2021 training camp/pre-season!

[Xiao Yao You]

Mitchell himself tested positive. Mitchell was openly annoyed about the way things transpired, and The Athletic reported the relationship was “unsalvageable.” Tensions were high for everyone around the world at the time, but the teammates talked before going to the Bubble. Gobert admitted he made a mistake. The All-Star duo moved on and sources around the Jazz say it hasn’t been an issue since.
– via Kevin O'Connor @ The Ringer




Now, Gobert and Mitchell are hoping to lead the Jazz over the top in the playoffs together. Mitchell will do most of the scoring, but he appreciates Gobert’s beyond-the-box-score impact. “People don’t pay attention to that. It’s a lot of information that people don’t really want to hear about,” Mitchell says. “But it definitely doesn’t go lost in this locker room.”
– via Kevin O'Connor @ The Ringer






But Gobert is no stranger to adversity, even as he’s emerged as one of the game’s best centers. After being snubbed from the 2019 All-Star Game, he cried out of frustration in the midst of a media scrum. Last year, he was criticized for flippantly touching reporters’ microphones at the cusp of coronavirus pandemic, only to test positive soon after. And now, some question whether he can help lead the Jazz to the title if he can’t keep pace with the modern NBA. “Just because I’m 7 foot, and I do what I do on the court, people tend to think that I’m just a robot,” he says. “But we’re all human beings. We all have emotions. Sometimes you let them out.”

– via Kevin O'Connor @ The Ringer







Fournier, who was already a top French player for his age group, says few people really believed in Gobert, but he competed hard. “One of the reasons why me and him are very close is because I never gave him shit,” Fournier says. But plenty of kids did. Gobert would get laughed at by his peers when he’d tell them that he’d make it to the NBA. “Everybody was looking at me crazy,” Gobert says. “I wasn’t even the best player on my team back then.”
– via Kevin O'Connor @ The Ringer






Eric Walden: Rudy Gobert has opened a food pantry at a Salt Lake City middle school where 86% of students live below the poverty line. “It always breaks my heart to see students, kids have to worry about their next meal. I was one of those kids many years ago.”
– via Twitter tribjazz

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https://www.ksl.com/article/50263212...-with-the-jazz

On Monday, the Jazz will announce their final roster for the 2021-22 season. There's not a lot of intrigue when it comes to the roster. Utah has 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts with Miye Oni's deal becoming fully guaranteed in January.

lots of intrigue with essentially two open roster spaces. Could sign Bradley and Galloway if they wanted

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https://kslsports.com/470176/5-jazz-guard-mike-conley/

With added guard depth, the Jazz may be able to offer Conley more rest throughout the season to both preserve the veteran’s health and to develop the younger talent towards the backend of the rotation.

could have last year. They chose not too.

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https://www.deseret.com/2021/10/15/2...-training-camp

Mitchell said the recovery time from his injury was prolonged, but he came to training camp fully healed and in great shape, having been able to return to action before he got back to Utah.

maybe listen to team doctors next time instead of your posse?

He played in three of the Jazz’s preseason games (missing one due to a non-COVID-19-related illness) and he was really impressive. Butler’s handles and court vision, strength and defensive instincts make him seem wise beyond the experience of a rookie, so it’s hard to imagine that he’s not a part of the Jazz’s rotation moving forward.

it's hard to imagine he is part of the rotation if they are healthy sadly

Did they Jazz get what they wanted out of their destination training camp? So far all signs point to yes. Ingles said the team talked through what happened in the playoffs the last two years and that even the newcomers to the team added what they’d seen from the outside. Hassan Whiteside said this is the most close-knit team he’s ever been a part of and he’s only been here a few weeks. Those are good things to hear just two weeks after the trip to Las Vegas.

but clarkson and COTY are still here and Mitchell still doesn't play D or pass the ball

That said, we can probably expect for Gay to take over the Georges Niang minutes and to play some small-ball five when the matchup calls for it. We saw the Jazz use Eric Paschall in that way during the preseason a little, so that’s some indication of what to expect, but to really know we’ll have to wait and see.

no reason to think it will actually happen

It’s unfortunate that he was injured through so much of last season because some game reps would really help get him up to NBA speed on understanding where he needs to be on both sides of the ball, but that’s where we are. He needs more time.

