every expert, analyst, and fan who knows anything about the NBA. However, it's your opinion, and I do admire your will to keep it. I'll highlight just my key points and rebuttals just like you did.

1. The Jazz do need to be successful in order to exist. That's obviously pragmatic. But simply subsisting every year, winning enough for a 7-8 seed, is not financially viable in the long term. The lost revenue of a few bad seasons can be easily recovered with just a single great year. Plus the new revenue sharing model makes tanking less risky for small market teams; the financial hit simply isn't as great.

2. This is the first year the Jazz have tanked, therefore it's impossible to compare how well the Jazz drafted when they were a playoff team as opposed to how well they draft when they tank. Further, I don't see how the Jazz being a playoff team affects their ability to draft. Overall, this whole point is a huge red herring. Winning percentage can be a consequence of how well a team drafts, but not vice versa. Just because you believe the Jazz have had more success with mid first round picks does not make mid firsts more valuable. What you're espousing is the epitome of the reverse gambler's fallacy.

3. Hayward is not a building block. A building block is a superstar, everything else (players, picks, rights, cash) are just assets that should be used to try to acquire one of these transcendental players. Sure, we've botched Hayward's situation, we should have traded him this season or last. But regardless, I really don't care if we sign him or don't, so long as we don't overpay him. He's not a significant factor in the Jazz' future.

4. Teams don't trade superstars of their own volition. And even when a superstar wants out of town, it's always to go to a big market. What would make a superstar want to stay in Utah? We wouldn't even have the RFA status to hold over his head.

5. Good scouting and evaluation is required regardless of where a team is drafting. It is also foolish to expect the Jazz to simply out evaluate other teams. Statistically, lower picks perform better than higher ones; therefore the Jazz should always look to get the best draft position possible.