This NBA season in particular, one of the major issues that commissioner Adam Silver is vowing to fix is the perceived issue of tanking. The Utah Jazz are one of the teams that have been accused of tanking this season. But that is not the case according to Jazz owner Ryan Smith.

During a recent appearance on ‘The Pat McAfee Show,’ Smith spoke about how the Jazz haven’t benefitted from any supposed tanking since he’s been team owner, and how the approach the NBA is taking needs to be refocused a little bit.

“I’m also taking over a franchise that’s never won the lottery, never moved up in the draft. At some point the math’s got to start mathing,” Smith said. “We’re gonna figure out a solution. I trust Adam, the ownership group is incredible around the league, we’re not afraid to battle it out. There’s options about flattening it, options about putting restrictions in there, but the most important thing is, what is the rebuild experience for the NBA, and how long do we want these teams to come in.

“When you go out on the court, I don’t care who you are, our players are playing to win … you saw that with us, we didn’t finish with the worst record … our guys want to win every single night.”

The Jazz finished this season at 22-60 and tied with the Sacramento Kings for the fourth-worst record in the NBA. Last season, the Jazz had one of the best odds at getting the No. 1 overall pick but ended up getting bumped back to No. 5.

The team’s deadline acquisition of Jaren Jackson Jr. suggests that the Jazz want to be competitive and move forward with the rebuild process.

“If you look at everything being categorized as tanking, it’s not the way to look at it,” Smith said. “There’s a rebuilding process for 8-10 teams every year that are going to have to go through that. That’s the process we should be looking at.”

This NBA season in particular, one of the major issues that commissioner Adam Silver is vowing to fix is the perceived issue of tanking. The Utah Jazz are one of the teams that have been accused of tanking this season. But that is not the case according to Jazz owner Ryan Smith.