NBA Players Can’t Decide Where to Rank Utah Jazz Organization
The Athletic just released their anonymous player poll this morning, a piece put together by Sam Amick and Josh Robbins that pertains to the view of the players on the current state of the association.
The poll entails 158 athletes in the NBA, including at least one athlete from every team.
It’s a great read giving fans an inside look at where players view the state of the league and their peers around them all while speaking and voting truthfully under the cloak of anonymity.
For example, the poll asks “who is the most overrated player in the NBA?”
Well, out of 158 players, 14.4 % of them voted Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton as the most deserving candidate.
Sure, that’s only 13/90 players polled but he still came out on top.
Former Jazz man, Rudy Gobert, clocked in at 2nd.
Most underrated? Detroit’s Cade Cunningham.
How about an inside look at who player’s view as the MVP?
Those polled seem to lean heavily into Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 87 of 155 voters giving him the nod.
But it’s not all about the players, the organization's are on the questionnaire as well, asking what franchise is the best and which is the worst.
For the Utah Jazz, they somehow managed to make both categories.
Utah came ranked as the tenth best organization, garnering 2.2 % of the 137 votes, AKA a total of 3 votes.
Yes, it’s a far cry from the 30 players who dubbed Golden State the best organization in town, but it could be much worse.
Despite the worst record in the NBA, The Jazz outpaced franchises like Dallas, Indiana, Memphis, Minnesota and Orlando all of whom are playoff/play-in teams from this season.
9 Teams including the New York Knicks, Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans were amongst those not gathering a single vote for best organization, bumping Utah even further up.
Of course, pertaining to teams that didn’t receive a single vote for best organization, many of them were featured prominently in the “worst organization” category.
The Charlotte Hornets took the cake with 38.1 % of 113 total votes (voter count was down as some players feel they weren't informed enough to trash on organizations.)
2nd place was reserved for the Washington Wizards absorbing 20.4 % of the results.
Both the Hornets and Wizards stand next to Utah as the three worst teams in the association, but the Jazz are still well received it would appear.
Well, mostly well received.
Utah did get a vote or two for worst organization totaling 1.8 % of votes, meaning that someone must have let Trey Lyles participate on the poll.
If we put all our stock into a poll featuring 158 of 540 possible players, In typical Utah Jazz fashion, the team is stuck somewhere in the middle.
Like Ricky Rubio said “never too high, never too low”.
There is something to be said about finally having your worst season in franchise history while still being viewed as a franchise that is as competent and capable as most playoff teams.
That’s worth something, and the way that Utah continues to navigate the murky waters of rebuilding will make all the difference when it comes to where the Jazz will rank in future player polls.
As of now they simultaneously hold the 10th spot as both the best and worst organization in the NBA based on The Athletics survey.
If things go right maybe next year they can be 9th best and 11th worst.
We can only hope.
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