The Utah Jazz are a curious case in the greater mixing bowl of the NBA. They’re now belly-deep into a rebuild that began 2 seasons ago when the new CEO of basketball operations scanned his team and firmly declared, “Hold my non-alcoholic beverage” before tearing down their Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell All-Star core to start over from scratch.
The landscape of the NBA is typically broken into three equal, yet distinct sections. Not all NBA teams are created equal, and as every season commences, we find teams across the league begin to filter into 3 divisions.
At the top, you have your contenders; these are the squads with championship aspirations and a roster that they believe is capable of reaching the mountaintop. These teams are often the home of an all-star or two, with plenty of playoff experience. Some of these squads may be what you could call “pretenders”, but they’re championship-minded nonetheless.
In the middle, we have the aptly named section: “The Middle”, and as much as it pains me, I’ll abstain from making a sitcom reference here (My apologies to Atticus Shaffer). Whether they’re on the rise, slipping down the standings, or stuck in NBA limbo, these are the teams that won’t be winning the championship this season but are just too good to go all-in on the tank. This is a dangerous place to be in basketball—many have found themselves stuck here for years—but it’s a necessary stepping-stone toward joining the contenders.
Advertisement
Last and least, we have the teams that have gone full tank mode. Accumulating assets and sending prayers to the lottery gods are these teams’ M.O. Each squad has some promising talent, but is simply too young, too underdeveloped, or too incompetent to rise out of the pit of bottom-dwellers.
Advertisement
These tier lists seem to be all the rage nowadays, and I think I found the perfect one to illustrate my point.
In the ranks of the tanks, jostling for position is the prime objective. In a nutshell, to lose is to win, and a battle to lose better than your peers becomes the motivating factor in order to obtain the best odds for the upcoming draft.
Utah has embraced the tank at the perfect time as you could make the argument that 13 of the 15 Western teams have shifted to “win-now mode”. As we stand, the Jazz are rivaled only by Portland in the dive toward the bottom of the standings. Like the lake challenge of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, each party is actively exploring ways to gain an advantage to reach the bottom faster than the others.
The Jazz’s front office has received some recent heat for its lukewarm approach toward roster construction—too good to bottom out, too bad to contend for a playoff spot. The massive shadow of the 2025 NBA Draft class is beginning to loom over the Salt Lake Valley and the Utah Jazz are certainly locked into a single result: the coveted top 5 picks of the upcoming draft.
With names like Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, and V.J. Edgecomb gaining traction, securing a pick in the top 5 spots of the lottery seems to be a “can’t-miss” opportunity (though I would argue there’s no such thing as a bust-proof prospect). For the Jazz, locking into a favorable draft spot has everything to do with how Utah handles business throughout the regular season.
Advertisement
Forming the Ensemble
Keyonte George flies down the court during the Salt Lake City Summer League.Getty Images
Advertisement
The NBA Draft is a crapshoot, and it always has been (or do I need to remind you of names like Enes Kanter, Dante Exum, and Trey Lyles?). For a rebuilding team, the only hope your squad has to avoid becoming a perennial loser is by drafting well and developing young talent—especially for a small market team like Utah, that won’t attract the attention of top free agents.
Over the past two seasons, this Jazz team has consistently surpassed preseason expectations. A number of factors have been speculated to directly impact Utah’s success, including Lauri Markkanen’s emergence as an All-Star and Will Hardy’s impact on the team, but I believe that even with The Finnisher playing at the peak of his powers, this team can command the tank in the right direction.
Discounting the incoming players for a moment, as Dwight Shrute was born to be Belshnikel, this Utah Jazz roster is built to be bad. Following the All-Star break in February, the Jazz were a horrific 5-21. That certainly leans impish over admirable, and I believe that Utah can carry that negative momentum into this season.
Hendricks and Sensabaugh are still acclimating to the NBA game, and with three rookies in Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier, and Kyle Filipowski all looking to rack up NBA minutes, the Jazz are assembling an ensemble of youth that may stumble out of the gate but could spark a glimmer of hope for the coming years.
Advertisement
Fortunately, as I will emphasize several times throughout this article, to lose is to win for the rebuilding Jazz, and a top 5 pick is the prize.
This team is also populated by players whose games don’t serve winning basketball. With no disrespect intended, when the back end of your roster is filled in by the likes of Talen Horton-Tucker, Luka Samanic, and Drew Eubanks, you’re in peak position for a season of sadness. My sincerest congratulations!
Emphasis on Youth
Though the Jazz have been caught in the 9-10 range of the draft lottery, early returns from the young core have been promising and indicate to the Jazz faithful that this team is fully capable of drafting well. Keyonte George has shown flashes of brilliance in his rookie season in Utah, and all three of Utah’s incoming rookies are showing tremendous potential.
In an interview with ESPN700, Jazz insider Tony Jones of The Athletic shared some insight on Utah’s shift toward favoring youth over experience.
