SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz organization is just over 20 games into the Dante Exum era, just over a season into the Trey Burke era, just getting into the maturing stages of the Enes Kanter and Alec Burks era, just past the rookie contracts of the Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward era.

Or are they just past the Tyrone Corbin era? Stop me, now, please.

Jazz fans have been waiting on draft picks to build this roster since Kevin O’Connor agreed to send Ben Handlogten and Keon Clark to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Tom Gugliotta, a 2004 first round pick, and a future unprotected first rounder.

That unprotected pick began the Gordon Hayward era. That trade occurred on Feb. 19, 2004, more than a decade ago. It’s been a long era.

And yet, amidst a slow start to the 2014-15 season, a season that looks doomed to a sub-30 win outcome, a season that is the culmination of all of these previous eras, Jazz fans will be asked to be patient, again.

And rightfully so.

In the modern NBA, winning rarely comes to young teams or young stars. Kevin Durant didn’t win his first playoff series until his fourth season in the league. LeBron James, the unanimous chosen one, the greatest player to enter the league since Michael Jordan, didn’t reach the Eastern Conference Finals until the fourth season of his career. He didn’t win a Finals game until the eighth season of his career.

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Winning cures everything, at least for a while. In the midst of an extensive losing streak, the Jazz were looking for something positive against the Orlando Magic, especially after a blowout loss to the Toronto Raptors Wednesday.

Currently, these are the two best players in the NBA, and both took time to earn their reputations as winners.

This is to make no mention of Chris Paul or Carmelo Anthony, two of the NBA’s top players, both on the second teams of their careers, and their third contracts, neither having reached the Conference Finals.

It’s a long process, and Jazz fans need to realize that.

On the flip side, Jazz fans have given this organization time in the form of several rebuilds since John Stockton and Karl Malone left, money in the form of season tickets, and support in the form of high attendance numbers. The fans are now deserving of a better team.

This roster is comprised of five lottery picks in the starting line-up, two of them top three picks, another two are top 10 picks, two of them with max, or near max contracts. The bench has three more first-round draft picks, and none of them are winning.

This isn’t the players’ fault alone.

The Jazz front office decided to let a veteran All-Star in Paul Millsap, and an All-NBA Center in Al Jefferson walk, and received only cap space in return. Both have rewarded their new teams with trips to the postseason.

This team’s offseason featured Joe Ingles, fringe NBA player Toure’ Murry and rarely used specialist Steve Novak.

These aren’t winning moves by the Jazz organization, and some of that is by design. The team has tried to avoid adding long-term contracts, choosing to hold onto cap flexibility, a potential asset for small market teams. But why?

Which piece is this Jazz organization saving cap room for? Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Alec Burks have all been paid. Dante Exum and Trey Burke are several years from needing contract extensions, and the jury is out on whether Enes Kanter earns a second contract in Utah. The Jazz will be $30 million under the luxury tax limit going into next season, where will that money be spent?

While the Jazz can’t fall into the trap of spending money just to spend, a sure-fire way to land yourself in mediocrity for years to come, there is little value in saving money, never to make a big splash in free agency or on the trade market.

Jazz fans have been asked to remain patient, and for good reason, building a good thing takes time. They’ve held up their end of the bargain. For the Jazz, the Ben Handlogten era ended a long time ago, when does the next great era start?

Ben Anderson is the co-host of Gunther in the Afternoon with Kyle Gunther on 1320 KFAN from 3-7, Monday through Friday. Read Ben's Utah Jazz blog at 1320kfan.com, and follow him on Twitter @BenKFAN.

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