Utah Jazz is, above all, a project stable. Winner and stable in sports. With no more shock in recent times than the focus that was placed on the franchise when Rudy Gobert‘s positive opened the door for the NBA season to stop and problems with the team’s other star, Donovan Mitchell, were aired in public for the management of the French of his positive, a trance that Mitchell also went through at the beginning of the pandemic. They have spent five years between 58 and 72% of victories that they reached precisely last season. The problem has been, of course, that this great work and the fact of consistently being one of the best teams in the NBA has not been accompanied by truly resounding success in the playoffs: three eliminations in the second round and two in the first. In the last two years, skids. The Nuggets came back from 3-1 in the bubble and the Clippers eliminated them without Kawhi Leonard after a 2-0 loss to Salt Lake City, who were left without what would have been their first West final since 2007.
The key for the Jazz is to see if they are capable, with the same block, of break that ceiling. And for now his season is being good… but few believe that they will have enough to be the team that comes out ahead in a West dominated for now by the Suns and Warriors. At 28-14, they are fourth because the Grizzlies have also overtaken them. And, above all, they have signed a lousy 1-4 in five games without Rudy Gobert, who has gone through the COVID protocols. Without the French, the team has been a caricature: The worst defense in the NBA by rating and a stuck attack without the factor vertical which implies Gobert’s continuations towards the rim after the play of pick and roll.
The Jazz are the same as in recent seasons, among other things, because its two stars are tied for the long haul: In December 2020, Gobert signed a five-year, $205 million extension. Almost in parallel, Mitchell committed for another five years worth between 163 and 195 million according to incentives. This summer the Jazz made it clear that they were still in a all in with his current project when they gave Mike Conley (34 years old) a new contract of three years and 68 million. That’s why, in addition to a team that barely has traction capacity with top-tier players in free agency (because they’re in Salt Lake City), they’re Especially worrying are the ups and downs that are beginning to air publicly, especially during the latest losing streak.
First, Mitchell (25 years old) assured that “they were fooling themselves” if they believed they were contenders for the ring at their current level. Right after, Tim McMahon and Brian Windhorst, from ESPN, sowed doubts about the escort’s commitment to his team. The first claimed that At the very least, there was already “speculation” about how disenchanted Mitchell was with playing (he’s been with the Jazz since 2017) in a small market. Windhorst linked this idea to the few votes that Mitchell receives in the popular vote for All Star. He is averaging 25.5 points and more than 5 assists per night in one of the best teams in the League, his game is very showy, with superstar stock…and it’s (in the popular vote) only the eighth guard most voted in the West. The Miami press assures that the player thinks of the city of Florida or New York, Heat or Knicks, In the event that in the not as distant future as the Jazz would like, he considers forcing his departure despite the fact that he has a contract until 2026 (insured until 2025, player option in the last season).
To top it off, Gobert has come out of the COVID protocols with a message that many believe he should not have made public and that sounds like a reproach to his team because it comes after he has missed five games in which four losses have come: “When I see teams like the Suns and the Warriors, I see that they are one step ahead in terms of winning habits. They take each match personally. Devin Booker leaves his ass in defense. They are committed, you see that they are proud to take charge of the man assigned to them, to help in what they can behind, to do everything possible to be part of a winning culture. I think we haven’t arrived but I think we will.” Although the last sentence sweetens the matter a bit, it is strange and seems a bad sign that, in addition, speaks particularly of the interest in improving in defense of Devin Booker, the Suns’ star shooting guard. the same role, exactly, which has Donovan Mitchell on the Jazz.
