The Utah Jazz had to ask themselves a question when Gordon Hayward decided to leave for Boston. Should they attempt to replace his production and build off their playoff appearance or do they need to rebuild in the wake of losing their star?
GM Dennis Lindsey made it quite clear to the team that the Jazz are going with the former. They consider themselves a talented enough team that can build around Rudy Gobert.
But Lindsey met with his staff and delivered a strong message: The Jazz weren't going to feel sorry for themselves. They weren't going take a step back. The organization describes the last two weeks as a pivot more than a restructure.
"We just felt like we had too much talent to tear it down to the foundation," Lindsey said. "The main thing with Quin and Rudy is what do we stand for? We feel like we have a great player in Rudy, and we want to showcase his ability."
The Jazz believe in Gobert and they believe in themselves. They were already a strong defensive team with Hayward, and they reasonably expect to play even better on that end. If that's the case, it will fall on Gobert to be the linchpin.
"We feel like we can build defensively around Rudy Gobert," Lindsey told The Tribune. "We look at him, and he's a top 10 player and unique defender. So we wanted to build a team around his talents."
Utah is right to continue building on what they have instead of blowing it up. It would be a shame to see a team with so much potential begin a whole new era. With the likes of Gobert and recently acquired Ricky Rubio, they still have some talent. Utah will clearly miss Hayward, but this isn't a team that will simply fall apart without him.
