Utah Jazz
When you think of the Utah Jazz, the three names of Karl Malone, John Stockton, and Jerry Sloan often come to mind — and rightfully so. Those three were the main reason a small market team like Utah was able to have such deep playoff runs in 1997 and 1998.
But even after Malone and Stockton retired, the Jazz continued to have tremendous success in the draft, while also dealing with multiple setbacks in the process: they gave Sloan possibly the second best — if not the best — point guard in the league at the time, in Deron Williams, only to have tensions between him and Sloan force the front office to break up the roster, a few seasons later.
Seventy to 80 percent of front offices wouldn’t have been able to recover from this massive setback. After all, talents like Williams and Sloan don’t grow on trees.
In spite of this, the Jazz went on to hire a member of the Spurs family tree, in Dennis Lindsey, and their scouting staff continued to score in the draft by selecting Gobert, Hood, and Kanter. Another setback with Hayward (the team’s best player) walking in free agency in 2017? No problem. In comes a young Donovan Mitchell with an even larger upside.
Hits: Donovan Mitchell, Paul Millsap, Gordon Hayward, Rudy Gobert, Rodney Hood, Deron Williams, Mo Williams, Andrei Kirilenko, Enes Kanter, Ronnie Brewer
Misses: Eric Maynor, Kevin Murphy, Dee Brown, Morris Almond, Jarron Collins, Kirk Snyder