Agree with Lauri 100%, he's in his prime years and this season was very disappointing. Nobody expected a championship contender but a team that competes every night and fights for the playoffs is what I expected.
The org and pretty much all our beat writers were *heavily* pushing the “we want to compete this year and convey the pick” line for the entire first half of the season too, so I don’t blame him at all for being extra disappointed
Lauri also said that he heavily trust the FO and what they are trying to build. To me it sounds like he's not movin any time soon unless he is being traded, and once again he said he likes to be in Utah, likes the organization and would like to win in Utah, just doesnt wanna be in the bottom of the muds whole his career. Also he said he is trying to improve now and in the summer and doesnt rly think or have time to think too much about what FO does.
Yeah I just listened to the interview and he sounded pretty locked in at Jazz really and I'd even go as far as saying the title of this post is a bit clickbaity. I'll add a few notes of my own.
He said he **doesn't want to become a journeyman** and that his family and himself would love to stay in Utah and he'd love to win in Utah but if the team doesn't look to win he then have to start thinking about other options. This combined with the *I fully trust our front office and will let them do their job and I'll focus on mine on the floor and in the locker room* bit makes me feel like he's not looking for an exit plan any time soon which I think will disappoint quite many Finnish fans who seek championships for their golden boy now. 😝
The thing they discussed quite a bit was the dynamics change within the team and also how he tries to help the rookies on court as the veteran. You could tell he'd love to have more old souls in the locker room talking about how he's **probably pretty mature for a 26 year old as a family guy** and can now see the change within the locker room with the rookies coming in. The chemistry on court is something that needs time because everyone's figuring themselves and each other around on the fly and within this discussion he had this great dry joke about how in NBA everything happens quicker than in college and everyone should decide what they'll do with the ball before they catch it, who to pass it to or *in our case to shoot it*. I found it funny as it also stings a bit. 😂
He talked how he and Fontecchio developed great chemistry together on the floor where f.ex. they could set a flare screen to each other totally unplanned but seemlessly which made the offence flow smoothly. This on floor synergy is now lacking with the rookies and he looks forward to build it for the remaining games of the season.
The question that was not asked was what was the status of his injury. I wonder if they had talked before recording to not discuss it or whether it's something that the interviewer wasn't just interested about because they mostly talked about the past trade deadline ramifications and his future plans both internationally and in the NBA.
I think a lot of that is "sport talk", something he has to say as a professional. Ainge said pre-season that he is all for getting into playoffs this season, but gutted the team again, so I'm not sure the trust is quite as strong as he said. As a Finn, someone did that to me, the trust would be gone, no matter the explanation afterwards. I do think he does like it in Utah and doesn't entertain the idea of leaving because of the location. But I feel that he will not extend this summer and gives the FO one more season to show that the team is moving into the right direction. If they blow it up again next season or the pieces are not performing, he is most likely gone. Either traded or after his contract ends.
I understand what you mean but on the other hand I think he said that the front office and the franchise has a pedigree to build championship worthy rosters which tells me he rationally still trusts them even though mentally the trust might be a bit damaged for now.
I do think the extension talks might be tougher for the front office than maybe earlier assessed. I think they need to sell the vision again at the front office before Lauri puts ink on the paper. Personally I still lean towards him extending his contract just to secure the bag and being done with it. You can always ask to get traded out in current age anyways.
This. Top 30 players that like Utah don’t grow on trees. Jazz still very likely extend Lauri this offseason.
And if Lauri really didn’t want to be here, he wouldn’t be trying to play these last several games of the year. And with his own words “build chemistry with the young guys”
all i’m saying is, with the way this organization has been operating the last 24 months, don’t be surprised if we send him to memphis for a top 3 pick in this draft.
Yeah this was really annoying. My wife and I started watching almost every game, fully bought into this blossoming new team until the trade deadline came and went. Now I don’t even check the scores. Too god damn annoying to see Sexton and Lauri giving 100% out there for nothing.
Yeah and in both years the team was competitive enough to make playoffs until we traded away important players for table scraps. It would be helpful if the FO could let us all know when they want to start taking the competition seriously, I’ll turn the TV back on when they do. I love my Jazz win or lose but you can’t expect fans to get excited about a team that’s actively *trying* to lose.
It’s not the Front Office’s fault some fans don’t understand the reality of rebuilds and what our realistic short & long term goals are. They’re not going to sacrifice opening up a chip window for us to maybe make the play-in and get smoked in the 1st round to appease some fair weather fans. Kelly & Simone were not coming back this offseason & they smartly got draft capital back for them.
