Don’t Blow Up the Jazz

The vultures are circling Utah after a third consecutive playoff defeat before the conference finals. Does the team really have to blow it all up?

Nothing exposes the thin line between success and failure like the NBA playoffs. An ill-timed turnover, and Chris Paul can turn from the Point God into the Point Goat. An unfortunate flailing of the arm, and the Warriors can go from greatest team ever to greatest meme ever. And in the case of the 2022 Jazz, a wide-open three can mean either a gutsy, season-saving win or an offseason filled with difficult questions.

The Jazz’s season ended Thursday, as Bojan Bogdanovic’s clanked three as time expired in Game 6 allowed the Mavericks to clinch their first-round series. Utah has been a subject of giddy conversation all season. Can Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert really play together? Who can the team get back for them in trades if they blow it up? Is Rudy more expendable? Or is Donovan really the problem? Oh, and is Quin Snyder going to coach the Lakers instead?

In this era of an insatiable appetite for player movement, it can sometimes feel as if people are trying to will trades into existence before letting events occur as they should. Remember, in this season alone anonymous executives around the league were salivating over the idea of the Celtics breaking up Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown … until that duo transformed Boston into if not the best team in the East, perhaps the best team in the league.

Which brings us back to the Jazz. Can people really be sure the best path forward is to break up the band? Or is it too much fun playing with the trade machine and Photoshopping Mitchell into various jerseys? I don’t mean to be flippant. Utah has real issues—like a hefty payroll and difficult-to-move contracts—and the path forward to contention will not be easy. Especially with teams like the Mavericks, Pelicans and Nuggets all on the rise. But I’m not sure the Jazz are completely doomed, either.

Only two years ago, the Suns were a team more likely to be the butt of a joke than title contender. Devin Booker was an empty-stats All-Star. Deandre Ayton was a bust. I’m not suggesting Utah can do something as simple as going out and acquiring Chris Paul. At the same time, their stars can look in the mirror before thinking about looking elsewhere.

For Mitchell, his effort on the defensive end of the floor has to improve. He can’t allow himself to be called into every switch in the fourth quarter and get toasted over and over again. It’s an issue other stars at his position have faced before. And while guys like Booker or Stephen Curry may not be in the DPOY conversation, they have worked hard enough on that end of the floor to not crater their teams at the end of games.

For Gobert, he can’t rest on the laurels of his rim protection. Ayton is a good example of who he should try to emulate. The Phoenix center was a controversial pick until he fine-tuned all the little parts of his offensive game to become someone who can take advantage of teams in the postseason. Gobert isn’t going to become Shaq overnight. That doesn’t mean he can’t spend every last hour in the gym this summer working on sealing smalls, floaters and an elbow jumper.

And while the pieces around Mitchell and Gobert aren’t going to bring back another star, a shuffling of sorts could at least provide an injection of energy. Mike Conley’s contract isn’t fully guaranteed beyond next season. Does that make him a little more movable? Could Jordan Clarkson—who, to be fair, brought it in Round 1—possibly be moved for a defense-first wing? Bogdanovic, who has been an instrumental part of this team’s success, is also on an expiring deal and could be a legitimate chip to bring back an impact player. Combine enough moves, and maybe Snyder is emboldened to finally change the defensive schemes that have clearly grown stale, at least in the postseason.

I know these don’t sound like great options. Maybe the hardest thing for a team to do is to go from very good to great. Still, the Jazz were a 1-seed last season. And in two of their last three playoff runs, their elimination literally came down to one shot. (Conley’s missed three against the Nuggets in Game 7 of that bubble series is another massive “What if?”) But have we really considered their other options?

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You aren’t getting a star of similar quality back for Mitchell. The Jazz would be trading him for a young prospect and picks in the hopes that player can turn into … someone like Mitchell. While his flaws were exposed against Dallas, he’s a 25-year-old who—while having room to improve—is a perennial All-NBA candidate who helped keep the team afloat after the departure of Gordon Hayward. Even if Mitchell is a flight risk, deals will always be on the table, so why move the rebuild up sooner than you need to?

Utah also has to consider the realities of its market. The Jazz have been blessed to go from Stockton and Malone, to Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer, to now Mitchell and Gobert. While each of the duos had their ceilings, the franchise has set a standard of competitiveness for nearly the last 40 years. Does Utah really want to go down a route like the Thunder? Is it that much better to collect lottery tickets and throw years of competing away when you already have two accomplished players on the team? That plan is based entirely on luck. And as we’ve seen in the case of a team like the Sixers, sometimes even when you acquire a generational talent like Joel Embiid, making it out of the second round is no small task.

Truthfully, I understand the chances of this team staying together are small. Ownership didn’t bring in someone like Danny Ainge to idly watch after another early playoff exit. And the idea that simply being a really good team that makes the playoffs every year, entertains their fans, and has a chance to get to the third round actually holds immense value isn’t going to win me any friends in our championship-or-bust society. All I know is if Bojan Bogdanovic hit that wide-open three—a shot he hit 40.7% of the time during the regular season—the conversation following Game 6 would have been how Utah bounced back from a crushing defeat and showed incredible resolve in forcing a Game 7. If the line between success and failure is that thin, maybe the Jazz should give themselves a few more chances to see whether the next shot falls in their favor.