it's too bad he missed the gleague. Garbage time isn't that big of a deal

Sometimes they’ll look to Jordan Clarkson to initiate some offense and sometimes when Ingles or Conley are resting the jazz will probably turn to Butler or Trent Forrest, but I wouldn’t expect any major changes.

if Clarkson touches the ball he is shooting

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https://saltcityhoops.com/can-butler...lid-preseason/

Reigning Sixth Man of the Year award winner Jordan Clarkson and his runner-up Joe Ingles both operate primarily as ball-handling guards off the bench. Ingles is 6’8″, but he’s much closer spiritually to being a point guard than a big wing the Jazz would ever want to have wrestle with NBA 4s as a regular part of his job description. Put another way, his role is much closer to Conley’s than it is to Royce O’Neale’s or Bojan Bogdanovic’s. He is a guard, on both ends of the floor, even if he is packaged like a forward.

Bojan doesn't want to wrestle with 4's either and they'd be better off if O'Neale didn't have to

It seems from Butler’s early progress that leapfrogging past Hughes and Forrest on the depth chart is doable — in fact, it likely has happened already. But he still has four solid, impactful NBA guards in front of him.

Oni and Forrest are the guys he's ahead of. Hughes was never in the discussion. The question right now with Gay out is if they go really small with Butler or play bff. Looks like they might go really small, Hopefully he's so good Clarkson is put on the block!

Another option some have brought up: simply slide Ingles to the 4 more often. He’s 6’8″ after all. But again, the problem there is that it further eats into the minutes that O’Neale, Bogey and Gay might play. Plus, if you look at how Snyder has historically used Ingles, there’s very little evidence that he believes Ingles can be a 4 in anything beyond quick change-up type scenarios. In the entire 2020-21 season, Ingles played just 17 total possessions where he was the nominal power forward. For 12 of those 17, the smaller Oni was on the court with him to help line up defensively. Snyder just doesn’t use Ingles as a stretch four.

and Oni was the one crashing the glass and playing more like a 4

Instead, the most likely scenario is that Butler begins the season in sort of an on-deck role, the 10th man in a 9-man rotation, meaning he’ll step in any time a guard is hurt, needs rest, or gets into foul trouble. Oni filled that role last season, but since he’s not a ball handler, the Jazz found themselves a little light on facilitators in those moments where he stepped in for one of the four main creators. The effect of that ball handling dearth was especially palpable in the Clippers series. Conley was out, Mitchell’s movements were limited, Ingles doesn’t necessarily thrive going 1-on-1 against switches, and Clarkson is famously a high-variance possession user. As a result, the Jazz ran into problems scoring at times throughout the series, which coupled with their well-documented defensive troubles to open the door for L.A. to come back in the series.

He needs to be with the Stars if he's not playing

There is one other way Butler could see his role get bigger as the season goes along, and it’s something our Zarin Ficklin recently hinted at: if he’s really that ready, Jazz brass might feel more freedom to consider trades that would involve a current rotation player. Frankly, that doesn’t feel like something a contender should do unless they’re 100% convinced that the trade return represents an upgrade AND 100% sold on Butler’s ability to soak up the consequently available minutes. But it’s one way things could unfold if Butler is simply too good to be denied playing time.

they should have been considering it anyway. They don't have a starting 4 and Clarkson sucks

Roster moves: Rosters have to be trimmed to 14-15 standard contracts (with up to two 2-ways) by Monday, which means we’ll see a lot of waivers over the weekend. If a player the Jazz secretly love as a project gets waived, that could change their plans with the last few roster spots. It’s not entirely likely, but it also didn’t seem likely in 2014, when the Jazz had to cut a player with guaranteed salary in order to submit a waiver claim on a 27-year-old rookie named Joseph Howarth Ingles. That, um, worked out for them. I’m sure that the detail-oriented front office already has a list of players on camp deals who they like as much as or more than players currently at the back of their roster. Just something to keep an eye on. A few teams — Houston, Charlotte, Dallas, San Antonio and Memphis — have more than 15 players with at least partial guarantees for the season, which means at some point they might try to give away a player to a team that owns a trade exception. The Jazz have the ability to absorb a small contract, but again, I think they’ll only do it if it’s a player they’ve secretly coveted all along.

they were tanking when they picked up Ingles and not deep in the luxury tax

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https://thejnotes.com/2021/10/15/uta...-team-acquire/

OK, so maybe we lied a little in the opening slide. Damian Lillard’s rumored potential availability may have swayed us towards including him in this list. Having said that, the Utah Jazz would love to acquire the superstar guard under any circumstances.

unless it's for Mitchell he doesn't make much sense

Here’s the rub: current Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley stands a mere 6’1 himself. The Jazz seemed to make do with their diminutive backcourt last season, posting a 107.5 Defensive Rating that ranked third in the National Basketball Association.

