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SALT LAKE CITY — Last Monday night, Dennis Lindsey and Justin Zanik sat in the front row of Vivint Smart Home Arena smiling, laughing and enjoying the scene of basketball being back in Utah — if only for a few days.
The smiles should be wider when things really begin in October.
The two Jazz executives have created a stir this offseason. It’s been felt through the entire NBA and has risen the expectations of a proud fan base to heights that haven’t been seen since the days of John Stockton and Karl Malone.
First, they traded for Mike Conley. Then they agreed to a deal with Bojan Bogdanovic. Then Ed Davis committed to coming to Salt Lake. Soon enough, Jeff Green and Emmanual Mudiay were agreeing to sign — on minimum deals, no less
When was the last time the Jazz signed someone as significant as Bogdanovic? When was the last time they were truly contenders? When was the last Jazz team to have this much talent?
Fourteen years ago? Twenty years ago? Ever?
The Jazz have often been referred to as perennial playoff contenders. And in a way, it was a backhanded compliment. The team was good — heck, they might even be good enough to win a round in the playoffs — but the team was never seen as a serious threat to actually win a title.
In two weeks, that’s all changed.
The Jazz have been transformed from an interesting team with some fun pieces into a Finals contender — if not one of the favorites.
Two months ago, Lindsey, Utah’s newly promoted executive vice president of basketball operations, sat at a podium trying to put the season in perspective.
“We sit up here today, while disappointed not defeated,” Lindsey said.
The Jazz made a calculated move last summer. The 2017-18 squad had overachieved. Donovan Mitchell became a rising star, Rudy Gobert was the best defender in the league and the season had long winning streaks and a first-round upset win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
It made sense to roll it back. It didn’t turn out the way many had hoped. A first-round exit, even to a strong Houston Rockets team, was a tough pill to swallow. But the disappointing end to what was once a promising season provided some benefit. It gave the Jazz brass a clearer understanding of just what the team needed moving forward.
“We've had quite a few opportunities to say yes (to free agents),” Lindsey said in April. “But the opportunity cost hasn't been worth the production cost.”
He was referring to individual players. But when it came to opportunity, he may as well been talking about the team as a whole.
In past offseasons, the players on the market — at least the ones the Jazz could lure to Utah — may have been some well-known names and ones who could score, but would they really be worth the cost? Would they really have pushed the team to a championship-level tier?
“A lot of times we have to lose the press conference,” Lindsey said. “I have to take the bullets. ‘‘Here we go again — patience, and this and that. For us, we would rather look at it fundamentally that what would have you guys get off my back for a period of time.”
It’s been patience that has led to what has arguably been the Jazz’s best offseason in franchise history.
Fundamentally speaking, the Jazz weren’t ready to contend last season — or the season before that or the season before that. With the way, Golden State has lorded over the Western Conference, save for LeBron James choosing to come to Salt Lake City, the path to the Finals seemed to always begin with the end of the Warriors’ dynasty.
That’s not a defeatist attitude as much as a realistic one. The Jazz didn’t want to handcuff themselves to deals that would prevent them from truly contending when the time became available.
That time has now come. It’s not a coincidence, they had so much flexibility to alter their roster this summer. They’ve longed planned for it.
And with all the data they’ve collected over the last two seasons, there wasn’t much guesswork about what they needed to do to improve their roster to be able to contend in the new West.
They had to get more shooting. They needed another playmaker. They needed more versatility on offense. They had to add more depth. They’ve checked all of those boxes. And now they have the added benefit of luring another piece or two with the promise of contending for a title.
Utah is no longer playing the waiting game. Lindsey may have felt like he has lost some press conferences in the past, but when the deals for Conley, Bogdanovic, Davis, Green, and Mudiay become official, the Jazz are going to win some.
“We are confident we can continue to move the group forward,” Lindsey said before all the moves were made. “We are not far away.”
It’s been a long time since they’ve felt this close.
