The Jazz are 10–3 and at the top of the Western Conference.
And Danny Ainge must be pissed.
Has to be, right? This roster—which Ainge, Utah’s CEO, and Justin Zanik, the Jazz GM, stripped down last summer—wasn’t built to win. It was built to lose. A lot. Utah isn’t supposed to be thinking about the playoffs. It’s supposed to be thinking of ping pong balls.
So what does Ainge think of the Jazz’s success?
“Pleasantly surprised,” Ainge said in a telephone interview.
And, theoretically, why wouldn’t he be?