2020-21 Regular season- The tax team

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.slcdunk.com/the-downbeat...novan-mitchell

Now Utah’s offensive system is very much in the vein of those Atlanta Hawks, but it is superpowered by star players like Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson, and Rudy Gobert.

star gets thrown around too loosely

[Xiao Yao You]

Tim MacMahon: Mike Conley, who has the unofficial label as the league’s best veteran who has never been an All-Star, believes that he’s earned his spot this season. His answer when @andyblarsen asked Conley about his All-Star chances: “That would mean the world to me obviously. It would say a lot about me as a person after the year I had last year to come back and compete at the level that I’ve competed at. I do feel like I’ve played well enough to be in that conversation and to quite frankly be one of those reserves. I think this year everything has fallen into place where we [have] the best record and we’ve got a coach coaching the team. It’s all falling in line, so if it’s not going to happen this year, that would be tough.”
– via Twitter espn_macmahon

Agreed. Be surprised if you made it

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.ksl.com/article/50111145...o-bigger-goals

"I thought our defense was pretty good until the heroics of Donovan Mitchell down the stretch. And he got going," Clippers coach Ty Lue said.

heroics or George stupidity?

[Xiao Yao You]

https://kslsports.com/453667/jazz-sh...s-to-clippers/

The Jazz allowed too many second-chance opportunities throughout the game which led to a 16-8 scoring advantage for LA on 11 offensive rebounds. Kawhi Leonard grabbed two offensive rebounds on one possession with less than a minute to play which kept the Jazz from ending a good defensive sequence from Royce O’Neale, ultimately sending Leonard to the free-throw line.

Maybe if they had a PF?

The Jazz will still close games with O’Neale, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Gobert in the playoffs regardless of who the Clippers chose to play at center, but having a defender for a few minutes a game that can cover Morris more effectively could be the difference in a postseason series.

having a starting 4 instead of Bojan or even Morgan would make a big difference

Juwan Morgan could be an option internally and there are ways to scheme for Morris’s offensive attack, but this was good exposure for the Jazz that they would prefer to see in the regular season rather than in game one of the playoffs with little time off to solve their issues.

he could be but you'd need a new coach

“I think this is a bump in the road and a good one, in my opinion,” Mitchell said. “I think this is something we can look at and say ‘Okay, we stayed with them but t

you playing a crappy 1st was the difference

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.deseret.com/sports/2021/...novan-mitchell

There were a couple of things that happened that should be a little concerning though. When the Clippers had both George and Leonard sitting through a stretch in the fourth quarter, the Jazz had a chance to close the gap and even take the lead, but they didn’t. They need to be able to kick into a higher gear and capitalize on those moments.

Clippers are deeper after all the talk about how deep the Jazz are

When the Clippers went with a smaller lineup the Jazz were not great, they ended up leaving Beverley and Marcus Morris wide open for shots and didn’t rotate quick enough to make a difference on the defensive end.

going small on the Jazz. Jazz can't go any smaller other than Morgan at the 5

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.slcdunk.com/2021/2/19/22...novan-mitchell

(on a side note, Snyder also sat Mitchell for an extended amount of time because he got 2 fouls early. It’s something I don’t always understand from Snyder. Mitchell ended the game with 4 fouls but because he sat, and because he was tentative when he came back in, it felt like he was avoiding fouls and his defense struggled because of it. And do we honestly think Mitchell will be in any sort of situation where he might foul out? Maybe, but it does feel like this is a rote rule for Jazz rotations that could use a little bit more spirit of the law.)

no he wouldn't foul out because he'd avoid playing any D not that he plays much now. Good reason to sit him and he sucked anyway

[Xiao Yao You]

Kostas Koufos is the new addition on the roster of Olympiacos with the two sides agreeing to join forces for the remainder of the 2020-21 season, the Reds announced Saturday. The Greek-American center as a free agent was aiming for an NBA return after his season with CSKA Moscow, however, Olympiacos convinced him to join its Turkish Airlines EuroLeague squad.
– via EuroHoops.net





The deal between the Greeks and Koufos does not include an option for the 2021-22 season.
– via EuroHoops.net

Always liked him. Too bad Jer didn't

[Xiao Yao You]

Lakers guard Dennis Schroder tested negative for COVID-19, but he will be out at least a week because of potential exposure to the virus through contact tracing, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Lakers coach Frank Vogel said Saturday the team has a “more firm timeline” on Schroder, who will be sidelined an additional three games after being a late scratch in Thursday’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets because of the league’s health and safety protocols. He missed Saturday’s 96-94 loss to the Miami Heat and will also be out Monday versus the Washington Wizards and Wednesday at the Utah Jazz.
– via Dave McMenamin @ ESPN

