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Our Long Term Problem is Our Stars are Limited

Look I love DM and Rudy... and there are very few stars that aren't a little limited so this is probably kind of unfair... I mean hell even Giannis struggles at times because his shot isn't good enough.

BUT I think the reason we likely don't become a true contender is our stars are limited. If you stars are limited then you can't force the best teams to bend to your will.

Had we kept Rubio and Darius and just added Clarkson and Bogy we would have won 55 games this year. We didn't need to spend all that money on Conley and trade all those players to get him, either!
 
The following is a list of players who could make the current Jazz a legit contender if they were somehow added to the team: Giannis, Lebron, Kawhi, Siakam, Doncic, Paul George, James Harden, Dame Lillard, Anthony Davis, Steph Curry, Zion Williamson, and maybe Ben Simmons. I'm on the fence with guys like Jimmy Butler, Brandon Ingram, Ja Morant, Klay Thompson, Brad Beal or Devin Booker.

So I'm saying that basically a team needs 3 All Stars to be real contenders, or 2 All Stars if they're both All NBA 1st-team players. No one is going to trade to us a player of that caliber. We'd have to draft him or win him over in free agency.
 
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The following is a list of players who could make the current Jazz a legit contender if they were somehow added to the team: Giannis, Lebron, Kawhi, Siakam, Doncic, Paul George, James Harden, Dame Lillard, Anthony Davis, Steph Curry, Zion Williamson, and maybe Ben Simmons. I'm on the fence with guys like Jimmy Butler, Brandon Ingram, Ja Morant, Klay Thompson, Brad Beal or Devin Booker.

So I'm saying that basically a team needs 3 All Stars to be real contenders, or 2 All Stars if they're both All NBA 1st-team players. No one is going to trade to us a player of that caliber. We'd have to draft him or win him over in free agency.
Actually, if we’re talking about the title window for this core, we’re not drafting that guy either. We don’t have the draft capital, and he wouldn’t be ready.
 
I think you have to have not just a star, but a superstar. Someone who can't be game planned into being irrelevant. We don't have that, yet. Rudy will never be that guy but can compliment the person who is. Donovan needs that 6'7 wing who plays both says really well to become that person.
 
If we compare ourselves to the Warriors (and we should because they will be back next year).

Gobert = Draymond (DPOY)
Mitchell = Steph (scorer go to guy, Donovan actually had a much better 3rd season - largely due to Curry's ankle injury)
Ingles = our poor man's Klay Thompson
Conley = our Andre Igoudala (veteran who should be able to help a lot in the playoffs)
Clarkson = Shaun Livingston (surprising athlete off the bench who can change the game dynamic)
Bogdanovic = the rest of our Klay Thompson (gets buckets in bunches when hot).


When I look at it that way, I think we got a shot. Of making some noise in the playoffs, but this team needs to gel more.
 
That Warriors team was way more athletic than we are, and their comps are better than ours in every position except maybe Clarkson/Livingston.
 
I don't think he avoids contact like a couple others said. I think the way he's built he absorbs the contact and they don't call it. He certainly doesn't look to do the BS jump into guys stuff or flopping garbage... and unfortunately it will limit how many calls he gets. He plays the right way and is punished for it. He is strong and it works against him... I've always though Lebron got way less calls than he should because he goes through the contact with strength rather than acting like he got shot.
LeBron is one of the most notorious floppers in league history. But point taken about Mitchell. I think in general we don't get the same calls other teams get, and the last 2 minute reports for the last several years prove that out.
 
LeBron is one of the most notorious floppers in league history. But point taken about Mitchell. I think in general we don't get the same calls other teams get, and the last 2 minute reports for the last several years prove that out.
LeBron does both. He trucks right through people AND he embellishes contact when fouled. He uses the refs to his advantage. However, I don't think LeBron flops when he isn't fouled. He just overacts when he is fouled.

Mitchell could learn to do the same thing. He is strong enough to shed most PGs and SGs but needs to learn that body movement that draws ref attention to fouls. Not flop, but embellish the impact of the contact like LeBron does.

And with us being Utah, we got good refs in the days of Stock and Malone. Not against MJ who got every call every time, but against many others. I don't think Gobert will ever get the ref respect on the offensive end because how he acts and his lack of offensive polish.

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Our players have to find a way to block out the refs and just play ball. Well never get the calls. It isn't worth taking yourself out of the flow of the game worrying complaining or whining about it. They need to just get back down court. I think this is a decent chunk of what is throwing Rudy off his game. Instead of focusing on what he can control he is spending way too much time an energy on complaining. Snyder needs to step up here and take a few techs to defend the team.
 
I think our stars are good enough, but only if we have the perfect compliments with them. We don't have it this year. We need an upgrade at the 4 and to add someone like Lonzo Ball in place of Conley. I would be so excited for Lonzo Ball on this team!
 
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