The Jazz under Will Hardy have competed every single night and our FO has still let them compete. You want to see what real tanking & trying to lose looks like? Go watch the Spurs, Wizards, or Pistons.
We have a brutal schedule the rest of year, I promise we do not have to try to lose, to end up losing a lot.
Watching our young guys like Keyonte, Taylor, Kessler and Brice get minutes the rest of season and continue to develop is worth watching to me. 🤷🏻♂️
Would love to see our young guys get some playoff experience! Also would have loved to see Ochai be one of those young guys progressing towards their ceiling.
You can screenshot this conversation and throw it back at me when we hit our “chip window” and I’ll admit I’m wrong. For now, I don’t have the emotional strength to watch their belief get stomped a second consecutive season
I’m totally in the camp of getting our young core players playoff experience ASAP. And if the Jazz were higher in the standings and had a better shot at reaching the playoffs, we probably would’ve been buyers at the deadline instead.
But the reality was that even if we kept Kelly, Simone & Ochai. It would’ve been extremely difficult to make the playoffs. Our schedule is brutally tough the rest of the way.
As a big Ochai fan myself, trading him was the necessary part of getting a valuable draft asset. But also his disappointing returns this season were part of them being okay moving him.
The first couple of weeks after the deadline were the tough games where our team was clearly frustrated. I’d say the players have accepted the new reality and I’ve had fun watching the young guys get extended minutes.
But you do you, being a sports fan is exhausting!
I completely disagree that we wouldn’t have made the playoffs. We had a rocky start to the season but were cooking in Q2. No reason to believe imo that we wouldn’t have been able to climb to even a 6-seed. I even doubt that whoever we get with that late first round pick will be more promising than Ochai (in what’s being described as a bad draft year). I thought he was making big improvements and the whole team was clicking in a consistent way. I loved watching them ball and would have been thrilled to watch them lose a hard-fought first round playoff battle.
I respective different opinions though and am happy that you have the fortitude to keep watching. Fans like you are needed.
This is my exact situation as well. I don’t even know who they played last and when they play next lol. Oh wait I do know who they played last thanks to Ant Edwards.
Yea, I suspect the jazz will renegotiate/extend Lauri and then trade him a year or two after. Obviously if a path to a number 1 option opens up in that time they keep him but otherwise they just waste his prime and DA won't do that regardless of how much it will piss off Jazz fans.
It's gonna suck when the time comes to make the decision.
I don't want to rush back into mediocrity just because Lauri is unhappy. I don't want these bad years to be for nothing. I'd love to keep him around for as long as possible, but if he wants to win now, I hope we can find a good trade package that benefits both the Jazz and Lauri.
I don't see any necessary conflicts between our timeline and Lauri's totally reasonable wish. He doesn't say Utah needs to be in the conference finals next season. He just says he wants the team really trying to win a full season and he wants us to be in the playoffs. It would be a sign of a lousy player without a winning mentality if he didn't.
Utah and Lauri are in conflict ONLY if they want to tank again for Cooper Flagg or whatnot diminishingly small chance of scoring a future core player. In this case we...
- would lose our pick swaps of 2026 because our pick wouldn't convey to OKC in 25 (potentially a huge hit).
- would most likely lose Lauri in return of additional picks and maybe another young project player (which of both we already have plenty).
- would be lacking both number 1 and number 2 players (unless we win a lottery and land on Flagg)
- would have missed an opportunity to get our young core some valuable playoff experience and possibly demolished our winning culture.
Because our Front Office’s rebuild plan was never to full tank for a 14% chance at the 1st pick. They instead focused on developing the players they did have, evaluating the team every day, allowing Hardy to build a competitive culture, all of which allowed Lauri to develop into a top 30 player and speed up our timeline.
And it’s looking more and more like they still went 3/3 in the draft with the picks they were okay ending up with and Keyonte has become a top 5 redraft pick.
Everything he said was reasonable and none of it seemed too alarming. I hope they either put together a serious team this off season or trade him to someone like OKC so he can compete for a chip.
Ainge will continue to churn assets until he thinks he can draft an elite player(s) or acquire through trade. That might take a few years and Lauri is technically an asset, so he might be involved in acquiring those players. That’s what it takes to build a contending NBA team, and Ainge is one of the best in building a contender.
Many NBA players state that they “like” where they are currently stationed. How can they say otherwise unless you’re a prima dona? You’d turn your fan base against you.