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.ksl.com/article/50111335...xpose-the-jazz

Los Angeles needed some big moments from Patrick Beverly and Marcus Morris and some late offensive rebounds to clinch the game, and the Jazz had some bad 3-point luck (going 12-of-34 from deep).

having a 4 or one that COTM would play anyway could have changed that

When passing lanes get filled and plays get blown up, it's often up to one player to make things happen. Mitchell, like he did during last year's postseason, showed he can do that. Look at this play in the third:

to bad his play in the 1st was the game

The Jazz are fourth in the league in offensive rebounding percentage, according to Cleaning the Glass, but were beat to the boards Friday by a longer and taller team. On Leonard's late-game rebounds, for example, he was able to outreach Royce O'Neale (you could argue O'Neale's boxout could have been better, though).

Morgan? Someone else not named Favors?

Utah's lack of length on the wing hurt them on Friday and that may be something to keep an eye on going forward. The Jazz are the No. 1 rebounding team in the league, but that stat might not mean much in a seven-game series against teams with good rebounding forwards.

wing isn't the problem especially if O'Neale isn't playin' the 4

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.deseret.com/sports/2021/...novan-mitchell

The last thing they want is to learn tough lessons in the playoffs. That’s what the old Utah Jazz did, and this Utah Jazz team wants to be different.

good luck with that

[Xiao Yao You]

Sarah Todd: “I definitely think he deserves it, more than anyone.” Derrick Favors on Mike Conley potentially being an All-Star.
– via Twitter NBASarah



Eric Walden: Mike Conley discussing his hamstring injury, said he mentioned in the last Charlotte game that it had tightened up a bit and wanted to get it stretched, but “as soon as I said ‘hamstring,’ they took me out.” Said overall it was very mild, far less problematic than last year’s.
– via Twitter tribjazz

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.deseret.com/sports/2021/...ving-utah-jazz

Commentary: If Mike Conley is not named an NBA All-Star, we should all be disappointed

who cares as long as their elite superstar is there

The starters are voted on by the fans, media and players with 50% of the weighted vote going to the fans. It’s pretty much a popularity contest. But it’s the coaches that decide the reserves, and they should know better than most who is deserving of the honor.

we know the coaches suck at picking too. Media is best as sad as that is

Many who watched Conley struggle through the 2019-20 season had all but written him off as a washed veteran and then he completely flipped the script. He was outstanding in the NBA’s Orlando bubble and has come back this season looking like ... what‘s the word? Oh yeah, an All-Star.

he was fine most of last year

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.slcdunk.com/2021/2/21/22...e-jump-nichols

Mitchell is getting some much earned attention for is play this year. As the lead offensive player for the #1 team in the league, Mitchell deserves to be considered one of the premier players in the league so it’s nice to see him get this attention.

leading scorer not one of the premier players on his own team

If Leonard did get those 2 offensive rebounds

we may have won the game

Posted by statpower on Feb 21, 2021 | 5:24 PM

if Mitchell shows up in 1st they win

[Xiao Yao You]

Jazz forward Georges Niang specifically remembers a game in Boston last March: “I do remember Coach telling me: Shoot the f—— ball!” What they do now is fascinating, brilliant, and profoundly different than the old Jazz. (Rockets employees have noticed and feel partly responsible.) The Jazz don’t lead the league in passing anymore. Instead, they lead the league in firing 3-pointers as fast as humanly possible—and now they’re 24-6, 2.5 games ahead of the Lakers, with the best record in the NBA.
– via Henry Abbott @ TrueHoop

[Xiao Yao You]

If Jayson Tatum and Khris Middleton are selected, as expected, for spots as frontcourt reserves, it would leave only one spot for Sabonis, Randle, Bam Adebayo, Gordon Hayward, Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic. Unlike the frontcourt in the East, where much is up for debate, there should be no controversy out West for Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, who is playing All-NBA-level defense for a team that has the best record in the NBA. Like last year, he will earn a $1 million bonus for being selected.
– via Bobby Marks @ ESPN



Gobert also has a $500,000 bonus if he is named All-NBA First-Team Defense at the end of the season. One name not mentioned is Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry, who has appeared in five straight All-Star Games, earning a combined $600,000 in bonus money. Lowry has $500,000 in All-Star incentives this year and, despite ranking No. 4 among all point guards in real plus-minus, will likely not get named because of a crowded group of guards and the inconsistent play of the Raptors in the first half of the season.
– via Bobby Marks @ ESPN

He was robbed of his million twice