Context: Season ticket holder since 2021…watch most games live…huge fan for 35 years…opposed the Jazz trades of Rudy and Donovan…felt we gave up too early on that pairing…hate the idea of tanking due to infrequency of it working, but have tried to be open-minded about the possibility it’s the best thing…more concerned about putting consistently entertaining team on the court than winning an NBA championship…would take incredible luck in Utah IMO…just like to compete and see if we can get lucky one year…that’s my fandom.

Throughout the offseason, I’ve been trying to convince myself that the Jazz should tank. After watching each of the Summer League and preseason games, I think that would be bad for their future AND almost impossible. My thoughts on why:

* Flattened lottery odds greatly reduce the likely payoff of tanking. Those odds are significantly worse than the Duncan days. It’s a bad bet.
* The 2025 class looks solid, but overrated to some analysts. There are real questions about whether even Flagg is an All-NBA level player. Read Sam Vecenie’s latest mock draft at The Athletic for more on this.
* Lauri, Sexton, Walker are clearly players who help teams win games.
* If the Jazz compete for a playoff spot with a ten-man rotation led by Lauri (27), Collins (27), Colin (25), and Walker (23) with five other rotation players 20 years old or younger and then one older veteran in Clarkson, that would be a team with a very bright future considering the stacked West.
* George, Williams, and Kessler all have significant upside. Keyonte could top out as a solid starter, but he could also top out as an All Star. If you haven’t watched the Jazz yet, his growth from last year is the biggest story.
* Go ahead and trade Collins and Clarkson if you can. The advanced stats would say neither of them really add to winning so for those in the tanking camp, keeping those two is probably a good thing.
* Colin Sexton is awesome.

So that’s where I’m at. Let the kids play and let the chips fall where they may. We could still be really bad, but I’ve seen enough so far to believe it would be bad for their development and the Jazz locker room to restrict winning with fake injuries and faulty minute distribution.