How soon can the Jazz be contenders again?

How soon will the Jazz crack the playoffs?

Find out next on Locked On Jazz.

You are Locked on Jazz, your daily podcast on the Utah Jazz.

Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Hello and welcome into Lockdown Jazz.

My name's Leif Tulane.

I'm excited to be back with you filling in for David Locke on Lock on Lockdown Jazz.

The last week of my stint, I've enjoyed talking to you guys. As most of you guys know by now, I'm a Jazz, lifelong fan, credentialed NBA draft analyst, attendee of multiple NBA combines, jazz broadcast assistant and statistician in the last four seasons, and lover of college hoops. So I'll make sure you know what you need to know about your beloved Utah Jazz. Thanks for making Lockdown Jazz your first listen each and every day. And remember, Locked on Jazz is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube at Locked on Jazz. Where the best way to help us grow is to comment anything below. And today's question is, how soon do you think the Jazz make the NBA playoffs? This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. So take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NBA at Monarch Money.com for 50% off your first year. Today on the show, I'm going to discuss how soon I see the jazz contending again and what the true meaning of contention is. So let's dive right in. The Jazz have not made the playoffs in three years, and I assume after

next year it will be a four-year drought. And the question then becomes, how soon can we contend,

can we contend, and to what level are the Jazz contending when they first make it back to the playoffs?

My answer lies in the episode of discussing rebuilds of previous teams that are

just a couple years ahead of the jazz. So I did an episode, every day there's know what I'm talking

about, where the jazz could emulate a few teams. One I mentioned is the Pistons. And you look at

their history, they got Cade Cunningham, which is the number one pick. And they had a couple other picks where they're really bad, but they ended up fifth, and I said the jazz could be similar. But if you look at their history, how long did it take for them to make the playoffs after missing it for years? So let's look at their history. I'll abbreviate for you guys. The Pistons went 41 and 41 in 2019. That was their last year of true effort to win prior to this past season.

In between, they went 20 and 46 in the COVID shortened year, 20 and 52 in the year after that.

Then they earned themselves a nice Cade Cunningham reward. And then they proceeded to go 23 and 59, 17 and 65, 14 and 68.

And then all of a sudden, this past year 44 and 38,

and had a real chance to beat the New York Knicks who made the Eastern Conference finals.

The jazz in this process, if you look at the similarities between the Jazz and the Pistons,

are essentially entering year four.

So top three odds for number one.

...