Danny Ainge says Utah Jazz players 'didn't believe in each other' last season

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Danny Ainge wasn't sure how good the Utah Jazz would be when he joined the team.

Utah did not have the best record in the Western Conference that year. Ainge didn't like what he saw.

Ainge said he saw a group of players that didn't believe in each other. I think they liked each other more than was reported, but I don't think there was a belief.

I thought the team might be waiting for the playoffs because they have had some disappointing playoffs. The team didn't perform well in the playoffs again after I gave them the benefit of the doubt.

One year after jumping ahead 2-0 on the LA Clippers in the conference semifinals, the Jazz lost in six games to Dallas in the first round of the playoffs.

"Like I believe every one of these guys went into every game believing they were going to win," Ainge said. When adversity hits, the team has a belief in having each other's back or one another.

I think they have resolve, but I don't think they did. A lot of players are trying to do it on their own, as the belief in one another wasn't as great as teams I've been on.

The Utah front office, along with president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and general manager Justin Zanik, decided to hit the reset button this summer with trades sending All-Stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell to Minnesota and Cleveland.

Zanik said that opening up a window to compete for a title was the most important thing for them. "Give credit to ownership, the organization, the community and the support we've had over the last three years as we put every resource towards trying to accomplish that." We failed.

This was a good time to make a pivot in the NBA life cycle. We wanted to give the organization every opportunity, the greatest base of flexibility, young players and assets going forward to make really good decisions, and that's win a title here.

In July, as free agency opened, the Jazz traded Gobert for four first-round picks, a pick swap and two veterans. The Los Angeles Lakers received Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson in the trade.

Utah sent Mitchell to Cleveland for three protected first-round picks, two protected second-round picks, and two protected third-round picks, as well as two protected fourth-round picks and a protected fifth-round pick.

"You have these conversations and there's a return and you start balancing what you can acquire on the market for perennial All-Star players, and we traded two of them this summer, that necessitates us to make a decision for the organization that is difficult." You want to open up with a maximum window, but we have good players.

This wasn't a decision that was based solely on the playoffs.

Zanik said that previous results told them who they were. It was more than one year. We had a good three-year period where we won a lot of games and had a lot of success but we were tapped out from a potential standpoint.

The Jazz will enter training camp with 17 players under guaranteed contracts, not including two-way deals, and a maximum of 15 guaranteed deals, so more movement could be on the way.

Utah's growing chest of assets could get a boost if the Jazz get a return on their contract veterans.