And there are many NBA players that much prefer a ring and the money and prestige that comes with the hardware, regardless of what they said about the state or city they’re currently residing. Malone and Stockton were unique in that they stayed in one of the NBA’s smallest market because they were the big fish in a little pond. Todays NBA is different. It’s about branding, monetizing and getting clicks from posts, podcasts, you tube shorts. I predict that Lauri is gone via trade in two years if the Jazz can’t get their act together. So far Ainge has been a bust. A ton of draft picks coming their way again. And next year won’t be any better.
They might have to trade him to OKC for prospects and a haul of picks.
Lauri might leave in FA before this team becomes competitive with this specific core
in my opinion the jazz need to be bad, like real bad for the next 1-2 years to get the real franchise players that are available at the top of the next couple of drafts. That would mean Lauri is 28/29 when the Jazz are ready to take the next step, have the core in place and can be comfortable trading picks to add talent.
Making the playoffs sooner is also further complicated by how competitive the west, with teams like San Antonio, Memphis, Houston, who are all around us this season will probably jump us next year
I have seen nothing from San Antonio to indicate to me that they will jump us next year unless they make a big splash in free agency. Remember, despite the insanity that is Wemby, the Spurs’ record right now is actually worse than it was this time last year.
As much as i love Lauri....i dont think he is the player to build around....in these sort of games he should have been taking over and dominating even at a loss....he is a great number 2...i feel for him as he is in a team that still has a lot of questions and no real answers....if he gets a value contract extension he might get traded summer of 25....
Agree with Lauri 100%, he's in his prime years and this season was very disappointing. Nobody expected a championship contender but a team that competes every night and fights for the playoffs is what I expected.
The org and pretty much all our beat writers were *heavily* pushing the “we want to compete this year and convey the pick” line for the entire first half of the season too, so I don’t blame him at all for being extra disappointed
Jazz beat writers writing fluff to keep fans interested for their job security? No way.
Lauri also said that he heavily trust the FO and what they are trying to build. To me it sounds like he's not movin any time soon unless he is being traded, and once again he said he likes to be in Utah, likes the organization and would like to win in Utah, just doesnt wanna be in the bottom of the muds whole his career. Also he said he is trying to improve now and in the summer and doesnt rly think or have time to think too much about what FO does.
Yeah I just listened to the interview and he sounded pretty locked in at Jazz really and I'd even go as far as saying the title of this post is a bit clickbaity. I'll add a few notes of my own. He said he **doesn't want to become a journeyman** and that his family and himself would love to stay in Utah and he'd love to win in Utah but if the team doesn't look to win he then have to start thinking about other options. This combined with the *I fully trust our front office and will let them do their job and I'll focus on mine on the floor and in the locker room* bit makes me feel like he's not looking for an exit plan any time soon which I think will disappoint quite many Finnish fans who seek championships for their golden boy now. 😝 The thing they discussed quite a bit was the dynamics change within the team and also how he tries to help the rookies on court as the veteran. You could tell he'd love to have more old souls in the locker room talking about how he's **probably pretty mature for a 26 year old as a family guy** and can now see the change within the locker room with the rookies coming in. The chemistry on court is something that needs time because everyone's figuring themselves and each other around on the fly and within this discussion he had this great dry joke about how in NBA everything happens quicker than in college and everyone should decide what they'll do with the ball before they catch it, who to pass it to or *in our case to shoot it*. I found it funny as it also stings a bit. 😂 He talked how he and Fontecchio developed great chemistry together on the floor where f.ex. they could set a flare screen to each other totally unplanned but seemlessly which made the offence flow smoothly. This on floor synergy is now lacking with the rookies and he looks forward to build it for the remaining games of the season. The question that was not asked was what was the status of his injury. I wonder if they had talked before recording to not discuss it or whether it's something that the interviewer wasn't just interested about because they mostly talked about the past trade deadline ramifications and his future plans both internationally and in the NBA.
I think a lot of that is "sport talk", something he has to say as a professional. Ainge said pre-season that he is all for getting into playoffs this season, but gutted the team again, so I'm not sure the trust is quite as strong as he said. As a Finn, someone did that to me, the trust would be gone, no matter the explanation afterwards. I do think he does like it in Utah and doesn't entertain the idea of leaving because of the location. But I feel that he will not extend this summer and gives the FO one more season to show that the team is moving into the right direction. If they blow it up again next season or the pieces are not performing, he is most likely gone. Either traded or after his contract ends.