Spence asks Tony what he believes the Jazz rotation will look like next year in order to prioritize the young guys
“Well the number one thing is Walker Kessler becomes the starting center and John Collins comes off the bench”
To build a team’s foundation on youth above experience is a risky proposition, but in putting the focus on developing young talent, growing pains are sure to tally up the loss column.
As we’re on the topic of Walker Kessler, seeing John Collins eat into his playing time was eating into my soul. Even in an uneven year for Kessler, he boasted the second-highest average of blocks per game in the NBA, behind only the unearthly wingspan of Victor Wembanyama. With the statement from Tony Jones that Kessler would take priority over Collins in Utah’s rotation, I could hear the jubilation in the streets as Jazz nation rejoiced.
Youth is the core of Utah’s focus, so be prepared to see some sloppy basketball. Growing pains may be unbearable at times, and just as the Wizards and Pistons suffered last season, so too must the Jazz suffer to improve their lottery odds.
I for one am incredibly giddy to see Williams, Collier, and Filipowski improve through the course of the 82-game NBA season, and I expect George, Hendricks, and Sensabaugh to build upon their solid rookie seasons. Sure, the future of the Jazz likely lies on these players’ shoulders, but Utah can afford to miss on a prospect occasionally as long as they retain their war chest of draft capital.
Advertisement
Markkanen’s Future
Lauri Markkanen looks on dramatically as the Jazz tangle with the Orlando Magic.Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images
Advertisement
Of course, uncertainty surrounding Lauri Markkanen’s future with the Jazz has headlined trade rumors since the offseason began, and the shape of the Utah Jazz in the coming years likely hinges on Markkanen’s presence—or lack thereof.
Recent reports indicate that Lauri intends to re-sign with the Jazz, though he may wait until after the August 6th window to ensure he can’t be traded during the 2024-25 season.
Lauri has really taken to Utah. His family has taken to Utah. Obviously the Jazz can trade him between now and Aug 6th, and Lauri knows that, but Lauri has forged a really close relationship to Will Hardy. And Will [Hardy] has really found a way to unlock his career. -Tony Jones, The Athletic
First of all, I’d like to point out how refreshing it is to see a player of Markkanen’s caliber openly enjoy living in Utah. Markkanen and the Jazz have been a wonderful tandem, and with every passing day, the chances that the front office ships Lauri to another team decrease with every passing day and I think that’s a positive for the Jazz.
The most significant question mark surrounding the Jazz is Markkanen’s impact on team success. He’s proved in the past that a Finnish scoring avalanche can be enough to drag his team to wins, but those results are counterproductive to the central objective of the team. I doubt Lauri’s feelings about Utah would be tarnished by a losing environment—two years into a rebuild and he seems as happy as ever—but finding the perfect balance of Markkanen’s brilliance and youth development won’t be an easy task for Coach Will Hardy.
Advertisement
I could agonize over every possibility for 1,000 more words, but I’ll spare both of us by wrapping this up on a positive note. At the moment, the Utah Jazz rebuilding process is right on schedule. With a batch of promising young prospects and a star to build around in Lauri Markkanen, this team will have plenty of fun moments throughout the season. Though it will likely be a “fun” team to watch from time to time, it won’t be a winning team, and I believe that this Jazz squad has a high chance of fighting for the 15th spot in the Western Conference.
The tank is on, and the Jazz have the supplies and artillery to inspire hope of a bright future in Utah. Let me know what you think.
Like many utilities in the Trump era, Rocky Mountain Power is pulling back on its renewable energy plans. But more than a dozen Utah communities are taking matters into their own hands.
About 300,000 homes and businesses will soon be part of a novel, bottom-up program to bring new clean power to the state’s fossil-fuel-heavy grid. The Utah Renewable Communities initiative allows city and county governments to offset their electricity use with 100 percent renewable power, backed by a $4 monthly bill surcharge.
“There’s no other program available to our residents that is this affordable or this impactful to Midvale’s environmental and economic future,” said Dustin Gettel, mayor of the Salt Lake City suburb of Midvale.
Advertisement
Midvale is set to vote Tuesday on whether to join 15 other communities that have signed up ahead of an enrollment deadline next week. Three other eligible communities have opted out, although one may reconsider.
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and The Salt Lake Tribune, a nonprofit newsroom in Utah.
A sprawling, 40,000-acre data center planned for northern Utah has stirred up controversy across the state over the past month, partly because of the pollution it’s expected to contribute to a region that already struggles with smog.
Officials with the quasi-governmental Military Installation Development Authority, or MIDA, which approved the project and created tax incentives to spur its development, have become de facto cheerleaders for the data center campus, called the Stratos Project. They say Kevin O’Leary, the Canadian TV personality and the main backer of Stratos, specifically selected a remote valley north of the Great Salt Lake because a gas pipeline runs through it.
The plant that will generate electricity for the data complex would be powered “100 percent off the Ruby Pipeline,” a MIDA official said in April.
