Minnesota Sports Forum

Holy crap these guys are on a tear. Khansy told us that Rubio could never start for a playoff-caliber team as PG, but these guys are playing as well as any team with Ricky as their starter! Gee, it kinda helps when the rest of your players actually show a willingness to play defense, something Ricky never really had in Minnesota despite his commitment to that end of the floor. And offensively they aren't nearly as bad as some folks thought they'd be.

And here we thought Utah would fade out of the playoff picture by now.....guess not.

Who could have possibly figured they'd replace Gordon Hayward with a rookie who would be... better than Hayward in his first season. That's what's truly unbelievable and is, in my opinion, the biggest reason as to why they're in the hunt.

Q12543 wrote:Holy crap these guys are on a tear. Khansy told us that Rubio could never start for a playoff-caliber team as PG, but these guys are playing as well as any team with Ricky as their starter! Gee, it kinda helps when the rest of your players actually show a willingness to play defense, something Ricky never really had in Minnesota despite his commitment to that end of the floor. And offensively they aren't nearly as bad as some folks thought they'd be.

And here we thought Utah would fade out of the playoff picture by now.....guess not.

Donovan Mitchell

Edit: Cam beat me to it with a better post.

I don't think he is better than Hayward, but he is a nice replacement. As Q stated, having players that buy into the defensive side of things really makes a big difference. I pretty sure the coaching doesn't hurt either.

Looking at their remaining schedule and they could continue the tear. I could easily see them winning 8 of their next 10 games. They may end up as a four seed before all is said and done. What would that say about Thibs if they finish above us.

Mitchell was a major find, no doubt about it. He filled the need for a high usage shot creator/maker. Still....he's not THAT good. He averages 19 PPG with a .545 TS%.

These guys defend like hell, something Thibs can't seem to get our guys to do consistently despite his pedigree and having multiple vets that have played on elite defensive teams. Yes, Gobert is a game changer, but the rest of the guys have fallen in line or were already solid defenders before coming to Utah (e.g. Thabo, Rubio).

Mitchell was a great pick and has really helped Utah pick up some of the slack left behind in the wake of Hayward's departure. But he's not nearly as good as Hayward at this point in his career. He's averaging 19.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 Assists assists, 1.4 steals and 2.7 turnovers while shooting 43.7% from the field, 34.7% from behind the arc and 82.5% from the line on 3.5 FT attempts per game. Those are really nice numbers, great for a rookie. But compare them to Hayward's numbers from last season: 21.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.0 steals, 1.9 turnovers, 47.1% FG, 39.7% 3-Pt, 84.4% FT on 5.9 attempts per game.

Also consider that the Jazz lost George Hill to free agency and that Sefolosha had a season-ending injury early this season. Then consider that Gobert will end up having missed nearly 30 games this season. Finally, the Jazz traded their best perimeter shooter, Rodney Hood last month.

The Jazz won't win 51 games like they did last season. But it's looking like they'll end up with as many as 47 wins this season. That's really, really impressive given the players, including Hayward, they lost from last season and the games missed by key players this season. I was actually amazed they won 51 games last season with their roster. They have one heck of a coach in my view. Oh, and a pretty smart front office as evidenced by a number of things, especially the Mitchell pick at #13.

I love Mitchell, mostly on the defensive end, and I had really come around on Rubio by the end of his tenure here.

But to me, so much of what makes the Jazz so great can be tied to Gobert. They got hot after he came back, if I recall. And I remember watching our game against them when he was playing this year and he just really affected our offense in such a significant way.

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:I love Mitchell, mostly on the defensive end, and I had really come around on Rubio by the end of his tenure here.

But to me, so much of what makes the Jazz so great can be tied to Gobert. They got hot after he came back, if I recall. And I remember watching our game against them when he was playing this year and he just really affected our offense in such a significant way.

Yes, Gobert is huge for them. But a key to their season was the way they've stayed afloat when he's been out. But yes, Gobert's rim protection is game-changing. He's another guy, like Giannis, who Flip could have drafted in 2014. :(

I said Rubio would kill his team in the playoffs which we might get to see this year. They still have to make it and it's hard for me to believe they and the trailblazers can keep up this level of winning. We'll see.

lipoli390 wrote:

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:I love Mitchell, mostly on the defensive end, and I had really come around on Rubio by the end of his tenure here.

But to me, so much of what makes the Jazz so great can be tied to Gobert. They got hot after he came back, if I recall. And I remember watching our game against them when he was playing this year and he just really affected our offense in such a significant way.

Yes, Gobert is huge for them. But a key to their season was the way they've stayed afloat when he's been out. But yes, Gobert's rim protection is game-changing. He's another guy, like Giannis, who Flip could have drafted in 2014. :(

I don't know if they stayed afloat without Gobert. They were 9-17 without him this year. Making them 30-13 with him. Huge difference. They are 20-4 since Gobert return from his last injury.

The huge thing is when he came back they had a really tough part of their schedule and some players like Ingles and Rubio just went off with their 3 pt shot. Ingles shot like 56% from 3 during their winning streak and Rubio was on fire after having a terrible year. They destroyed their tough part of their schedule with unrealistic shooting numbers. Now they have a super easy schedule so they got hot at the right time. I still really want them in the playoffs. But good for them.