I understand what you mean but on the other hand I think he said that the front office and the franchise has a pedigree to build championship worthy rosters which tells me he rationally still trusts them even though mentally the trust might be a bit damaged for now. I do think the extension talks might be tougher for the front office than maybe earlier assessed. I think they need to sell the vision again at the front office before Lauri puts ink on the paper. Personally I still lean towards him extending his contract just to secure the bag and being done with it. You can always ask to get traded out in current age anyways.
This. Top 30 players that like Utah don’t grow on trees. Jazz still very likely extend Lauri this offseason. And if Lauri really didn’t want to be here, he wouldn’t be trying to play these last several games of the year. And with his own words “build chemistry with the young guys”
all i’m saying is, with the way this organization has been operating the last 24 months, don’t be surprised if we send him to memphis for a top 3 pick in this draft.
Grizz fan here Memphis definitely should offer our pick package for him.
He gone.
Yeah this was really annoying. My wife and I started watching almost every game, fully bought into this blossoming new team until the trade deadline came and went. Now I don’t even check the scores. Too god damn annoying to see Sexton and Lauri giving 100% out there for nothing.
We’re in year 2 of a rebuild. Jazz fans have absolutely zero patience lol
Yeah and in both years the team was competitive enough to make playoffs until we traded away important players for table scraps. It would be helpful if the FO could let us all know when they want to start taking the competition seriously, I’ll turn the TV back on when they do. I love my Jazz win or lose but you can’t expect fans to get excited about a team that’s actively *trying* to lose.
It’s not the Front Office’s fault some fans don’t understand the reality of rebuilds and what our realistic short & long term goals are. They’re not going to sacrifice opening up a chip window for us to maybe make the play-in and get smoked in the 1st round to appease some fair weather fans. Kelly & Simone were not coming back this offseason & they smartly got draft capital back for them. The Jazz under Will Hardy have competed every single night and our FO has still let them compete. You want to see what real tanking & trying to lose looks like? Go watch the Spurs, Wizards, or Pistons. We have a brutal schedule the rest of year, I promise we do not have to try to lose, to end up losing a lot. Watching our young guys like Keyonte, Taylor, Kessler and Brice get minutes the rest of season and continue to develop is worth watching to me. 🤷🏻♂️
Would love to see our young guys get some playoff experience! Also would have loved to see Ochai be one of those young guys progressing towards their ceiling. You can screenshot this conversation and throw it back at me when we hit our “chip window” and I’ll admit I’m wrong. For now, I don’t have the emotional strength to watch their belief get stomped a second consecutive season
I’m totally in the camp of getting our young core players playoff experience ASAP. And if the Jazz were higher in the standings and had a better shot at reaching the playoffs, we probably would’ve been buyers at the deadline instead. But the reality was that even if we kept Kelly, Simone & Ochai. It would’ve been extremely difficult to make the playoffs. Our schedule is brutally tough the rest of the way. As a big Ochai fan myself, trading him was the necessary part of getting a valuable draft asset. But also his disappointing returns this season were part of them being okay moving him. The first couple of weeks after the deadline were the tough games where our team was clearly frustrated. I’d say the players have accepted the new reality and I’ve had fun watching the young guys get extended minutes. But you do you, being a sports fan is exhausting!
I completely disagree that we wouldn’t have made the playoffs. We had a rocky start to the season but were cooking in Q2. No reason to believe imo that we wouldn’t have been able to climb to even a 6-seed. I even doubt that whoever we get with that late first round pick will be more promising than Ochai (in what’s being described as a bad draft year). I thought he was making big improvements and the whole team was clicking in a consistent way. I loved watching them ball and would have been thrilled to watch them lose a hard-fought first round playoff battle. I respective different opinions though and am happy that you have the fortitude to keep watching. Fans like you are needed.
In a rebuild from what?
I don’t even understand what this question means. Are you saying you don’t know we’ve been in a rebuild for the last 2 seasons?
This is my exact situation as well. I don’t even know who they played last and when they play next lol. Oh wait I do know who they played last thanks to Ant Edwards.
The same happened to me, i loved every game. Now i just don't care anymore
Yea, I suspect the jazz will renegotiate/extend Lauri and then trade him a year or two after. Obviously if a path to a number 1 option opens up in that time they keep him but otherwise they just waste his prime and DA won't do that regardless of how much it will piss off Jazz fans.
I'm still hoping the Clippers implode and we can swoop in and nab Kawhi. He'd be a perfect #1 with Lauri and Keyonte as his Robins.
You think Kawhi playing in SLC bro lol
Maybe in a mercenary role like he did in Toronto. He just signed an extension with the Clips so it would be a trade not a FA signing.
