The Utah Jazz have embraced the tank since mid-November. After starting the season surprisingly well, the team continued more or less the same strategy as last season. There has been a recent change: playing the first three quarters against their main guys, then using the reserves for the last.
They did this a few nights ago in their game against the Atlanta Hawks (thanks for the assist, Jock Landale!) and then did it again against the Orlando Magic. In both games, the Jazz controlled much of the game until benching Lauri Markkanen and co, allowing their opponents to take the game back.
It’s a new way of fueling that essentially keeps the Jazz out of trouble with the NBA by having their best players active, allowing them to still lose games in hopes of keeping their picks and getting the best ones possible.
And yet all the Jazz get from this is a backlash. Everyone hates how clear Utah’s plans are. Their strategy is blatant because they want to lose these games, despite the fact that having JJJ on the team would pretty much throw them into a play-in battle if that’s what they wanted to do.
But why? This is just the way of life in the world. Teams may be executing their strategies differently, but it’s still tanking. There is an honorable way to throw away the season. Every NBA team knows this and the league itself has tried to address this problem, and even if they have tried to mitigate the problem, it will never go away.
People who say what Utah is doing is disgusting aren’t wrong, but the bottom line is there’s nothing they can do about it. The only consolation they have is that the Jazz will stop doing this once the season is over.
Will more teams follow the Jazz’s blueprint?
So the Jazz keep players like Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. no longer sitting out of matches due to injuries they call up. Instead, they play them, but only enough to meet the competition before it’s time to refuel.
Gross? Yes. Brilliant? Also yes. And so don’t be surprised if other teams in the same stadium do the same. If there’s a loophole to avoid league punishment for tanking, other teams will grab it, and Utah has essentially found it.
They were encouraged to do this because they were fined for it last year. Even though it was just a slap on the wrist (it was more of a tickle), Utah didn’t want to go through that again, so they do what they’re doing now.
More and more teams are moving into a new era, like Memphis and Dallas, so don’t be surprised if until the NBA does something about it, don’t be surprised if they start implementing this particular tanking strategy.
#Backlash #Jazz #tanking #stupid