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SALT LAKE CITY — Darrell Griffith knew the area where the Zions Bank Basketball Campus now sits. But for the former Utah Jazzman, it wasn’t where he went to practice. It was where he went to buy furniture.
Griffith was selected second overall by the Jazz in the 1980 NBA Draft. The team had been in Utah for just a season and was a young organization with an unsure future. There wasn't a state-of-the-art practice facility. And there certainly wasn't the same type of money — for the players or for the franchise.
“We wondered if the team was going to make it,” Griffith said.
Then came John Stockton and Larry Miller, then Karl Malone and Jerry Sloan. The Jazz became The Jazz. On Wednesday, the Jazz celebrated its 40th season since moving to Utah by wearing throwback purple jerseys. It was a night to celebrate the past.
Friday night, with Gordon Hayward returning to Vivint Arena for the first time since leaving Utah, provides the chance to look at the present and future. And both are connected.
“The day he decided, whatever, made his decision, all of Utah thought the world was going to end,” Joe Ingles said.
That may be a bit dramatic, but only a bit; it was a dark day for Jazz fans. Hayward was the All-Star, the face of the franchise and fans had even funded money to have billboards placed around the Salt Lake Valley petitioning him to stick around.
But the Jazz had been through dark times before, much darker times. Times that Griffith saw first hand.
“I came here at the lowest point,” Griffith said. “We won 20 games, we won 22 games. It was tough times when I first got here.
"Multiple different people owned the team, wanted to buy the team or we were going to move to Vegas," he added. "There were a lot of things going on. From a players standpoint, we were wondering about the stability of the franchise.”
Welcome back, Gordon. pic.twitter.com/02WhVVeZaw
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 9, 2018
Larry H. Miller helped change that.
Miller bought 50 percent of the team in the spring of 1985 and helped ease some of the organization’s financial troubles. Griffith credited Miller’s, and later his family’s, commitment to the team for the turnaround the Jazz had. Everything fell into place: Stockton, Malone and Sloan had Hall-of-Fame careers, establishing a culture that still permeates through the organization today.
“They built a culture, and we want to keep doing it,” said Ricky Rubio who was a Stockton admirer growing up in Spain. “They set a tone.”
Before Miller took control of the franchise, Griffith admitted he wondered what was going to happen; the same thing many fans wondered the day Hayward left. The Jazz still had Rudy Gobert, what looked to be an exciting rookie in Donovan Mitchell and a team built around a strong defense, but could they reach the same heights without Hayward? By the end of the 2017-18 season, the answer was a resounding YES!
Gobert was the best defensive player in the league while leading the NBA's best defense. Mitchell proved to be a revelation. And the Jazz did what they have been doing for the better part of 40 years — figuring out a way to make it work.
“Credit to the organization for being able to bring in pieces kind of last minute,” Ingles said. “Draft well, free agents — I think we got Thabo (Sefolosha) and Jonas (Jerebko) that year — and recently with trading for Jae (Crowder). We were able to build and keep getting better. As an organization and as a player we’re very happy with where we are.”
Ingles pointed to the Jazz’s player development as a reason they were able to handle the blow of losing Hayward. Ingles has become one of the best role players in the league and Royce O’Neale went from undrafted journeyman to playing key minutes. Gobert has added more and more to his offensive game and Mitchell has become one of the most exciting young players in the game.
“Especially in the five years I’ve been here, it’s just gotten better and better every year,” Ingles said of the development staff. “For us as players, it’s easy to come in here and come to work and work your hardest. The commitment they have to player development and making individuals better makes our team better in the long run. It's second to none, I believe.”
For Jazz coach Quin Snyder, the summer Hayward left wasn't much different than any other offseason. A player left, a team changed, adjustments needed to be made. Snyder actually said that this last offseason, with the vast majority of the team returning, provided more challenges.
“To be honest, for me, this past summer, I spent more time thinking of potential adjustments and chewing on different things and ways I felt like we could be better and things that I wanted to make sure I didn't compromise or change because I did have more information on the team,” Snyder said.
“We’ve moved forward from two years ago, we’ve moved forward this year, we'll move forward the next year, I think that’s what you have to do to maximize the group you have.”
In short, the Jazz have long moved on.
“I hope he is happy,” Gobert said. “We are happy here.”
