A Case Study of NBA Teams

     I'm back baby!

I've been taking some time off of writing as I've been in the lab cooking some stuff up that I'll be excited to announce in the next couple of weeks! But I've been extremely annoyed with Jazz fans online.. There's A TON of bitching and moaning about where the Jazz are at in their rebuild currently. I don't think that Jazz fans understand just how good they have it and why the position that we're in is actually a positive (even though we're losing a ton and will continue to do so). With that being said I have two NBA teams that I want to examine because I think they perfectly exemplify what I have been saying about the Jazz and why we as fans need to take a breathe and settle in. 

First up--The Chicago Bulls. 

The darlings of the NBA in 90s. Michael Jordan came into this bottom feeder franchise and completely turned it around. Now he didn't do it alone and really didn't take the team anywhere until they drafted Scottie Pippin and put real pieces around them. They then dominated the NBA for basically all of the 90s, much to the chagrin of the Utah Jazz. But once Michael left, the Bulls tried really hard to hang out to some relevancy, but it never worked out. In the 1997-98 season, the Chicago Bulls had 62 wins. They won the championship that year and they completed a second three-peat. Absolutely unbelievable achievement. That kind of achievement would lead to success in the next season, right? WRONG! The Bulls had 13 wins! 13!! Granted that season didn't start until February because of a lockout, but still. They finished the year with a .260 win percentage, that is abysmal. From the 1998-99 season until the 2010-2011 season, the Bulls finished above .500 TWICE. They then proceeded to go on a nice run with the Thibs/Derrick Rose pairing. Even then they never really did anything (and I am sad everyday about Derrick Rose's ACL tears ruining his career arc). That team was a failure and the Bulls were back to being bottom feeders. In 2021 the Bulls made a pretty nice splash signing DeMar DeRozan and Lonzo Ball with a few additional pieces. Adding talent around Zach Lavine who was already on the team. That looks like a team that wants to compete, right? WRONG AGAIN. Injuries have definitely played a role in their demise but this team is bang average. They make the play-in tournament for the playoffs but don't actually sniff the real playoffs. Their owner and front office seem content to pay some money, not a lot, and be just good enough to pretend like they are a piece or two away. STUCK in mediocrity. 

    This is the scenario that many Jazz fans online are looking for. A 'competing product' on the court. No chance in actually being great but enough to get close to the playoffs. This is not what we want, I promise you. Listen to Bulls fans talk about their team, the front office, and their ownership. Its a disaster in Chicago with not much to look forward to. 

Next up--The OKC Thunder.

Beginning their franchise history in Seattle and then moving to Oklahoma City, the Thunder enjoyed fairly quick success. Kevin Durant become the most lethal scorer in NBA history, Russel Westbrook was a triple double, high energy type of player, and James Harden was the perfect third piece. They had solid players around the core of those 3 but they couldn't get over the line, going as far as losing to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. NBA fans know the story, Durant left to join the Warriors, Westbrook went on a crazy tear of triple doubles, and Harden left as well. There was a fairly steady decline in the Thunder record to the point where they became bottom feeders. They took on crazy or expiring contracts for tons of draft picks. This allowed them to make moves and draft extremely well. From 2021-2023 they finished in the bottom half of the standings only once and then they jumped to the top of the Western Conference standings in 2024. 

    This is the path that the Utah Jazz want to be on. They need to suck for a while, get a little lucky with the lottery and then build around the team. I've said it before but the way that small market teams need to build contenders is through the draft, compiling assets and making trades to put pieces around stars.  No free agent star is going to come to Utah. Its just a fact. We are the exact same as Oklahoma City, just with Mormons and Mountains.

If we want to be a contender again, we need to lose for a while and that's going to suck, but I am a firm believer that the front office, and owner, that we have in place are going to put us in a position to get there. Miss me with all that bullshit about Ryan Smith only putting money into byu too. Danny Ainge put the Celtics into contending positions, TWICE, after sucking for a while. He can do it again as more people find out that Utah rocks. We'll get there Jazz fans, I promise you.