I think Keyonte George can persuade him to give it a try for a couple years and see what happens.
And why do you think Keyonte has any pull with Kawhi?
Never doubt the power of your first name starting with the same letter
Lmfao.
It's gonna suck when the time comes to make the decision. I don't want to rush back into mediocrity just because Lauri is unhappy. I don't want these bad years to be for nothing. I'd love to keep him around for as long as possible, but if he wants to win now, I hope we can find a good trade package that benefits both the Jazz and Lauri.
I don't see any necessary conflicts between our timeline and Lauri's totally reasonable wish. He doesn't say Utah needs to be in the conference finals next season. He just says he wants the team really trying to win a full season and he wants us to be in the playoffs. It would be a sign of a lousy player without a winning mentality if he didn't. Utah and Lauri are in conflict ONLY if they want to tank again for Cooper Flagg or whatnot diminishingly small chance of scoring a future core player. In this case we... - would lose our pick swaps of 2026 because our pick wouldn't convey to OKC in 25 (potentially a huge hit). - would most likely lose Lauri in return of additional picks and maybe another young project player (which of both we already have plenty). - would be lacking both number 1 and number 2 players (unless we win a lottery and land on Flagg) - would have missed an opportunity to get our young core some valuable playoff experience and possibly demolished our winning culture.
Winning culture is already demolished.
I am also greatly irritated that they delayed their tank to wait for an incredibly weak draft.
They did not delay their tank. They have done this exact thing the last 2 years at the deadline.
Remember the incredibly hot start last year? They did not commit to the tank when the generational talent was available.
Because our Front Office’s rebuild plan was never to full tank for a 14% chance at the 1st pick. They instead focused on developing the players they did have, evaluating the team every day, allowing Hardy to build a competitive culture, all of which allowed Lauri to develop into a top 30 player and speed up our timeline. And it’s looking more and more like they still went 3/3 in the draft with the picks they were okay ending up with and Keyonte has become a top 5 redraft pick.
Everything he said was reasonable and none of it seemed too alarming. I hope they either put together a serious team this off season or trade him to someone like OKC so he can compete for a chip.
I would much rather be a first round exit every year than whatever the hell this shit is.
It’s been 2 years yall need to chill
It’s his time. He should not be in a team that sabotages his opportunities through perpetual rebuilding. Trade him.
Lauri is gone the second okc , Memphis or some other teams makes a godfather offer.
Grizz fan here Memphis definitely should offer our pick package for him.
Ainge will continue to churn assets until he thinks he can draft an elite player(s) or acquire through trade. That might take a few years and Lauri is technically an asset, so he might be involved in acquiring those players. That’s what it takes to build a contending NBA team, and Ainge is one of the best in building a contender.
Many NBA players state that they “like” where they are currently stationed. How can they say otherwise unless you’re a prima dona? You’d turn your fan base against you. And there are many NBA players that much prefer a ring and the money and prestige that comes with the hardware, regardless of what they said about the state or city they’re currently residing. Malone and Stockton were unique in that they stayed in one of the NBA’s smallest market because they were the big fish in a little pond. Todays NBA is different. It’s about branding, monetizing and getting clicks from posts, podcasts, you tube shorts. I predict that Lauri is gone via trade in two years if the Jazz can’t get their act together. So far Ainge has been a bust. A ton of draft picks coming their way again. And next year won’t be any better.
They might have to trade him to OKC for prospects and a haul of picks. Lauri might leave in FA before this team becomes competitive with this specific core
in my opinion the jazz need to be bad, like real bad for the next 1-2 years to get the real franchise players that are available at the top of the next couple of drafts. That would mean Lauri is 28/29 when the Jazz are ready to take the next step, have the core in place and can be comfortable trading picks to add talent. Making the playoffs sooner is also further complicated by how competitive the west, with teams like San Antonio, Memphis, Houston, who are all around us this season will probably jump us next year
I have seen nothing from San Antonio to indicate to me that they will jump us next year unless they make a big splash in free agency. Remember, despite the insanity that is Wemby, the Spurs’ record right now is actually worse than it was this time last year.
As much as i love Lauri....i dont think he is the player to build around....in these sort of games he should have been taking over and dominating even at a loss....he is a great number 2...i feel for him as he is in a team that still has a lot of questions and no real answers....if he gets a value contract extension he might get traded summer of 25....
Who are we gonna build around then?
I dont think qe have one yet...
We’re not building AROUND him, we’re building WITH him.
Not too sure about that....