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RIFT IN JAZZ LOCKER ROOM

What’s selfish at this point is Joe and other teammates having to deal with these questions. Donovan needs to say something at this point.
 
The only reason Gobert became the poster child for the coronavirus is because he was the first player tested. He's a victim of the virus like everyone else. It's actually a good thing, since Rudy brought much-needed public attention to the spreading virus.

If the Jazz decide they want to trade Gobert, it will be due to disagreeing about his next contract.
 
What I've heard through the grapevine.

Rudy was frustrated he wasnt getting the ball enough on offense. Others felt like he was being selfish to get into the All-Star game. Rudy was blaming Donovan for the defense. Most players have sided with Mitchell because he's more well-liked and Gobert's personality rubs people the wrong way.

So this is about more than the COVID19 thing. Covid just tipped it over the edge and hasnt given them time to excel on the court to mask the locker-room issue.
 
Like creating a rift in the locker room or other things like that.
Some issues that involve also other players...and the economy of the whole team.
It appears that has already happened, but what I heard was that it was already that way. They were starting to play better as a team as the season progressed and Conley regained his health. Overall I think lockerroom stuff is overblown.
 
Still not worried about it. They obviously arent friends, so they arent going to link up while they are quaranting. It's strictly a business relationship and thats fine.

It should be fine. But like bands, athletes turn into little bitch babies and stuff gets crazy.
 
Man I’ve seen a lot of stuff slamming Donovan’s character on this thread that is based on assumptions or just isn’t true. Donovan does a TON for this State that a lot of people don’t realize because it doesn’t get reported. My wife works in the public school system and he really tries his hardest to take care of the kids in Utah. And he also makes a point to not make a big deal out of it. Maybe he does appear annoyed in public from time to time but he is a genuinely great dude and cares a lot about the local kids. And so does Rudy.


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If it's true that their relationship is beyond the point of repair you have to trade one. Sure they could potentially just be professionals and put egos aside and just play the game but how often in the history of sports does that actually work out? I'd personally much rather see a scenario where both of them are in a Jazz jersey for the entirety of their career but that doesn't seam realistic at this point. While IMO Rudy is the more impactful RIGHT NOW you have to keep Donovan. Rudy turns 28 this summer and his contract is going to be in the Max/Supermax range. I love Rudy but it's easier to replace a defensive minded/limited offense big man in the modern game than a 23 year old who is almost averaging 25 a night and pretty much respected by everyone in the league.
 
This team in its current iteration is done. I see no good exit out of this situation.

Option 1: We keep them both and we have a team where one of our stars can't stand the other one and is likely to bolt the first chance he gets.
Option 2: We trade our best player Gobert for peanuts. This team is trash without him.
Option 3: We trade Mitchell and look like idiots as the team that chose the older fool of a center who acted irresponsibly and stopped the NBA and will need a big contract next year and the team that gave up on a young star for him.
Option 4: Just trade them both and start over? I guess...

There is no win in this situation. This is ****ing ridiculous. Oh and BTW... can you imagine the fans reaction to Mitchell when he forces Rudy out of the team? This won't be pretty... I can see the arena booing him every time he gets the ball.

So which one do I choose? No idea... I'm gonna have to sleep on it and think about it a bit more... IMO they MUST try to get them on the same page when the quarantine is lifted. Try it, if it works, great... if not... we are ****ed.
 
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What I've heard through the grapevine.

Rudy was frustrated he wasnt getting the ball enough on offense. Others felt like he was being selfish to get into the All-Star game. Rudy was blaming Donovan for the defense. Most players have sided with Mitchell because he's more well-liked and Gobert's personality rubs people the wrong way.

So this is about more than the COVID19 thing. Covid just tipped it over the edge and hasnt given them time to excel on the court to mask the locker-room issue.
Rudy SHOULD be frustrated he wasn't getting the ball enough. Here are his FGAs in the last month of play:

9, 6, 7, 12, 8, 7, 5, 4, 4, 9, 8, 4, 3, 4.... How the hell does that make sense? ABSOLUTELY HE SHOULD BE GETTING MORE SHOTS. And all the ballhogs on this team need to stop blaming Rudy for the on-court problems of this team. He's literally the LAST problem of this team on the floor when it comes to selfishness and taking shots he shouldn't be taking. How about try to find the guy that finishes everything inside? How is it possible that for the last month one of the best finishers in the game has ONE game with over 10 field goal attempts and and 6 games with 5 or under? HOW?

On the other hand, I kind of understand them if they are pissed off at him about the coronavirus thing. The reports are that he's repeatedly made those types of jokes in the locker room and it doesn't matter if it was him catching it from Mitchell or the other way around. They are not mad about him giving them the virus, they are mad about him being irresponsible and putting other people in danger that didn't need to be put in danger. I'm not here to tell Mitchell or anybody else for how long they should be upset with Gobert, but of course at some point there has to be forgiveness and lets hope things get better when they get together after this and get the chance to talk about it and clean things up.

The NBA has a special place in hell for waiting until one of their players tested positive too, did they think they will just skate by and remain unaffected by it? What was the point of prolonging this and putting people in danger? They knew this was community spread. They knew big gatherings are among the biggest culprits of the spread but they had no problem continuing milking the market for as long as possible until one of their players tested positive.
 
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