Patrick Kinahan: Tanking far from finished for Jazz

SALT LAKE CITY — With a touch of bravado, Austin Ainge definitively declared the Jazz were done tanking games for the sake of improving draft odds.

"You won't be seeing that this year," Ainge said during his introductory press conference in June after being named the team's president of basketball of operations.

For much of the last three seasons, Jazz management seemed comfortable stacking losses with an eye toward draft positioning. After trading away All-Stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, the plan was to rebuild through stockpiling a slew of draft choices.

In time, as those draft picks developed into actual talent on the team, intentionally losing would cease. For some reason, with his bold statement, Ainge went against conventional wisdom.

Recognizing the painful nature of rebuilding for a proud franchise that made the playoffs from 1984 to 2003 during the lengthy careers of John Stockton and Karl Malone, the Jazz have no choice but to pile up the losses this season. After all, drafting well is the most logical way to compete for a championship.

As Jazz fans know full well, the team needs to finish no lower than eighth in the lottery to keep its first-round pick in this June's draft. Through a trade involving Derrick Favors, the Oklahoma City Thunder own the pick if it is ninth or worse.

Two games beyond the midway point of the season, the odds favor the pick staying with the Jazz. As it stands, they have about 95% chance of keeping the pick and close to a 35% to move up into the top four in the lottery.

Team executives have privately admitted the Jazz need to keep the pick, meaning the best path forward is to lose. Even if it goes against the foundation of competition, the only way to get there is to sit the best players.

Starting at the top, bench Lauri Markkanen for as many games as possible without drawing the ire (not to mention fines) from commissioner Adam Silver. The league fined the Jazz $100,000 in March for sitting Markkanen, who played in a career low 47 games last season. Far from an iron man, Markkanen has yet to play in more than 68 games in any of his prior eight seasons

The fine, which amounts to pocket change for multi-billionaire owner Ryan Smith, was well worth the money. Although the Jazz dropped to fifth in the lottery, finishing with a franchise-worst 17-65 record allowed them to draft potential star Ace Bailey.

Listing illness as the reason, Markkanen has missed the last four games. Not coincidently, minus their leading scorer who is playing at an All-Star level, the Jazz are on a four-game losing streak going into Tuesday night's home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Using the recent slate as a barometer, the plan appears to be resting veterans in more winnable games. The Jazz can get the best of both desires by playing Markkanen and still losing to Minnesota, which is vying for a top-four seed in the Western Conference.

Against the potential lottery bound Dallas Mavericks in back-to-back games, the Jazz removed any doubt about their desire to tank by sitting multiple veterans. Usual starters Jusuf Nurkic and Svi Mykhailuk joined Markkanen on the bench during the two losses to the Mavericks, who are 3.5 games ahead of the Jazz in the standings.

In addition to the benefit of losing, the positive is the opportunity for the youngsters to get more playing time. The starters in recent games include no players older than age 22 (Keyonte George and Kyle Flipipowksi) and one teenager (Bailey).

The top reserves were Brice Sensabaugh, Taylor Hendricks, and Walt Clayton, each of whom is 22 years old. In his third season, Sensabaugh has hit his strike by averaging 25 points over the last five games.

Related topics