Ryan Smith Might Be One of the Best Owners in Sports

     I have to preface this by saying that it might be overkill and I recognize that there are going to be some glazing accusations but...I DON'T CARE. Ryan Smith deserves more credit than he is getting. A brief look at headlines during the timeline since buying the Jazz to today will not look good. He has received criticism for dismantling the Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell team and of course the rebranding disaster. Both of which were fair criticism. The Jazz team with Gobert and Mitchell were consistently near the top of the standings in the NBA and the chemistry with the team was really incredible, until the end. The rebranding was a complete and utter disaster from start to finish. There were very few fans, but there definitely were some, that actually were on board with the minimalist uniforms. 

    But here's where I think Ryan Smith needs some credit, on the non-basketball side of things. He listened to the fans. It was really hard not to because they were LOUD, but he still listened. He recognized that the fans were unhappy with the entire situation. How often does a professional sports team owner admit that they were wrong and change course? Never. I think that's a bigger deal than we would like to talk about. Not to mention all the work he was doing behind the scenes to bring NHL hockey to Utah! The team name and uniform criticism he gets is completely unfair, to me. That's something he has no control over. 

    When you don't like a team's swag, and that team isn't a good team--it's extremely difficult to continue supporting that team. The Jazz have had unquestioned loyalty over the past like 60 years. 292 straight sellout games and for at least 80 of those, the Jazz have not been competitive let alone good. I'll be honest, since the dismantling of the Gobert/Mitchell team, I pretty much checked out as a Jazz fan. When they rolled out the black and yellow rebranding, I was completely out. I've come back around on that thinking and come back to the Jazz because I realized that I was the definition of a far weather fan. I didn't love that so he were are, back again. Which leads us to the rebrand of the rebrand that was announced in the Spring. OH MY GOSH did they get it right. The 90's mountain jerseys are not universally beloved, and I think that stems more from bad memories than an actual dislike of the uniforms, but I think universally that fans like the Jazz branding more when they're purple. Which is exactly where we find ourselves with the Jazz. They are leaning fully into the purple mountains branding. A newly improved mountain look on the uniforms, starting next year, and 'Mountain Basketball' as their new calling card slogan around the team. 

    The uniforms are incredible. Starting next year they will roll fully out due to NBA and Nike rules on uniform changes but God bless 'em, the Jazz found a way around it. They are keeping their home whites all year but the black and yellow statement jerseys will be gone about halfway through the season and replaced with a jaw dropping black uniform that has background faded mountains and purple accents. Those will stick around for next year. The real disappointment is that the new city edition uniforms are only sticking around for one year. They are a more modernized version of the 90s mountain jerseys that we have come to know. They are spectacular and I wish they were the new jersey standard but we can't have everything I guess. Starting next year the jazz home and away jerseys will have more of gradient lined mountain type of jersey. They still look awesome and they are a futuristic take on the mountains. I like them a lot, I just like this years mountain looks better. All around this has been an awesome rebrand of the rebrand. Ryan Smith doesn't get enough credit for listening to the fans and finding a way to get them excited for the upcoming seasons, which are going to be rough. Will Hardy is an incredible coach but this roster just isn't great. A youth movement is hopefully going to be the focus for the team this year which will lead us into a high lottery pick (fingers crossed). But like I said, watching a bad team is SO much easier when you are actually on board with how swag looks. Critics will say something to the effect of they'd rather watch a good team in bad uniforms than a bad team in good uniforms but to them I say BAH HUMBUG. It's okay to have a team that is swagged out. Nothing wrong with solid fashion choices. 

Photo Credit: ESPN.com

    On the basketball side of Ryan Smith's tenure as governor of the Utah Jazz, it hasn't been great. Steadily declining records and dismantling of teams. Honestly I don't think that is all on him. He gets a lot of the blame for when things go poorly, which is just part of the job as the owner of anything. Where he has gotten it right is hiring the correct people to run the operations side of things when it comes to the Jazz. Their front office is quietly one of the better front office's in the NBA. Headed by Danny Ainge who was and is the architect of the modern Boston Celtics. If you listen to him talk about his tenure as GM of the team, he will say that prior to making the trades to get Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, they had a longterm plan in place to get back to winning. That plan changed quickly when the Celtics eventually put together the 2008 Championship team. He also helped to create the current Celtics roster that just won the Championship last season. They got there by losing, a lot. People forget how bad the Celtics were for a few years. They made moves to put themselves in the position that they are in now but they couldn't have done it without tanking. Utah is not a free agent desitination. When people get here they usually love it but from the outside, it's not gonna be near the top of any free agent's list so we have to work through the draft and that requires a whole bunch of losing. 

    The problem is simply that the Jazz have been trying to have it both ways for too long. I've talked about it before but they go into the trade deadline in a playoff spot before trading away all the veteran good players in favor of draft picks and then they start losing. To have a chance at a generational talent at the top of the draft board, you have to lose a lot more than just the 2nd half of the season. I think the Jazz are set up to do that, assuming they fully lean into the youth movement and let the young guys develop. It's going to be a while before the Jazz become competitive again but if you've been a fan long enough, you'll know that the Jazz don't often stay bad for long. They've got the right people in place to be successful, they just need to get to the top of the draft boards and then build from there. It's going to be a long couple of seasons for the Jazz but I really believe that in the next few years we will be competing again. Gone are the days of free agent building super teams, hopefully. Building through the draft and then adding pieces is the new model and I believe that's where the Jazz are heading. Bright days are ahead, it'll just take awhile before we really see the end of the tunnel.