Normally, you can gauge the success of an NBA team by how many fans show up to games. I have been in every NBA arena, multiple times over the last 13 years, and I can say with certainty that what I see at the Delta Center, night-in and night-out, is not normal.
Teams that are tanking, rebuilding, falling short of expectations or even some of the middling teams in the league, have a hard time getting butts in seats. That’s not the case with the Jazz.
For the last couple of years it has shocked me how well attended the Jazz games are despite the fact that the organization is tanking, that there aren’t any top-tier stars, and when the roster being rolled out is unlikely to resemble the roster that the Jazz eventually try to win with.
And it’s not just me that has been shocked by the fan support. The players on the team, even the young players, recognize the difference. They see what it’s like to play games in other arenas and what it’s like to play in front of a lacking crowd.
“It’s incredible,” Walker Kessler said. “I’ve always bragged about our fans. I think we have the best fan base in the league. The fact that we’re going through this time right now and still getting all those fans, it’s just incredible, no question. The energy is there, they show up every night — win, lose, no matter how much we’re down by — I’m very, very appreciative.”
Even the Jazz rookies have been shocked after going out on the road and coming back to Utah to see how the crowd compares. When asked if he’s recognized the abnormality of how full the Delta Center gets, rookie Kyle Filipowski was emphatic.
“I have. I have, indeed,” he said. “Having a hard year with wins and losses that we’ve had, it’s so great seeing the fans come out every night. It’s important to us that they’re still cheering for us and rooting us on. That’s going to be a very important part to keeping this team building upwards in a positive direction.”
On Wednesday night, the Jazz played against the Washington Wizards. It was a meeting of the two teams in the league with the absolute worst records. In terms of result, the game did not matter. To be fair, it was the most sparsely attended game this season. But, even so, there were more fans at the Delta Center for a game between the two worst teams in the league than I’ve seen at a number of other arenas across the league.
“If I’m being blunt, it’s really important to me,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “Number one, it shows the connection that our fans have with this organization, and how important this organization is to our community. I think it also speaks to the general basketball awareness that our fans have. They know we’re going through rebuilding seasons.”
It’s not a secret that the Jazz have been tanking and the fan base is fully aware that things are going to look bleak if they pay too much attention to the wins and losses alone. Hardy and others within the Jazz’s front office have hoped that fans would continue to connect with the idea of rebuilding and stand behind the team through the tough years. So far, they have.
For Hardy though, the explanation is not just as easy as saying that the fans understand what is going on. He believes that it’s his job and the players' job to show the fans that even if they are losing games, they are going to give the fans something to be proud of.
“I do think that our players are playing the games in a way that our fans still enjoy watching,” Hardy said. “Our young players play really hard and we’re imperfect, and some nights are sloppy and ugly and all those things ... but we want to represent our fan base, and you can do that with how you go about your business every day, how you carry yourself, how you behave, how you engage in the competition. So yeah, it’s not lost on me that this is admirable what’s going on in our building every night. It is a point of pride.”