Should Donovan be the starting point guard next season?

[LogGrad98]

I like Malcolm but I think his numbers are a little hollow. Theoretically it would be solid I think. I think he could be had for an okayish offer now that they have Tyrese. I don't think it is the panacea some may think it could be.

No but he bodies up bigger guards better than Mike and his numbers, other than 3 pt shooting which is just bad this year, are similar in the other categories. From the perspective of a large guard that can play some defense he would have been a better get than Conley, imo.

 

[TheGoldStandard]

I'd prefer to see Don getting more off ball screens like Curry. Won't happen with Quin, but I think Don would do better if he could get work off the ball more. On ball screens with Rudy are great, but many teams guard it fairly well and are built to switch and/or slip screens.

I also think the team would do better if they had more off ball movement. I've said it a lot, but having a secondary offense with lots of interior off ball movement would be helpful. This team gets in ruts where shots outside are well defended and they struggle to penetrate. They need an offense that creates more wrinkles to get them shots. Much harder to slip screens when there are a lot of backcuts and other movement/counter-movement strategies.

Outside of Stockton, Malone, and Horny, most of the roster on the finals teams were just average. The offense created for them and got them high percentage shots. When defense tightens up in the playoffs, this teams needs those options.

I loved watching old Jazz teams run FLEX and UCLA, they made defenders work hard, and if you stopped paying attention there was an easy bucket.

 

[fallenchicken]

Duh. Should have happened like 4 years ago.
Thanks for the article though.

Yep. Putting small, ball-dominant guards around Mitchell put a hard cap on this team. If the Mitchell/Gobert lineup is going to work Mitchell needs to be the dominant ball-handler, and we need to surround him and gobert with athleticism. At this point in this team's lifespan, I'm not sure it'll be possible. We seem locked in to this core.

 

[LogGrad98]

Yep. Putting small, ball-dominant guards around Mitchell put a hard cap on this team. If the Mitchell/Gobert lineup is going to work Mitchell needs to be the dominant ball-handler, and we need to surround him and gobert with athleticism. At this point in this team's lifespan, I'm not sure it'll be possible. We seem locked in to this core.

Funny thing is what we need in this mix is a player like George Hill. He would have been a great running mate with Mitchell. A larger combo guard who can run the offense but isn't ball-dominant and can guard and hit the 3. Brogdon also fits that mold. Many of us clamored for this instead of Conley.

 

[infection]

Funny thing is what we need in this mix is a player like George Hill. He would have been a great running mate with Mitchell. A larger combo guard who can run the offense but isn't ball-dominant and can guard and hit the 3. Brogdon also fits that mold. Many of us clamored for this instead of Conley.

In an alternate universe we kept Hill and Hayward.

 

[LogGrad98]

In an alternate universe we kept Hill and Hayward.

Hill - DM - Hayward - Bogey - Gobert


Wow

 

[Jingled]

Hill - DM - Hayward - Bogey - Gobert


Wow

We wouldn't have had the cap space to sign Bogey if we kept Hayward.

 

[LogGrad98]

We wouldn't have had the cap space to sign Bogey if we kept Hayward.

Hello? This is an alternate universe we are talking about.

 

[outerspacefan]

Since early on I thought it would be good to transition him to PG, partly because (his rookie year?) he had a really high FG% on passes thrown and seemed to make good reads, then partly because of the size issue. But that feeling soured quite a bit the past few years as he really needs another ball handler next to him to take some of the pressure off (which doesn’t have to be a PG but typically is). My fear about it is that he seems to get a bit of Marty McFly syndrome. He can’t stand down to someone calling him chicken. When other teams apply the pressure with him as the only ball handler, he seems to view that as a challenge and stops thinking rationally and feels he’s got something to prove. I blame this same reason for his really poor clutch numbers. I’m not enthused to completely commit to that. If he can show that he can throw it in reverse rather that crashing into a Rolls Royce (not Royce), then we may really be on to something.

DM's a vet now, and he's been given the basketball for quite a bit a this point.
Can he evolve? Yes, indeed. But everything I watch makes me think he's just going another direction.
The Mitchell that's able to find the best game situacion for him and his teammates is there for sure. We've seen it at the highest level and at high stakes.
But he's does not seem to be the same kid. He appears damn hungry in a much more Mitchell centered way.
And he seems to smell this team, this coaching staff, this iteration is probably kind of terminated.
And I don't mean any of it in a bad way. He's got the right to feel or evolve a bit more self centered if he wants to, in a a league that see and treat these ways as premium attributes.

 

[Ineptimusprime]

Yeah, if I’m the Knicks I’m definitely starting Don at the point.

 

[Ujfanatic]

I loved watching old Jazz teams run FLEX and UCLA, they made defenders work hard, and if you stopped paying attention there was an easy bucket.

I was just thinking this earlier today. The Jazz’s offense is best in the league per the offensive rating metric, but I’m guessing if you asked the other 29 teams in the league they probably wouldn’t even have the Jazz in the top 5 offenses they worry about, maybe not even the top 10.

From a difficulty and effort perspective I think the Jazz are probably pretty easy to defend. Contesting 50 threes a night is nowhere near as taxing as trying to guard teams that run and cut and slash and crash the boards for 48 minutes.

Good offense can also help your defense (and visa versa) by wearing the opponent down and this Jazz team doesn’t seem to do that.

 

[Gameface]

The only perspective of him being better off in Utah is from a Utah fans POV. He absolutely fit that team and he never got back to where he was health wise.

He would have had to have been a fortune teller, but with 20/20 hindsight, he would have been better staying in Utah.