January 2021 State of the Jazz Address

[Handlogten's Heros]

Everyone in the league needs dynamic wings, they are very important. But everyone also needs superstar players, and Mitchell can be one of those guys if he improves.

If he does the things you mentioned and cleans up his decision making, he can be a better defending Kemba Walker. But I think the best version of Mitchell is as an elite point of attack defender. That’s what it’ll take for him to be a top 10 player.

I don’t think we should cap Mitchell’s defense and I think it’s ridiculous that we’d be content with him being the non defender he is now.

I agree. The dynamic wing mention is there to really address that I know we have issues there too. I've long thought our ultimate destiny rests on how high DM can take us. When he came into the league folks thought he was gonna be a better version of Avery Bradley.

Quin needs to challenge him on that end... even if that means we have some bad nights when he gets smoked.

 

[Cptgrnlngs22]

This thread is about the team. Even if Don becomes MJ overnight, this team is flawed because we don't have enough perimeter defense. We aren't built for today's NBA. Sure we can look cute at times, but we aren't a real threat.

As for Don, I just disagree with you. I think he is better and has a bigger influence on the game than his own fans give him credit for.

I agree. It’s also irritating to see Niang play with bogey since Niang is pretty much a beggars version of Bogie. I want to see the jazz try oni and Shaq more. We still need a bigger perimeter defender though. Joe and Royce could use less minutes and Niang should forfeit playtime for now to clear some room for oni and Shaq to give us a little bit more defensive presence.


Sent from my iPhone using JazzFanz mobile app

 

[outerspacefan]

Please make me know me when we get any dudes with the ability to contain the other team star dude to just an above average performance. That will be the time when we'll be able to compete for WCF.
Of course it will nonetheless be of help if your 200M dollar players could start playing like ones BEFORE you're 20 down.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Quit lying and changing the rules of conversation.

Our issue isn't size. Our issue is the lack of perimeter defenders. It just so happens that our 3 offensive minded guards we rely on are bad at defense and undersized.

And out of those 3 players you have identified as "bad at defense" who has the best defensive tools?

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Oh, and since Lopo has very much made it clear that the size of your contract dictates the level of criticism you should receive, will complaining about Mitchell's defense next year be fair game?

 

[LoPo]

Oh, and since Lopo has very much made it clear that the size of your contract dictates the level of criticism you should receive, will complaining about Mitchell's defense next year be fair game?

Once again Cy, address the problem at hand instead of taking shots at me.

I have said numerous times in numerous threads and even in this thread that Don's defense has been inadequate. It's not good enough.

 

[MilesDeep]

Lopo, if Don became Jordan overnight, that would be enough. Arrange that, would you? At his best, Donovan isn't in the same realm as Jordan on either end. There is 5.5" of height diff, so that matters.

 

[Thee Jazz Fan]

One of the most vague state of the union addresses ever.

 

[whatthe]

It's a super political time. Smart comments and healing rhetoric could be a big help from athletes right now. It could reach the male audience.

 

[KqWIN]

Still not the point.

Answer me this - if Donovan somehow became Gary Payton on defense, would we have enough to win the title?

My answer is no because nobody can be expected to maintain top notch defense for 48 minutes. What we need is for Don to improve AND add more perimeter defense. We simply lack the perimeter defense we need unless Oni, Shaq and Hughes emerge and are actually trusted by Quin. And then we would have to lessen the minutes for Don, Clarkson and Conley to get the much needed defender out there.

Yes, I think we’re a contender if Don was suddenly the best perimeter defender in the league. That would make him a superstar and elevate the team.

If we add a perimeter defender do we have enough to win the title? No we don’t. We’re not close. We need a superstar talent and Donovan is our chance at that.

We can always improve on the margins. Every team can improve on the margins. But the core thing that is preventing the Jazz from being a contender is not the lack of a perimeter defender, it’s a lack of top end talent.

Think of every contender in the league. They are not contenders because of their role players. They are contenders because of their elite talent.

 

[KqWIN]

I agree. The dynamic wing mention is there to really address that I know we have issues there too. I've long thought our ultimate destiny rests on how high DM can take us. When he came into the league folks thought he was gonna be a better version of Avery Bradley.

Quin needs to challenge him on that end... even if that means we have some bad nights when he gets smoked.

Agreed. We definitely need a dynamic wing, but our ceiling is attached to Don. We can always do better on the margins, but this team will go as far as his development takes us. I can talk about the margins all day, but in reality it’s premium talent that wins. None of our moves this off season mattered more than Mitchell and Gobert extensions, for example.

It’s frustrating because the step required for Mitchell to be average or plus is to put more effort in. He was at that level as a rookie, but his effort has disappeared over the years. On Team USA he looked every bit the defender that Marcus Smart was and his defense was made the coaches consider him the top player on the squad.

If Quin challenged him and made it a point of emphasis for development, I really think he could be an all NBA defender. Especially if he’s guarding players his size.

 

[LoPo]

Yes, I think we’re a contender if Don was suddenly the best perimeter defender in the league. That would make him a superstar and elevate the team.

If we add a perimeter defender do we have enough to win the title? No we don’t. We’re not close. We need a superstar talent and Donovan is our chance at that.

We can always improve on the margins. Every team can improve on the margins. But the core thing that is preventing the Jazz from being a contender is not the lack of a perimeter defender, it’s a lack of top end talent.

Think of every contender in the league. They are not contenders because of their role players. They are contenders because of their elite talent.

He was a top end talent the entire series against Denver. We didn't lose because Don wasn't a superstar. He was a superstar in that series. We lost because we didn't have enough perimeter defending. There is no way he could have carried us on offense if he was the one who had to stop Murray too.

Putting our entire team on Don is so dumb. He can't do it all.

Sent from my SM-G970U using JazzFanz mobile app