The Utah Jazz can have their cake and eat it too

The Utah Jazz have to keep their pick this season. It’s a non-negotiable. Ending this season without a top-8 pick with a 10-15 roster that, even with some impressive wins, is not a credible contender for the championship.

That said, they have a chance to get there if they keep this pick and keep this roster together. But it’s going to take the Jazz taking control of their team’s future. And that likely means some drastic moves that ensure the team doesn’t win games they likely would have had they just played to win.

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And that will be the most applauded move by the entire fan base.

Last night’s game showed us that the Jazz understand the importance of the pick. Not playing Svi Mykhailiuk, Kevin Love, and Jusuf Nurkic. The difference between what the Mavericks did last night and the Jazz? They rested their second most important player. For Utah to get to where they need to go, they have to do the same thing.

Yes, it’s unsavory. Yes, the system sucks, and we all wish it weren’t this way. But in basketball as in life, you can only control what you can control. For the Jazz, they can control who they play and how long they play. And the rewards will be massive. Utah has a core of young players who are developing into something special. The Jazz need one more top pick in the lottery to build around, and they can credibly argue they are building towards something. Just like the Dallas Mavericks did with Anthony Davis not playing against the Jazz, Utah needs to rest their second-best player, Lauri Markkanen, when they play against below .500 teams for the rest of the season.

This will allow Keyonte George to continue playing and enable Ace Bailey to receive prime development at the small forward spot. There is no downside to this plan, and it will assure the Jazz keep their top-8 pick this year, a pick that has the potential to change the franchise forever.