2021-22 regular season Utah Jazz news, notes and game coverage

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How long will Butler languish on the bench? Will Mitchell finally live up to the hype?

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https://www.ksl.com/article/50265508...niversary-team

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https://kslsports.com/470443/1-nba-opening-night/

Rookie Jared Butler had a brilliant preseason leading the team in both scorings at 18 points per game and assists at 4.3 per game. The only question now is whether the 10th man in the Jazz rotation can find his way into Quin Snyder’s traditional nine-man rotation.

remains to be seen who 10th man out. With two guys out if might be Hughes. Never know with COTY

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https://kslsports.com/470392/jazz-to...-wins-program/

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https://www.deseret.com/2021/10/19/2...ll-mike-conley

“I think one of the things that Jared is dealing with is that every day I get more Jared Butler questions than I do Rudy Gobert questions,” Snyder said. “We do talk about Jared needing to practice patience, but I would argue that’s something we all need to practice.”

sounds good except Clarkson sucks!

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https://thejnotes.com/2021/10/20/uta...cting-minutes/

Still, assuming Paschall plays, one would think that Jared Butler’s guaranteed inclusion must mean Snyder intends to go at least 10-deep.

it appeared in the last pre-season games that Forrest/Butler were going to play not Paschall. Going very small

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https://thejnotes.com/2021/10/19/ake...son-utah-jazz/

who's worried about the Lakers?

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https://www.nba.com/jazz/news/mitche...t-step-forward

While being both mentally and emotionally exhausted after falling to the Clippers 4-2 in the second round of the playoffs, the most notable trait of Mitchell was his distinct limp. Utah’s all-star gutted out out an incredible performance after playing significantly hampered following a severe right ankle sprain suffered eight nights prior.

happened long before that. Maybe 8 days since his posse demanded he play instead of listening to the team doctors

One of Mitchell’s most prominent areas for improvement, at least according to him, comes on the defensive side of the ball. It’s a sentiment that head coach Quin Snyder agreed with, but not because Mitchell already lacked a defensive skillset.

might have the skillset but has shown no desire to play any

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The draft-night trade? That was more difficult for Favors. He expected the first trade. He didn’t expect this one. At 30 years old, winning a championship is prevalent on his mind. As most of us know, Oklahoma City is not in win-now mode. Favors’ presence on the Thunder roster is kind of a square peg. He knows that he’s going to have to play as hard as he can and let things fall where they may. “At first, I was kind of confused,” Favors said. “I was caught off guard. But, I knew it was nothing personal. When I reflected on it from a business standpoint, I knew that something had to happen. I accepted it, and I’m in a great place. I love what the Jazz have done for me, and I love the fans there. OKC, we have a very talented team. We have a lot to learn, and a long way to go. But, we have a group of guys that work hard. It’s going to be a journey in this first year. But this is a talented group of guys.”
– via Tony Jones @ The Athletic




“I’m going to try and treat it like it’s another game,” Favors said in an interview with The Athletic. “But, I know that it’s not another game. Honestly? I just hope I don’t get emotional.” Favors will make his return to face the Utah Jazz on Wednesday as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. It will be the season-opener for both teams, and, since twice being traded away from the franchise, it will be the first time Favors makes his appearance in a visiting uniform. Many remember he was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans two years ago. Twice, he was supposed to come back to Utah with the Pels. Once, he got injured at the last minute. The other? COVID-19 hit that very week.
– via Tony Jones @ The Athletic

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https://www.ksl.com/article/50266128...arship-program

The 10th man on NBA rosters are rarely that strong, but Utah does have some options with Butler and Eric Paschall that could push the rotation to as many as 11 deep once Rudy Gay returns.

the rotation won't be 11

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https://saltcityhoops.com/sportsbook-preview-202122/

That said, I think the Jazz have experienced firsthand that their machine-like regular season formula has a peak that can be scaled by opponents in the playoffs. They are a great, but not unassailable, team. The Jazz deployed Gobert as best as they could to simultaneously guard the Clippers’ endless drives into the paint and cover non-shooter Terance Mann, but had no prepared adjustments to make when Mann transformed into Ray Allen. The health of Mitchell and Mike Conley Jr. (and perhaps a worn-down Joe Ingles, but that is just speculation) was the primary factor in Utah’s most recent playoff exit, but schematic inflexibility was not far behind.

let's not forget COTY and Clarkson

My boldest suggestion, and I guess by extension my biggest hot take prediction, is that Utah should and will showcase Gobert more as a star player. This starts by exhibiting him as a great perimeter defender, capable of defending switches. In the past, players who wind up with Rudy guarding them on a switch would abandon the offense as if to say, “I can take this guy from here.” And they often failed! Players going against Rudy scored just 0.71 points per isolation possession, per NBA.com. I am begging Jazz coach Quin Snyder to expand Gobert’s defensive utility to see what might work (or not!) in the playoffs, and what new branches of defense (doubling? pre-switching or pre-rotating?) can be deployed off that tree, even if that requires some regular season experimentation.

not too familiar with COTY eh?

