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SALT LAKE CITY — Danny Ainge was hired in Dec. 2021 as the CEO of the Utah Jazz, and the following month the team went 4-12. It gave the experienced NBA vet a clear early assessment of where his new franchise was at.
"I wasn't sure how good the Jazz were going to be. I was curious and optimistic," Ainge said Monday, following the official announcement of the Donovan Mitchell trade. "But what I saw during the season was a group of players that really didn't believe in each other — like, the whole group. I think they liked each other even more than was reported, but I'm not sure there was a belief."
Ainge gave the team the benefit of the doubt for the rest of the regular season, and thought they might turn it on when the playoffs came around. But the switch never flipped.
The Jazz lost in the first round to the Dallas Mavericks, which included two losses at Vivint Arena — one of which was to a Mavericks squad missing its MVP Luka Doncic.
"You can see in a team that has a true belief in having each other's back or a belief in one another. I think individually they had resolve; I just don't believe that collectively they did," Ainge said. "And so we'd see a lot of players trying to do it on their own, as the belief for one another wasn't as great as teams I've been on and around. They're certainly not the worst team; I'm just saying that I just didn't see that (belief)."
Danny Ainge expands on what he saw in the collective resolve of last year's Jazz squad, says some players "tried to do it on their own." pic.twitter.com/AQHYaykEyK
— Caleb Turner (@calebturner23) September 12, 2022
The 2022 playoff exit marked six-straight postseason appearances for the Jazz without making the Western Conference Finals, three were first-round exits. As general manager Justin Zanik put it Monday, the team was "tapped out from a potential standpoint."
"The biggest thing for us is opening up a window to compete for a title," Zanik said. "And give credit to the ownership, the organization, the community and the support that we've had over the last few years as we basically put every resource towards trying to accomplish that — and we fell short."
Zanik said the team reached a "touchpoint" in its NBA lifecycle and decided to "pivot" by trading away its two superstars Rudy Gobert and Mitchell to "give the organization every opportunity to build the greatest base of flexibility, young players and assets going forward to make really good decisions, so that we could reach the ceiling that we want to get to."
What's the ceiling Zanik and Ainge are shooting for? Bringing an NBA championship to Utah.
"It's going to take a lot of work," Zanik said. "But we're really excited about the base that we're starting from, especially with our new coach and the players that have come in, and just the opportunities that are going to be available going forward."
Oklahoma City Thunder & Utah Jazz BOTH have FIFTEEN first round picks over the next 7 NBA drafts. #TheFuture 😳 pic.twitter.com/OuBDLQsV61
— NBA Buzz (@OfficialNBABuzz) September 5, 2022
New head coach Will Hardy was handed a new franchise and a clean canvas to work with — 12 of his players are 25 years old or younger, and the team has 14 first-round draft picks over the next seven years. The 2023 NBA draft features two generational talents in Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson, and Ainge said Monday the 2024 draft class might be even better.
Three of the team's new young prospects came from Cleveland in the Mitchell trade: Collin Sexton (already signed by the Jazz to a new four-year-deal), Finnish 7-footer Lauri Markkanen and Kansas standout Ochai Agbaji.
With two All-Stars gone and a slew of youngsters joining the ranks, Zanik said several of the veteran players met up with the new players in an "open gym" Monday. He said there was a "really good vibe and excitement in the gym."
So while players like Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson and Bojan Bogdanovic remain on the Jazz and are helping the new players acclimate to the team, Zanik said the conversations and transactions surrounding them are "fluid" and ongoing. There's no guarantee the three veterans will be on the Jazz come opening night, but it remains a possibility.
"All of those guys are high-character leaders: people that enjoy being here in Utah and love the organization, love the community and made roots here. So there's value to that," Zanik said. "Our jobs are to put the organization on the best footing, and that can include those veteran guys as coach (Hardy) implements his program.
"It's going to be a culture of hard work. They all have leadership qualities and mentorship capability. We're happy to have them and continue to help our team grow."
