On this Tuesday show, Spencer is joined live in studio with Ben Bagley and Tony Parks from 1320 KFAN. Listen in as the three of them discuss the Jazz, the latest in the Malone/Miller show, and much more.

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The Salt City Hoops podcast returns! Join us as we discuss tonight’s return of Deron Williams, LBJ on the gridiron, and announce the winner from last week’s drawing! Good times all around.

Your hosts:

• Spencer Hall – @saltcityhoops
• Justin Davies – @jazzhype
• Jeff Lind – @jefflind

If you have a take you’d like us to discuss on the air, hit us up on Twitter! Stay tuned next week for some exciting news and another awesome drawing where you could win tickets, Jazz swag, or overall good times.

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My apologies to any of you who happened to read the post that was accidentally live for a bit. I did enjoy hearing from a few of you who were very confused. Hopefully you enjoyed the inexplicable table with images of Alec Burks and Avery Johnson and stat lines for LeBron James.

Thanks for reading!

Before the Dallas Mavericks added their names to the list of title winning teams, only 8 different teams had won an NBA Championship in the previous 30 years. The big spending Mavericks were able to stretch that less-than-impressive list to 9 teams over 31 years. Something feels wrong with that, and it lies in the current NBA system. Until the NBA does something to help teams retain their own players and do away with guaranteed contracts, there’s little hope for change.

Since 1980, I counted 16 different Super Bowl winners and 19 different World Series winners. Even the salary cap-less MLB can produce more than double the amount of winning teams over a 30 year period than the NBA, and if the NBA continues to trend toward super teams that leave their scraps for small markets the next 30 years could be even worse! Four winners in 30 years? No thanks. There’s no rule that says the NFL has to be the most exciting sport for America, but the reality of every single fan being able to somewhat realistically hope for their team to become a Super Bowl contender is what keeps them excited. Look at the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders have been absolute dog meat since their last Super Bowl visit over a decade ago, but would it be that far fetched to think the Carson Palmer/Darren McFadden duo, combined with good coaching and a solid defense, could return to be playoff contenders? They could absolutely do it. Contrast that to today’s NBA. Could one make the same argument about over half the teams in the NBA? Absolutely not. I hate to be a Debbie-Downer, but there is just zero chance that Charlotte, Philadelphia, Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, Indiana, Milwaukee, Washington, Golden State, Phoenix, Sacramento, Houston, Memphis, New Orleans, New Jersey, Atlanta, Denver, LA Clippers, Minnesota, Portland, and yes, even Utah have any reasonable chance of winning an NBA championship with the way things are going. A balance must be created in the league for the NBA product to continue to grow.

So what would happen if NBA teams had real purchasing power over other teams when it came to re-signing their own players? And I’m not talking about the current BS that allows them to offer a 6 year deal instead of a 5 year deal that can ultimately be avoided by sign and trades, I’m talking about a real, substantial advantages, i.e. 6 year deal vs. 3 year, $15 million max vs. $8, etc. Would LeBron still be in Cleveland? Would Amar’e still be in Phoenix? Would Bosh still be in Toronto? Would Williams still be in Utah? In other words, would there still be parity in the league? I’ll let you decide.

The other item on my Christmas wishlist is the destruction of guaranteed contracts. In the current lockout, players make the argument that the NBA is unprofitable in large part due to bad deals made by owners, and that now the owners are asking the players to pay the price for those mistakes by taking less money. Well, the players are right (sort of). There are, in fact, some horrendous deals out there that completely cripple teams’ ability to stay competitive. So why do owners make these deals? To be funny? To waste money? No, in a sink-or-swim business, owners take risks to stay competitive. Look at the Utah Jazz & Andrei Kirilenko. Of course hindsight is always 20/20, but when the Jazz were faced with the decision to pay up for (what seemed to be) the most dynamic player in the NBA, or let him walk & return to starting Quincy Lewis at Small Forward, it didn’t seem like there was any choice. So what would happen if players were actually held accountable for the contracts they signed in the same way owners are? After all, I’ve never seen an owner just stop paying a player half way through a contract, but I’ve sure seen players stop playing. I’m tired of watching players sign huge deals while basically giving owners the finger as they walk out of the room. What if teams were able to release Gilbert Arenas, Eddy Curry, Tim Thomas, Greg Ostertag, Rashard Lewis, Brandon Roy and Michael Redd? What would that do to the competitive balance of the league if every player knew that if they didn’t produce, they may not have it made for the next 6 years? Also, would the ability to cut high paid, non-contributing players help teams like Washington, Orlando, Portland, and Milwaukee free up cap space to replace talent and remain competitive? I know what I think, but again, I’ll let you decide.

