It all comes out, kinda...Lindsey interview

I hope everybody read this. Terrific interview posted at JazzFanatical and linked from the Mags/Romo/therawns JazzNation blog.

I think it contains, if not immediately soothing balm, some clarification for why the season went down as it did, and even for Ty's player usage, which is a real sore point for some of us.

Lindsey: "...our books were so clean and without mistake, for me to trick it up, and you know, acquire a very middling pick at best for the contracts associated, just to say, “Hey, Dennis can make a deal,” I think would’ve been, frankly, selfish."

I like that a lot.

Also, his response to this (GREAT) question: "Our top five-man lineups weren’t good. Is that a sign of Corbin misusing talent, or Corbin adapting to matchups, or nothing?" was both discrete and honest. It WAS a matter of dealing with the fact of free agency, and hence, maybe to a greater extent that we have so far thought, of Corbin having to play the cards the FO dealt him. It would have been a decent hand had Marvin not been Marvin ("Where'd he go?") and Foye been better at any aspect of the game besides shooting 3s and Mo not been injured and Millsap not wanted 40+ minutes/game etc., etc...but that's what he got. Could've worked out better, didn't, and Corbin was stuck with it.

I don't know how he kept the team from blowing up*. If you were one of the younger guys (or DC, who is, we
seem to forget, only in his 3rd year), how hard would it have been to sit and watch other teams build up leads against our "starting 5" and then be asked to go in and bust ass to come back, over and over? Without
complaining? Without slipping up and saying something in an interview? Damn hard, I'd think.

I think the FO is aware the situation was more difficult than they could publicly admit and potentially much more volatile*, and this accounts for their loyalty to Ty. Simply, the FA situation, and the composition of the team was a much bigger factor than most of us, as fans, have allowed for.

There's a fine line between discretion and dishonesty, and I like the fact that Lindsey walks on the right side of it.

*-note his comment, in response to a later question: "But a lot of things didn’t happen, that were positives…"

Just started reading the exit interviews. Good stuff. I think the key comment in the Dennis Lindsey interview is "[Ty] has the Miller family’s full support". Once you recognize the importance of that statement, a lot of what else Lindsey says could well be just trying to put a reasonably good spin on a bad situation. My speculation is that Lindsey is stuck with a lemon of a Coach and that he has to suck it up for at least one more year for the Miller family. And even after one more year, I think the Miller family will still be prone to believing they made the right decision, just like Larry did with Sloan, even if the evidence says otherwise.

I also see that the guy commenting in the exit interviews at Jazzfanatical said that several Jazz players had to ask the Coaches for help with with weaknesses in their games rather than the Coaches proactively coaching. Maybe Jefferson is the only proactive Coach we have [coaching Kanter]. LOL.

On the optimistic side, my rays of hope are that they quote O'Conner as saying that Corbin had a lot of growth this season over last season, that it is generally not unreasonable to give a young Coach three full seasons [give him next season] before pulling the plug or moving forward with him, and judging from the few exit interviews I have read so far, the players do not appear to be upset with Corbin.

As for Lindsey and the GM job, he sounds like he has a good grasp of the Jazz situation. I am hopeful that he will help the Jazz make good deals this year and next.

I like to think I've got a pretty good ear for spin, PR, and corporate pablum and Lindsey is definitely, given the circumstances, about as much of a straight shooter as he CAN be. It's a good sign.

Let's just hope he's also devious and evil enough to deal with the agents and the minions of Satan that work for the league.

Trollificus wrote:

I like to think I've got a pretty good ear for spin, PR, and corporate pablum and Lindsey is definitely, given the circumstances, about as much of a straight shooter as he CAN be. It's a good sign.

I have thought the EXACT same thing.
I like the dude, and I'm excited for him to "take over"....to the extent that the organization will let him. I hope the Millers and KOC turn the reins over to him.

The Voice of Reason wrote:

Trollificus wrote:

I like to think I've got a pretty good ear for spin, PR, and corporate pablum and Lindsey is definitely, given the circumstances, about as much of a straight shooter as he CAN be. It's a good sign.

I have thought the EXACT same thing.
I like the dude, and I'm excited for him to "take over"....to the extent that the organization will let him. I hope the Millers and KOC turn the reins over to him.

I thought this was interesting from Rock:
“Frankly,” Lindsey said, “the conversations and arrows on April 18 have to be pointed at us on why we fell short from a personnel standpoint, and what we’re going to do going forward.”

I'm somewhat comforted that the Jazz FO is willing to take some of the blame for a flawed roster this year. Now, if they would only come forward and acknowledge that their Corbin Project also failed. I find it hard to swallow that they acknowledged Corbin is a project. What team in the league hires a coach as a project???? The Jazz, apparently. Ugh!