Whatever happens this season, the Utah Jazz will be absolutely fine.
On Jan, 5 last season, the Jazz lost their twenty-eighth game of the season, falling to the Atlanta Hawks in a road game. Gobert was out with an injury, and the Jazz looked like they were in trouble.
The Jazz’s franchise center figured his teammates needed a boost, and part of that came through a message through the LeBron James channel of communication — Twitter.
We will be fine
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) January 6, 2018
Four simple words, but from that moment, the Jazz would finish 29-6, making the playoffs after finishing fifth in the Western Conference. They had the second-best defense in the league for the season and would have likely finished first if Gobert had been healthy enough to play over 2,000 minutes (he played 1816 minutes in 56 games). Their defensive rating after the All-Star break was a crazy 96.0 — the Sixers, who had the second-best defense, had a 100.8 defensive rating after the All-Star break.
The Jazz won 66 percent of the games that Gobert played in, and took those results to heart by not making too many changes in the offseason. The Jazz brought back Derrick Favors in free agency, resigned Dante Exum, and selected Grayson Allen with the No. 21 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. While they lost assistant coach Igor Kokoskov to the Phoenix Suns, with Quin Snyder at the helm, they should be able to keep things rolling.
While Gobert is anchoring the defense, Donovan Mitchell is the engine for the team’s offense. The athletic guard burst onto the scene his rookie season after spending two years at Louisville, averaging 20 points per game for the season while finishing second in the Rookie of the Year race to Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons.
Mitchell captured the hearts of the Jazz fans with his sunny personality and incredible play on the court. Whether he was getting to the rim with a spin move that is already a signature move in the league or pulling up for a 3-pointer, it seemed like he was playing on a different plane of existence compared to his opponents, one where he was able to predict future timelines and identify exactly what he needed to do to find success.
Another strength for this Jazz squad comes from their versatile and deep collection of wings. They traded Rodney Hood to the Cavaliers, getting Jae Crowder in return, and the former Cavalier adapted well to the culture with the Jazz. With underrated glue guy and Splash Bloke Joe Ingles capable of locking down scorers on defense while shooting 44 percent from behind the arc, the Jazz have two capable 3-and-D forwards they can play alongside Mitchell, Ricky Rubio, Favors and Gobert. Toss in Exum, Alec Burks, Thabo Sefolosha, and Royce O’Neale, and in a league where defensive versatility is incredibly valuable, the Jazz have six players they can rotate through on the wing to harass offenses.
It’s incredible to watch the Jazz play basketball. While other teams are trying to craft offenses that can score 120 points on any given night, the Jazz are here to wipe out your hopes and dreams, tell you that Santa Claus isn’t real, and convince you that you’ve been eating bananas wrong your whole life.
That’s the attitude they need to have for the 2018-19 season — keep things rolling, and things will be fine. Their defense should carry them to over 40 wins and the playoffs again, and if their offense can click with Gobert healthy for over 65 games, they’ll have home-court for round one of the playoffs by the end of the season.
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