So wouldn’t that be nice to pattern the NBA after a proven, successful system of the NFL and begin to create some real balance? Is it unfair for fans of all teams to be able to feel realistic in their desire for winning? I guess so. Instead, all we get to listen to is how “unfair” offers have been that continue to provide players guaranteed millions over multiple years.  I admit, during the lockout I’ve at times been the 7-year old in the back of the van asking over and over “are we there yet?” But with what appears to be the players’ and owners’ inability to recognize the fan in all of the negotiations, I see myself growing into a punk teenager in that same van; headphones in & eyes closed. Wake me up when we get there.

Editor’s Note: As the lockout trudges on, Salt City Hoops continues to add talent to our arsenal. Sam Strong is the newest contributor to the team… but we’ll let him tell you about it. – JL

I’m the newest contributor to SCH so I thought I would tell everyone a little about myself before proceeding to whine about the lockout, one of my many talents.

I was born and raised a Jazz fan in Bountiful and graduated from Bountiful High (But not before painting my less-than-in-shape chest for a playoff game. See: game one, 2007 series against the Rockets tape for anyone brave enough to dig through the archives.)

I was excited to get into UCLA and started here as a freshman in 2009. I’ve served as sports editor at the campus newspaper, the Daily Bruin, where I still work as a beat writer for the football and basketball teams. I also interned at the Los Angeles Daily News last summer and I’m currently interning at Grantland.com.

I also had a brief stint over at TrueHoop’s ClipperBlog but as exciting as Blake Griffin is, I jumped at the chance to join the team here at SCH. I’m looking forward to writing here and engaging with you guys about the Jazz.

Without further ado…

Getty Images

Basketball has always been there for me.

When I was a kid, the start of the NBA season was a sign that I was that much closer to destroying the gift wrap that surrounded that holiday season’s finest game console.

During high school, the start of the NBA season usually coincided with the not so gut-wrenching decision of seeing a D-Will dominate CP3 in favor of going to the annual Harvest Dance

During my last two years in college, NBA opening day came just in time to provide a distraction from midterms or terrible football teams.

But this year, my rock, the date circled and then circled again on my calender came and went quietly. As I’m sure all followers of the sporting world noticed, the NBA did not play games on its scheduled opening date which came last Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Not only did the red circles on my calender bleed onto Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, I had the lineup of games I was going to watch using the NBA League Pass that I attempted to buy before the good people at the cable company told me it wasn’t available. The Jazz, of course, were set to host Houston but the only basketball on TV sets in Salt Lake City this week has come in the form of KJZZ’s “Jazz Classic,” an attempt to distract fans by reminding them of the good ol’ days (I’ll admit to the distraction working on me. You better believe I’m firing up the Slingbox to watch game four of the ’97 finals from Los Angeles.)

I walked past Staples Center on Wednesday only to find a massive L.A. Kings banner adorning one side of the arena. I turned on the T.V. on Thursday night in hopes that basketball would magically appear but I had to settle for MLS playoff soccer. I was eager to prove to my one, obnoxious Heat-fan friend (everyone has one, right?) that Paul Milsap’s 46 points that came almost year ago weren’t a fluke but the Jazz’s game in Miami on Nov. 9 is out of the question.

We’ve all gotten false hope when the players and owners are reported to “get closer” to an agreement but whatever hope fans had last week was surely erased on Thursday when 50 players threatened to dissolve the players union, a risky move that could force a deal but could also take a number of months.

I don’t pretend to know why that tiny, little 2.5 percent of basketball related income could forbid millions of fans from viewing the world-class basketball the NBA is known for but somehow, it has. Somehow, the fans are the biggest losers while the negotiations continue.

I wonder if the players and owners know the agony that their fans are experiencing. I know both sides claim to know how monumental the fans are to them but I have to think a crazed Minnesota Timberwolves fan (if such a thing exists) working as the mediator would get a deal signed much more quickly than a guy in a suit if both sides could see the sense of urgency in the fan base.

Whether a decertified union gets the two sides anywhere close to a deal, it’s a shame that it has gone on for 127 days with the fans, the people that make the whole thing go, powerless to end it. I don’t support either side because I can see both sides of their juxtaposed goals but I do know that both sides are being equally selfish.

I’ll now go back to pretending to care about the NHL and the MLS cup in hopes that the labor talk settles soon.

When it does, I expect co-signed apology card from David Stern and Billy Hunter.

Follow Sam on Twitter!

Editor’s Note: As we sit and wait for David Stern to emerge from moderated discussions with the union, Todd Peterson joins us and talks fans and expectations for the young Utah Jazz. -JL

Djamila Grossman | The Salt Lake Tribune

Obviously the big concern on everyone’s mind is “are we going to have an NBA season this year?” Hacked twitter accounts and “gulfs” aside, we still don’t know. So instead of complaining about life under a horribly oppressive lock-out regime let’s do what we would normally do during the off-season…..speculate over the starting lineup. With the uncharacteristic uncertainty of the franchise there has been a lot of talk about who should get the starting nod and I plan on arguing that the front office should “blow up the team” and go young. In this discussion there is, in reality, only one legitimate argument that we need to consider and that is winning. If you try to say that the team should play the veterans because they have earned it, or because they’re being paid so much, or maybe even because they are better then I simply suggest to you some patriarchal Ricky Bobby logic, “if you ain’t first you’re last.” The only question the coaches need to consider when picking the starting five, or in distributing minutes is who will help win the most games? Because “winning” theoretically has a different meaning for each fan we will consider the different scenarios below.