Conley plays D and is happy passing and playing off the ball

Zion Williamson’s career has not exactly gone according to plan, but when he has been able to suit up for the New Orleans Pelicans, he’s looked every bit the part of a future MVP candidate. For that matter, he’s frequently looked like a present MVP candidate.

makes little sense.

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https://fansided.com/betsided/posts/...-mvp-candidate

The Utah Jazz have a simple set-up. Donovan Mitchell powers the offense and Rudy Gobert takes care of the defense. The Jazz are able to have a great defense every year because of Gobert’s talents -- which have won him three of the last four Defensive Player of the Year Awards.

except the offense also revolves around Gobert

Utah’s system props Mitchell up as the star and the driving force of the team. It’s because of that that Mitchell is seen as the MVP of the team and has higher MVP odds. However, does Gobert have a case?

and yet Gobert was the one with the votes last year

While Gobert may have an analytical case to being the most important piece to what the Jazz do, there is no way a center who averages 14.3 points per game is getting any votes in the MVP race.

it's not close. Mitchell isn't close to Conley either

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Adrian Wojnarowski: The Memphis Grizzlies are waving guard Kris Dunn, sources tell ESPN. That gets the Grizz roster to 15 for opening night.

– via Twitter wojespn

Dunn defends

Rockets waive Dante Exum

Shams Charania: The Houston Rockets have waived guard Dante Exum.
– via Twitter ShamsCharania

time to go back down under

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Tony Jones: The Utah Jazz are signing Malik Fitts to a two way deal, League Sources tell The Athletic….Fitts impressed in the preseason and during training camp.

– via Twitter Tjonesonthenba

roster final?

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Eric Walden: The Utah Jazz have waived Nino Johnson. The 6-9, 246-pound forward will likely be joining the SLC Stars.
– via Twitter tribjazz

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Jared Weiss: Celtics are waiving Theo Pinson, Garrison Matthews and Chris Clemons, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA. Pinson, Clemons, Luke Kornet, Ryan Arcidiacono and Juwan Morgan will go to Maine while Garrison Matthews becomes a free agent. Jabari Parker & Bruno Fernando remain with the team.
– via Twitter JaredWeissNBA

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The Utah Jazz have converted the contract of forward Malik Fitts to a two-way contract. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released. Fitts (6-8, 230, St. Mary’s) played in four preseason games with the Jazz, seeing action in four games, averaging 3.8 points on 45.5 percent from the field and 83.3 percent from three, along with 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 11.8 minutes per contest.
– via NBA.com

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https://kslsports.com/470270/jazz-si...o-way-conract/

The Jazz also announced that they’d waived forward Nino Johnson who is expected to land with the Salt Lake City Stars. The team’s roster now stands at 14 players on guaranteed deals entering the final weekend of the preseason, plus Fitts and guard Trent Forrest on two-way contracts.

13 but why should you know that

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The national narrative is that three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert was played off the floor when trying to match up against the Clippers’ small lineup. Others point to the Jazz turnstile defense on the perimeter which asked Gobert to choose between stopping easy baskets at the rim or staying glued to his individual assignment on the perimeter.


Others will point to the team’s rash of injuries late in the season, particularly to their All-Star backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley.

others will point to COTY refusing to adjust

Through four preseason games, rookie Jared Butler has been the breakout performer for the Jazz. The guard led the team in both scoring at 18 points per game and assist and 4.3 during the preseason. But will Quin Snyder rely heavily on a rookie during the team’s most important games?

it's too bad he didn't go to Duke

[Xiao Yao You]

https://thejnotes.com/2021/10/16/uta...-phoenix-suns/

yet the Suns were the better team for some reason? Coaching maybe?