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SALT LAKE CITY — When Dennis Lindsey took over the general manager duties of the Utah Jazz, he was tasked with one job, rebuild a once proud organization into the perennial championship contender it once was.

When it comes to building a championship contender, there are several traditional paths that have found success in recent history.

There is the Miami Heat model, also known as the Boston Celtics model, also known as the Los Angeles Lakers model. In all honestly, it should be known as the high-profile market model. Use one star on your team, and a desirable market to lure superstars to your city, and win a championship from there. Dwyane Wade brought LeBron James and Chris Bosh to Miami, Paul Pierce brought Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to Boston, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal brought Gary Payton and Karl Malone to Los Angeles. With the exception of the Lakers, championships have been won building super teams in super markets.

There is the Oklahoma City model. Get rid of your proven players. In the then Seattle Sonics case, it was Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. Lose games, and rebuild through the draft. The Sonics drafted Kevin Durant, moved to Oklahoma City, then drafted Russell Westbrook and James Harden. The Thunder let their young roster develop by playing big minutes and learning in real game situations until they made a run to the Finals five years after initiating the process.

There is the Houston model. Provide your franchise with financial flexibility. Acquire as many tradable assets as possible, including draft picks and young talent, wait for an opposing team to find itself in tight situation, and put together the most convincing trade package to alleviate the opposing team of its difficulty while capitalizing on the return. In the Rockets' case, they received James Harden, who Oklahoma City was unwilling to pay, in exchange for young talent in Jeremy Lamb, established talent in Kevin Martin and future assets in two first-round draft picks. Three years later, Houston appears poised to finish with the second best record in the Western Conference.

While it's yet to fully take shape, and a deep run through the playoffs is surely needed to judge its success, a new model is emerging: the Utah Jazz model.

There is the San Antonio model. Capitalize on an inopportune situation, in this case a series of injuries to Spurs star David Robinson, set your franchise up for a good draft pick by racking up losses, and rely on a little luck to draft a superstar in Tim Duncan. When building the rest of the roster, maximize draft value by finding upper-echelon players like Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili with later picks in the draft, and let the championships stack up.

While it’s yet to fully take shape, and a deep run through the playoffs is surely needed to judge its success, a new model is emerging: the Utah Jazz model.

Understanding that he won’t be able to lure the NBA’s best free agents to Salt Lake City, Lindsey is borrowing elements from previous successful rebuilding efforts, throwing them in a blender, and seeing what emerges on the other end.

From Oklahoma City, Lindsey cleared the proven talent from his team, and rebuilt through the draft. He allowed Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap to leave in free agency, in their wake, drafted Dante Exum, and threw him to the wolves as a rookie, allowing him to play through his mistakes.

From Houston, Lindsey has maintained financial flexibility. Despite signing Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Alec Burks to long-term contracts, the Jazz are still under the league’s salary cap. In addition to maintaining a clean payroll, Lindsey has been in full asset acquisition mode. Like the Rockets, Lindsey has held onto the Jazz future first round picks while taking advantage of other teams' financial woes to add more pieces. When the Golden State Warriors found themselves in a tight financial situation, Lindsey relieved the Warriors of their largest contracts, receiving multiple first-round draft picks in return. While the Jazz have already used one of these draft picks on Rodney Hood, they maintain the flexibility to combine cap space and draft picks to acquire a proven star the way the Rockets did with James Harden.

From San Antonio, Lindsey has capitalized on draft opportunity. When the Orlando Magic surprised many teams on draft night by selecting Aaron Gordon with the fourth overall pick, the Jazz didn’t hesitate to draft Exum. Seeing Rudy Gobert slip through the first round of the 2013 NBA draft unpicked, Lindsey coaxed Jazz ownership into buying the 27th overall pick to draft the promising Frenchman. With the 23rd pick in the 2014 draft, Lindsey again pulled the trigger on Rodney Hood. Both selections are now starting for the Jazz in their rookie and sophomore seasons.

It should be no surprise that Lindsey has cherry-picked his favorite elements from these three team-building examples, seeing that he worked for the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets while working with the members of Oklahoma City’s front office in San Antonio.

What the Jazz lack that these other teams have accomplished is success over a long period of time. The Thunder, despite poor luck with health, have been perennial Finals contenders. The Rockets should have home court advantage in the playoffs through at least two rounds this postseason, while the Spurs won their fifth championship with Tim Duncan in 2014. If the Jazz's 16-8 record since the NBA’s trade deadline is an accurate representation of the team's future, a deep playoff run may be within striking distance, and the Utah Jazz model will be born.

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Ben Anderson is the co-host of Gunther in the Afternoon with Kyle Gunther on 1320 KFAN from 3-7, Monday through Friday. Read Ben's Utah Jazz blog at 1320kfan.com, and follow him on Twitter @BenKFAN.

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