss was — for the Jazz as a franchise and, in particular, for Mitchell, the team’s blossoming star. It sent almost every Jazz player, every coach, every executive, every owner into a funk.
That’s what happens when a team emerges out of the crowded pack to win — for the first time in forever — more games during the season than any other NBA outfit. The unexpected grows into the expected. And that expectation builds and builds and builds, day by day, week by week, month by month, win by win. And when defeat hits, knocking down what had been built, in the form of four straight losses after taking a two-zip series lead … well, debris spills here, there, everywhere.
It especially fell hard on and around Mitchell, who absorbed elimination via an emotional course that any fan would hope for out of their team leader, but went much farther than just that. It blew three freeway exits past dissatisfaction, straight into frustration, the kind of frustration that causes distress.
All of that has simmered down, helping the Jazz put back together the basic elements of what pushed them to teetering heights in the first place.
Priority No. 1, as has been discussed on and on, was always to get free agent Conley back in the fold. That had to happen. The difficulty presented by his tricky hamstring, a difficulty that in large measure caused the wrecking ball to swing on the Jazz against the Clippers, had to be forgotten, if not ignored.
Without their veteran quarterback, the Jazz were going to take a giant step backward. Anybody who thought differently wasn’t paying attention during the creeping struggles afflicting the Jazz during Conley’s late regular-season absence. Simply slipping Ingles into the role of offensive initiator wasn’t going to work enough.
Not to mention the sacrifices the Jazz made to acquire Conley just a couple of seasons prior, including giving up two first-round draft picks, would have gone unfulfilled.
Conley had to be retained, even at 33, and he was, signed to that lucrative three-year deal, paying him upward of $25 million per season. For the point guard, it was a pay cut, but a reduction that in the flow of cash in the modern NBA seemed fair in both his own direction and in the Jazz’s.
How that deal will look two years from now, nobody’s sure. But an individual as conscientious as Conley would put in — one figures — the effort to do what’s necessary to preserve himself, as much as is humanly possible.
Either way, his return settled Mitchell and, really, all the other Jazz fixtures.
They do not have to begin again.
Given their complex financial restrictions with the newly inflated contracts of Mitchell and Rudy Gobert and the team’s ongoing presence in the luxury-tax realm, escalating penalties and all, the Jazz could not have replaced Conley with anything close to what he brings.
What they’re left with is fairly straightforward, with one option that could get complicated.
The Jazz have said they got the guard they wanted in the draft — Butler — who fell to them on account of medical conditions, to the extent that they could back up in the draft and gather in a couple of second-round picks in the process.
Whether that was a smart move or a convenient spit-and-polished-up one will be determined in the years ahead.
In addition, the Jazz utilized their aforementioned mid-level exception, limited though it was on account of their penalty-paying status, to get Gay, a player who offers positional flexibility at both ends of the floor, exactly what they lacked against the Clips.
Picking up Whiteside for the vet’s minimum to back up Gobert could be a wicked, wise move. Although the shot-blocking big has had some ups and downs, it wasn’t that long ago that people around the league — Whiteside and Gobert among them — were beating each other up over which of the two was the planet’s best low-post defender. Whiteside might seem to have a lot of rings around the trunk, but, in reality, he’s only three years older — 32 — than Gobert, who is 29. The addition of Paschall from the Warriors gives the Jazz a young, powerful forward who is versatile and shoots better than his numbers show. Just as significantly, his presence further specifies Mitchell.
The Jazz’s other remaining option, a nuclear one, is for them to trade a portion of their core for a better portion, if they can find it. Good luck with that. Trading partners typically want as much in return as they’re giving away. Doesn’t always work out like that, there are periodic steals to haul in, but … teams typically don’t get snookered by giving up treasure for trash.
What exactly would they get for Ingles, if those trade rumors were to be realized? It would have to be something more than salary relief, what with them being as close to their lofty goal as they are.
And that last part is important, directly in their view.
The Jazz, then, have achieved mostly what they’ve wanted to achieve since elimination.
There’s more, though.
As distressed as Mitchell was — and all the members of the Jazz were — after the playoff loss, two more items come into play moving forward for them to find their fulfillment.
One is just dumb luck, at least after everything possible is done to ensure proper physical preparation and preservation by the medical staff. The Jazz must stay healthy. If there’s a way to prevent tweaked hamstrings and twisted ankles on two of their three All-Stars, beyond crossing fingers and paying vast tribute to the basketball gods, the Jazz should give it, take it, use it, pray for it.
The second thing lands in the lap of Mitchell and Gobert. They are the team’s best players. They are the ones being paid a combined $400 million over the next fistful of years. They are the ones who must learn what they’ve needed to learn in the past and apply it in the seasons ahead. They got their deals, they’ve received playing privileges from the Jazz. Now they have to continue to improve in nuanced — substantial and not theatrical — ways.
Toughness. Poise. Clutch play. Leadership.
They must be what they always talk about wanting to be.
Playing effectively at both ends is a decent place to launch anew.
Winning an NBA championship is ridiculously hard. Everybody gets that.
But the Jazz aren’t that far away.
What the Bucks did with Giannis, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday could be accomplished by the Jazz with Mitchell, Gobert and Conley, but a lot of it depends on … yeah, Mitchell, Gobert and Conley. Assorted help, too. And the kind of good fortune that blows in the wind — stuff like Kevin Durant’s big toe being on the 3-point line at a critical moment in a huge game.
How great the Jazz can be individually, collectively, attitudinally, offensively, defensively is up to them. Having the best record in the regular season obviously isn’t as important as what happens in the postseason, but it isn’t nothing at all. It shows that the Jazz are a couple of whispers away.
It indicates that the line between heaven and hell, between hell and heaven, is, indeed, a frighteningly and amazingly and encouragingly thin one.
GORDON MONSON hosts “The Big Show” with Jake Scott weekdays from 2-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone.
Follow @GordonMonson