But after weeks of protests, reams of comments against the project, and disgruntled Utahns digging into state leaders’ finances and family businesses, the state’s Republican governor has now asserted the project will “never” be solely powered by natural gas.
Advertisement
“That’s never going to happen,” Governor Spencer Cox told The Salt Lake Tribune last week. “The very first phase will be natural gas, but the other phases should not be. They should be nuclear, and they should be geothermal, and solar and other technology.”
The proposed Stratos Project is light on details so far. O’Leary has said that at full build, it will be one of the biggest data centers in the world, as large as Washington, D.C. Scientists, environmental advocates and some residents have raised alarms about the impact that the project — and the possibility of a massive natural gas plant to power it — could have on air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and water supplies near the shrinking Great Salt Lake.
According to some estimates, a 9-gigawatt power plant entirely powered by natural gas could raise Utah’s carbon emissions by 64 percent. Although it’s still unclear how much water the facility would need, the project’s developers have said they’re working to secure 13,000 acre-feet in Hansel Valley and the surrounding area, which is mostly agricultural. That’s enough water to meet the needs of more than 20,000 households in Utah.
The north end of the Great Salt Lake and Hansel Valley, the planned site for the Stratos Project.
Trent Nelson / The Salt Lake Tribune
Opposition to the proposal has been intense. A water right filed to support the data center and power plant received nearly 4,000 letters of protest this month. Opponents held a rally at Utah’s Capitol last week and delivered a letter to Cox with more than 6,000 signatures urging him to take “binding action” to preserve the Great Salt Lake instead of issuing platitudes over social media.
During a news conference on Wednesday announcing a geothermal partnership with the neighboring states of Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, Cox acknowledged problems with the rollout of the Stratos Project in Box Elder County, saying future decisions like it should involve his office and elected representatives.
Advertisement
“There’s no question, the process was not good,” Cox told reporters. “It’s something I’ve worried about for a long time with that entity that made that decision.”
Cox appeared to be referring to MIDA, a development authority ostensibly meant to fund projects to support the military. Its biggest developments in recent years, however, include a hotel at the Deer Valley luxury ski resort and a swanky ski village. MIDA officials and other Stratos supporters have called the project a matter of national security.
“That was not a decision that was made by me or the Legislature,” Cox said. “In the future, those are decisions that should be made by us, so that we can do these types of things ahead of time to make sure people understand what’s actually happening out there. That did not happen, and it should happen.”
When he made his comments, Cox was hosting the final workshop in his “Energy Superabundance” initiative as chair of the Western Governors Association, part of a broader push that complements his “Operation Gigawatt” goal to more than double Utah’s energy production over the next decade.
Electricity use across the country has held relatively steady for decades, but a surge in demand for artificial intelligence computing and data centers is putting a strain on the electric grid. That’s left Western states scrambling to build new energy supplies.
Advertisement
At the same time, public skepticism toward large data center developments appears to be growing, particularly over concerns involving water use, noise, energy costs, and pollution.
“It feels like the future is here,” Cox said during his opening remarks at the workshop. “It’s coming quicker than people asked for, and there are so many amazing things that can come from that future, and some pretty awful ones as well.”
Read Next
Utah’s fragile desert could feel like the Sahara if America’s biggest data center gets built
Cox has also pushed for faster permitting timelines for large energy and infrastructure projects, arguing that environmental review processes often take too long. “This whole idea of being rushed — I’m so tired of our country taking years to get stuff done,” he said in April. “It’s the dumbest thing ever. We think that taking time makes things better or safer. It absolutely does not.”
Advertisement
Last week, Cox struck a more measured tone as criticism of the project continued to mount. “One of the things people are worried about, and rightfully so, is air quality,” he said in a brief interview as he left the workshop. “That’s a yearlong [permitting] process. … We’re not speeding those up. Those are really important, and we want to make sure that things are done the right way.”
Earlier this month, O’Leary, who was featured on the reality show “Shark Tank,” also seemed to suggest that renewables could help power the Stratos Project. He described other technological advances — such as turbines cooled with air rather than water — before turning to the natural gas power causing a stir.
“We can also put a percentage of the power generation through solar, wind, and batteries, because the battery technology is 10x more efficient than it was just five years ago,” O’Leary posted on X on May 5. “So that’s very helpful, because it makes the cost of energy lower.”
But he stopped short of fully endorsing renewables for his project.
Logan Mitchell, a climate scientist and analyst with Utah Clean Energy, calculated that a 9-gigawatt natural gas power plant will produce around 35 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year. By comparison, the entire state of Utah generates 55 million metric tons annually, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. So the Stratos Project could raise Utah’s emissions by about 64 percent.
Advertisement
“That’s massive,” Mitchell said. But it could be even more, because his estimate didn’t account for “any additional methane leakage” from piping and using the natural gas, he said.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25553945/2160913233.jpg)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25554139/2041453746.jpg)