The Ring Seeker: This is the fan that has the “been there, done that mentality.” They won’t be happy with the team until they are turning over cars, & kissing their girlfriend in the street after the team brings home the crown. This fan could live with a self-created lottery pick next year and would survive a less than involved role in the playoffs for the next couple of years if it meant a title was waiting down the road. The Ring Seeker is concerned with the long term because (let’s face it) there’s no viable option for having a ring ceremony at the beginning of the 2013 season. To this fan, I ask this: If the veterans can’t take the Jazz to the pinnacle this year then when can they? Obviously the most recent moves by the team have been away from veterans and so why should they not continue that trend by transferring the playing time over to the younger generation as well? Any hope at a title involves the young guns. Why waste playing time and starting experience on players that ultimately aren’t going to be a part of the long-term goal? Now, I’m not saying KOC should get rid of anyone on the team that has more than one year in the league, I’m just saying they should be used as support players to help bring along the rookies and sophomores. In other words without a championship in the near future, why not develop the “potential” into all-star output.

The Perennial Contender: This fan just wants to be assured that they are going to be interested in basketball come late April. They hold on to that almighty Jazz argument of “at least we have a team that is always in the playoffs.” This fan wants to be in the playoffs; (1) preferably this year, or (2) worst case scenario, next year. There is no interest in spending any time at the lower rungs of the league regardless of what that means for the future. In this case we look at the roster for this year and maybe some of next year. By continuing with the veteran players, the team would basically be staying with the starting lineup from the end of last season. Obviously last season had its difficulties on and off the court so it may be unfair to gauge the players based on the end of last year, but that’s all we’ve got. The team played 25 games without D-Will, and won 8 of those, a winning percentage of .32 (you forgot how bad it got, didn’t you?). Over a full season that percentage would translate into about 26 wins, better than just six other teams last year (Twolves, Cavs, Raps, Wiz, Nets, Kings). If the lineup remains composed of mostly veteran players we have to ask, what do we think the vets are going to do differently? By not changing the lineup the team must be saying that the starting players are either going to play better, or that everyone is (prepared for/happy with) a 26 win season. If it’s the later then why not win 26 with the rookies? At least they will be getting some experience while the team wallows in mediocrity and piles up the draft picks. If, on the other hand, the thought is that something is going to change with the starting vets, then what is it? Is Jefferson going to learn how to play within a system instead of being the black hole on bad teams? Is CJ going to be consistent and contribute the way fans have always wanted? Is AK going to stay healthy and be the AK we saw in Eurobasket? If you really believe these things simply because we are starting a season that doesn’t involve the D-Will trade or Sloan leaving, then I’m impressed with your overzealous faith in the team.

The Ego Protector: Finally we have the fan that has nightmares of seeing a young kid from the Miller bloodline on the lottery stage wearing goofy glasses and vying for one of the top three picks, and not because we made a trade and finally got a lucky break. This fan’s biggest ambition for the Jazz is to stay comfortably above the Raptors, Cavs, Kings, and Twolves of the league. They need instant validation that they aren’t party to a despicable team, or otherwise they may just jump ship. The question here is who can win instantly? This is probably the hardest question to answer right now for this team as we know so little about some of the guys. We have to ask whether or not the rookies and sophs can post a better winning percentage then the .32 from the end of last season? Staying in the meaty area of the league (roughly a .48 winning percentage) would require 13 more wins then what the end of the year vets did last year (13 games = difference between .32 and .48). So we are wondering whether the veterans or the young guys can be 13 games better. Assuming that health is the only legitimate change from last season; my argument is that either group, young or old, can basically win the same number of games next year, so we should only be considering what is best for the team in the long run (May I end this argument by saying that any fan that is happy with the mediocrity described in this section is not a true fan of Jazz Nation and should be buying Miami Heat jerseys and putting Yankee stickers on their iPhone covers. Nuff Said).

In the end, the argument for the young players is summed up in two words, “Why Not?” Whether you are a ring seeker, a perennial contender, an ego protector, or maybe a combination of them all it’s hard to answer this question. With so much speculation and so much uncertainty we can’t help but rest our hopes on a miracle of team unity, health, and championship play to magically appear out of the ashes of last season, but it is simply not logical to wait for that. We’ve got to look to the future, start planning for the team’s great return to basketball prominence and that is only going to come through the young players. So put ‘em in coach! We want to see them make bad passes, we want to see their lapses of thought, we want to scream at their stupidity through the t.v., but most of all we want to see some sort of decision towards a chance at progress. Let’s keep this streak of bold moves alive.