LoPo
Well-Known Member
Don had a poor end to the season. We all know that. His clutch numbers were terrible.Idk, Don's behavior on the court changed dramatically after Joe left. He became a black hole on offense, especially at the end of games where he became the worst clutch player in the league by a mile. No way to know how much was Joe's influence, but it sure is interesting we see a true change on the court after we trade Joe, even when he hadn't been playing for a while due to his injury and the play hadn't really changed that much until he was actually traded. Then the blender stopped, and the end of game melt-downs became not just more frequent but damn near inevitable. If Joe were a solid locker-room presence, for whatever reason, then what we saw on the court sure makes sense in that context when he left.
Point is there is actual tangible documented and data-driven evidence as to a change in the team and DM's play. Now whether it is causation or correlation is fully up to debate, since we weren't in the locker room. But guys like Jones, even if he is just a glorified fan, had access we did not. So even if he is spinning this nicely, it still is pretty damning and fully fits the evidence available to us.
I think losing Joe the player was much more important than losing Joe the "only Don no teller" garbage being spun right now.
Quin only trusted 3 players down the stretch with the ball in their hands - Don, Conley and Joe. So take out Joe and what you got? Don and Conley. For as bad as Don was down the stretch of the season and in the playoffs, Conley was likely worse. Sure somebody will come up with some obscure stat that Conley might have had some statistical advantage here or there, but remember that Donovan Mitchell is guarded by the entire opposing team while Conley was guarded by one guy. That happens because Quin never diversified our offensive offerings down the stretch and we rolled out with the same predictable garbage. Bojan mitigated to a spot up shooter, Royce an unwilling offensive threat, and Rudy only viable in a small window of the lane.
Don struggled for a lot of reasons, and I don't believe the "Joe not being there to tell him no" was any main reason why.