Written by Adrian Wojnarowski at YahooSports.com
The architect of these Utah Jazz celebrated a Game 7 victory in the quiet of a Staples Center backroom, sipping on a cold drink and flicking popcorn into his mouth. Dennis Lindsey is a reflection of his franchise’s ownership and coach and star players: Less is more.
Lindsey has engineered a textbook rebuilding job: Draft well, hire a great, young innovative coach with a penchant for player development, and slowly, surely supplement the roster with winning veterans. These Jazz were constructed and prepared for this 104-91 Game 7 dismantling of the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on Sunday night, for staying power in the playoffs for years to come. The Jazz are onto the Golden State Warriors, onto the Western Conference semifinals for the first time in seven seasons.
This ending could bring finality to this Clippers core, or simply a bridge season to bringing everyone back for a payroll and luxury-tax bill that could approach $300 million. Let JJ Redick and Luc Mbah a Moute leave and max out Chris Paul and Blake Griffin – and it’s a $250 million-plus payroll.
That isn’t sustainable, which is why the Jazz glisten as a model for persistence and process. Five years ago, Utah hired Lindsey, who had been R.C. Buford’s assistant general manager in San Antonio. Lindsey turned down GM jobs before Utah, careful to select a franchise, an ownership group that reminded him of the Holt family in San Antonio.
“The credit goes to the Millers,” Lindsey told The Vertical on Sunday night. “If they would’ve set up short-term objectives, I would’ve capitulated to very short-term moves.
“Greg Miller pulled me aside soon after I was hired and told me, ‘We’re operators, not traders. We’re value spaced, so we want to do something that’s fundamentally sound.’ That – and having [consultant and ex-GM] Kevin O’Connor sitting next to me – gave a young executive a sense of calm.”
Five years ago, the Millers told the Jazz’s young general manager: Take your time, do it right. We’ll wait. Lindsey adored All-Star forward Paul Millsap, but let him leave in free agency because there were limits to his spending with a young, developing roster. After O’Connor drafted Gordon Hayward at No. 9, Lindsey took Rudy Gobert at No. 27 and Rodney Hood at No. 23. Lindsey and his staff hit picks, and hit them big. Lindsey hit on something else, too: the hiring of coach Quin Snyder.
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