The noise is loud and getting louder. Those criticizing the Utah Jazz for, as one well-known commentator recently put it, “messing around with the integrity of the NBA,” and, further, calling for the league to “put the hammer down” on the Jazz as a matter of punishment.
Puh-leeaasse. I’m no homer, never have been, but they just don’t understand.
That commentator, ESPN’s Bobby Marks, along with others should cut the BS here, or at least be consistent by spreading it toward every team that’s ever tanked. There are and have been many, tank you very much.
Are the Jazz tanking? Or trying to tank, as a means of preserving their first-round pick that they’ll lose to Oklahoma City if they’re not bad enough this season? Are they resting prime players in the fourth quarter who aren’t all that tired, hiding behind the curtain of young player development?
Yes, yes, and hell yes. No big surprise there.
They’re doing what they should. They’re doing what they’ve half-heartedly attempted to do in years gone by, always struggling with that integrity thing pricking their conscience. Why? Because the Jazz had remnants of their competitive heritage still deeply embedded in their souls. Jerry Sloan and Larry Miller were nowhere in sight, neither were John Stockton and Karl Malone, guys who would lay their bodies down on the road and let you drive a Buick over their kneecaps before they would willingly lose games or sit out of them or manage their loads on account of a bruise here, a mosquito bite there. Those teams won, won a lot.
The Jazz, no longer in a favorable position to win, finally got past all that last season, previously having had a lousy team, but not lousy enough to finish with the NBA’s worst regular-season record. At last, they achieved that goal, leaning in on Lady Luck, depending on her to get them the top pick. Instead, she punched them in the lips, laughing at their pain, as they ended up with the fifth overall pick of the 2025 draft.
Now, they’re at it again, trying not to forfeit that first-round pick in a draft that this time promises to provide a good number of talented youngsters, one of which would almost certainly bolster their cause, if they don’t punt that opportunity away to OKC, a team that needs no additional opportunity.
As mentioned, some folks outside the franchise are whining about the Jazz’s plan, crying about them taking advantage of a system the NBA put in place long ago. It should be underscored that after the Jazz traded away three All-Stars a few years back, all in the name of rebooting by way of future draft picks and a couple of emerging players, they could win some games, but not enough to make the playoffs, only enough to stay in the NBA’s dead zone, where it was unlikely for them to get a top lottery spot. That’s when the Jazz fully understood what they had to do. As they bumped and skidded, most everyone around here wondered what the hell the grand scheme was for the Jazz to lift themselves out of the mess that had been created.
From there, the story unfolded.
A week or so ago, as they’d pulled back on the reins, rested established players, developed a few young guys, they traded first-round picks and other assets to land Jaren Jackson Jr., an especially targeted player who was still young, who could score points and, more importantly, help a defense that had stunk up arenas around the league for the better part of two seasons. When they got him, and a few other helpful additions, why … my, my, my … look at what was sitting on the front porch now: Lauri Markkanen, Jackson, Keyonte George, a recovering Walker Kessler, Ace Bailey and more.
A real team.
What they needed and still need is that first-round pick in 2026 to round out, at long last, a promising playoff team. Hence, the last elements and evidence of the tank. After this draft, that’s a term that will not be heard around these parts for years to come.
Those who claim — whoa, what’s this? — that the Jazz in so doing are undermining the integrity of the game haven’t paid attention not just to the system the way it’s been set up in the NBA for years, but also so many other teams that have utilized a similar lose-to-win strategy. If the Spurs hadn’t done that to get Tim Duncan, there’s a good chance that Gregg Popovich wouldn’t be the acclaimed former coach that he is. And if the Thunder hadn’t worked the system, they wouldn’t be the loaded-up team they are now. A number of teams that came and went in between, such as the Philadelphia “Trust the Process” 76ers, have attempted to work the system.
It’s not their fault, just like it’s not the Jazz’s fault. They were and are kicking up dust off the dirty road that potentially leads to a chance at basketball immortality. That meandering path is particularly important for teams in non-destination cities, mid-market teams that often labor unsuccessfully to lure in the kind of glamorous free agents that more advantaged teams in more advantaged locations more often get.
Nobody should be lecturing the Jazz about competitive integrity or the lack thereof. We’re talking about a franchise that has punched above its weight for coming up on half a century now, winning a boatload of games, winning a lot of playoff games, without hoisting Larry O’Brien’s trophy. They came close a couple of times in the late ‘90s, only to have their hearts torn out and away from them by the Bulls and the best player in the history of the game.
Don’t be crying foul about a team that has tried and tried and tried to win and win and win and a fan base that has stayed loyal to that team, year after year after year, hanging tough through even the most painful of defeats. Question: Were any of these sudden whiners moaning about all those Spurs championship teams back in the day, the ones that were so boosted, so thankful for their blessed tank? Their championship trophies are theirs. Try as the Jazz have, their trophy case remains empty.
The Utah Jazz, then, appear near ready, with good health and good fortune, for a relaunch and re-entry into playoff contention. Maybe. Their rebuild, while muddy, muddled and befuddling at times, has not and will not besmirch the integrity of the league, not really, not in any lasting way. It will extend a proud legacy of a team — and a deserving fan base — that has fought and competed, and, in those efforts, honored the NBA better than most.
