Things are horrible in Salt Lake City. The Utah Jazz just fell to the Charlotte Hornets, who outscored them 30-17 in the fourth quarter. The Jazz lost to the 14-win Hornets 115-107 and are currently 2-8 in their last ten games, including a five-game losing streak. The gas is on, darling. And it will get increasingly difficult to watch the Jazz from now on.
Yes, Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy is clearly coaching to lose; otherwise, why would he start one of his poorest players, Taylor Hendricks, over Walker Kessler? Whether on the positive or negative side, he appeared to be lost as a rookie. Clearly, he prioritizes players who need reps over those who can help him win. Is this the wrong move? This is why it is difficult to watch anymore. Not because the product is awful or because we just care about winning, but because this is a playoff-caliber team that might have gone in a different path at the trade deadline. Now, watching this team fall apart on both sides of the court is infuriating. They should be far better than they are. 
Nonetheless, the tank is here. This team will be lucky to win 10 games the rest of the season since the Jazz are doing everything possible to avoid it. They want their draft pick back this offseason, even if they don’t say it. The moves they make on the court show this drive.
So, from an organizational sense, the goal is to get that draft selection back, so winning goes against what the front office believes is best for the team. So if they lose games, it signifies they are succeeding in their goals.
However, as supporters, we still want to see them triumph. It is a paradox. This is not a team that is actively tanking. There is no complete teardown and reconstruction. They’re essentially treading water, waiting to see what happens before making a move, and the hesitation and waiting are terrible. So it will be difficult to watch the games because, simply put, we don’t know what we should want.
On Thursday, the Jazz looked horrible against the Hornets. But that’s the goal, right? So, can we be upset about how horrible they look, knowing that it won’t matter because this is the route the team is taking this season?
As previously stated, the rest of the season will be difficult to watch, if only because we’re not sure what we’re meant to be feeling as this team robs Lauri Markkanen of another amazing season.
