Quote:
MONSON: Jazz's Flaws Expose NBA Flaws
By Gordon Monson
Salt Lake Tribune Columnist
So, a guy comes up to me the other day and asks: "Do you think the Jazz can do it?"
"Do what? Trade for the rights to draft LeBron James?" I ask back.
(Blank stare.)
"No," I continue, figuring he means, "Can the Jazz win a title?"
"Why not?" he responds. "They're only a couple of games back."
"Make it a couple of hundred," I say. "No way they zigzag through Dallas, Sacramento, San Antonio or the Lakers in the playoffs."
"That's my point," he says. "Do you think the Jazz can catch Portland for the fifth spot in the Western Conference standings so they play Minnesota in the first round? Maybe they can take the T-wolves."
Oooooh. Anybody wanna shout?
This, then, is what the Jazz's world of fret has evolved into: Can they scramble to finish fifth in their half of the league so as to duck the Mavs, Kings, and Spurs when the playoffs open?
How far have Karl Malone and John Stockton fallen?
Such a piddling concern reflects one major flaw with the Jazz -- they're not that good -- and two defects with the NBA -- 1) the regular season is little more than an overextended, overwrought rip-off that, during an 82-game period, offers nothing other than a general indication of who the best teams are; and 2) the playoffs are too comprehensive, allowing in teams that have no real shot at a championship and that, more importantly, haven't earned anything over those 82 games to properly gain admission to a title run.
Of those last two, one flaw begets the other.
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http://www2.sltrib.com/jazz/Main/Sto...2003&NUM=43331
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Do you see the Jazz situation the same way?
I have to admit that this team has 0 chance to win it all, but I think they can start to build their new team in the next off-season.
MONSON: Jazz's Flaws Expose NBA Flaws
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