The quieter, but arguably bigger, issue is how best to wield Gobert’s skillset offensively when defenses dare the Jazz to deploy him in a larger role. It has been incredibly frustrating for years to see a defense unintentionally end up plunking a small guard to defend Rudy on a possession (like the Clippers did!), and see Utah fail to exploit it. The issues ran the gamut: aborted entry passes, strips when the ball came down, not recognizing a double team, record-scratching ball movement. It is a systemic failure that is equally shared by the Jazz ballhandlers, Gobert, and the coaching staff. Conversely, Rudy shined in the Olympics when defended by smaller players (including Team USA’s Draymond Green, a defensive star), putting their ass under the basket while France worked the ball inside at just the right time before the defense adjusted or could send help. Utah’s offense will only be able to reliably frighten teams with this tactic if they get some reps on it with real game action, and I hope it comes to fruition. I don’t need Gobert shooting threes; I need him punishing the Reggie Jacksons of the league to keep opponents from reaching into all-guard/wing lineups that will expose Utah’s defense.

good luck getting the ball out of Mitchell and Clarkson's hands

While I foresee Utah taking a more conservative approach to players’ minutes and a more aggressive approach in experimentation as described earlier, the two best players (Donovan and Rudy) are going to play a shitload of minutes, and they won’t experiment so much that they lose their grasp on a top-2 seed.

Conley/Gobert

And every Jazz shooter should continue their long-range-centric profile: Donovan has full offensive license but knows he is best at bombing away or ramming the ball down a defense’s throat. Conley has the juice from floater range but he’s otherwise hunting threes from everywhere. I don’t think Bogdanovic has taken an intentional midrange shot in 3 years. I don’t think Ingles has taken an intentional midrange shot in his NBA career. Royce O’Neale is tasked solely with shooting threes (although I always implore him to use his dribble-drive game more because there is a lot of untapped potential there). Clarkson also has full license, but ever since his arrival in Utah he’s figured out how to hunt the three over the long two.

too bad Clarkson can't shoot

I’m also hoping that the supporting cast exercises a little more verve on the glass—Royce occasionally will have an out-of-body experience on the glass and averaged a career-high 6.8 rebounds per game last year, but it would be stellar if he could hit 7 to 8 every night more consistently. Gay is the most positive rebounder Utah has had at the 4 spot in quite some time.

be better if they had an actual 4 and Royce could get back to the wing

Let’s put some money on Jordan Clarkson, although these are high, high odds for Clarkson in a category that can be fluky from year to year. Clarkson’s runaway campaign was heavily buoyed by a remarkably efficient and scorching-hot start to the year.

hopefully he'll be elsewhere

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Joe Mussatto: Quin Snyder was asked about Lu Dort having the most success of any player in the league when guarding Donovan Mitchell: “My guess is you could say that about Lu Dort with a lot of guys.”

– via Twitter joe_mussatto





Eric Walden: Donovan Mitchell just revealed that he doesn’t wear contacts during games because he doesn’t like the feeling of his finger touching his eyes. Said he’s been told to go with prescription goggles, but doesn’t feel his eyesight is bad enough yet. pic.twitter.com/jNsVQ6qShj
– via Twitter tribjazz

might explain a lot?

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https://www.ksl.com/article/50266505...-emotional-one

just don't bring him back again. Chose him over their best player Millsap. Wasted years of Gobert's prime spotting him up in the corner. Gave him a ridiculous contract instead of getting the starting 4 they still don't have

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https://www.ksl.com/article/50266409...on-opening-win

They're all big guards that can cause a lot of trouble for teams when they get in the paint. The Jazz at least limited that on Wednesday. Were they perfect? No, but a stronger desire is a good starting point.

sure. Mitchell is at least putting some effort on that side for now. He still can't keep anyone in front of him

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https://kslsports.com/470531/jazz-c-...ainst-thunder/

not the best player in franchise history