Struggling with Donovan….

[Ute2]

…tonight. I’m just p**sed thinking about what he did to the franchise, refusing to play with Rudy(essentially) and checking out on the team and Quinn at the end of last year.

And I’m feeling mocked by his defensive effort. What makes him want to stay in front of guys so bad tonight that wasn’t there during the freaking playoffs against Jalen Brunson?

[beaslad]

F**k him. Literally the most hated payer since Deron Williams. Maybe more.

[Ute2]

I’m not going to boo.  I’m just going to yell Ruuuudy really loud.

#teamrudy

[pedro]

Anybody else not surprised that he had a great game until his team needed him most, then he chocked?

[Roy Rangum]

I’ll admit that I don’t follow the NBA that closely, so maybe this comment is misplaced, but from everything I could see Donovan was a stand up dude that worked hard to do right in Utah. I love the dude. He was electric his first few years on the court, and he was incredible in the effort he put in to engage with and help the community. Sure, the relationship ultimately didn’t work out, and in the end it was best for him and the Jazz to go separate ways. But I don’t get hating him for it.

[alexsmith]

I think many fans hate that he gave up on the team. It’s hard to watch a team with extremely high expectations fail due to a lack of chemistry and what a lot of fans felt like was a lack of effort, especially from Mitchell. I personally am one that’s been frustrated by him and especially having the Rudy-Donovan scuffles confirmed by him, but I’m pleased to see that he is succeeding elsewhere and extremely pleased that he’s not a member of the Utah Jazz anymore

[cj13]

He also has openly talked about how he loves Cleveland so much better than Utah and something about feeling happier or at home with the Cavs. I don’t blame him for feeling that way but it probably won’t help Jazz fans like him anymore than they do 

[Utes 69]

I am unable to do the Jazz, with D Ainge and Ryan it it is just a big ZOBBIE show now. 

[dystopiamembrane]

Zoobie or Zombie?

[KoolWhitt]

I respect your opinion, and agree that it seems to align with how a lot of Jazz fans feel, but I’ve been thinking about DM quite a bit since his 71 point game and I’m not sure why he gets the hate he does from the fan base and meanwhile Rudy is beloved.

DM is unquestionably the most talented offensive player ever to suit up for the Jazz; Rudy is possibly the best defensive player (Mark Eaton would like a word). Both left us wanting on the other side of the ball.

DM gets called out for not giving enough effort on defense, and in so doing complainants often cite that he was a good defender in college. That may be true, but it fails to consider that DM is massively undersized as a 6’1 SG (despite his wingspan) and fails to account for the fact that he basically had to carry the team on offense. Very few players carry their team offensively to the tune of 25 shots per game and play lockdown defense – and none that do are 5 inches shorter than the ideal height for their position.

Rudy by comparison never seemed to care or work hard enough to develop even a basic offensive game. His footwork is terrible, he has no back to the basket moves, doesn’t use his body or his length well at all, and has no jumpshot to speak of. Have you ever seen him even try a hook shot or any shot that takes advantage of his length? He can dunk the ball without jumping but still shoots underhand layups for crying out loud! He can’t punish opposing coaches for putting 6’8 shooters on him so we would get toasted come playoff time. But for some reason everyone blames Mitchell for quitting on the team. Rudy and Quinn bear a lot of responsibility though.

And despite his massive limitations and archaic skill set, Gobert was vehement that he get a max deal, and very nearly got it. That deal held the franchise hostage; everyone knew that Rudy wasn’t worth anywhere near that but they also knew that the Jazz couldn’t lose him. He makes Jokic/Embiid/AD money and demanded that because he honestly believes that he is just as valuable as them. His ego hobbled the franchise but for some reason everyone gives him a pass; meanwhile DM is accused of quitting on the team even though he gets better every year. Rudy really hasn’t.

As for the Rudy/Donovan thing, I don’t know what went on behind the scenes, and I generally believe that it takes actions from both sides for a relationship to deteriorate. However, I will say that Rudy acted like a complete idiot with the microphone thing, at a time when we really didn’t know anything about Covid. Hindsight is 20/20, and everyone obviously has their own, likely very strong and possibly very politicized feelings about the pandemic, but it is certainly understandable if DM felt that at the time he caught a potentially fatal illness due to Rudy’s recklessness at worst or negligence at best. Friendships and/or professional relationships have been irreparably severed for far less.

Finally, on the “DM is just a gunner who plays no defense” reasoning: I get that that style of hero ball can be frustrating, but why is DM maligned and JC is celebrated? And don’t get me wrong, I love JC, but I don’t think it is fair to celebrate his play and then fail to appreciate or even criticize DM along the same lines.

Ultimately, I think people think that regardless of whatever has been made public, DM privately made it known that he wanted out of Utah and that is where the quitter narrative and the hate comes from. Even though over the summer it was Rudy, not DM, who said “him or me” and DM told management not to trade either player, I think the minds of many fans were made up by then. And maybe they are right, but I will say that I think it is very telling that all of the current Jazz players seem to have a lot of love and respect for DM still. Would doubt that they would feel that way if they felt he had quit on them.

[alexsmith]

See, I think most Jazz fans feel like the biggest thing was effort. We all know that Rudy Goberts game is limited offensively, that’s a matter of fact, but 1. It never felt like he gave up on the offensive side of the floor and 2. In an offensive powered league, he didn’t necessarily need to be the offensive dude when there were 4 other guys on the court that could go off at anytime for 20 points.

Mitchell on the other hand, it felt like he just completely gave up on the defensive side of the ball. Watching early in his career, everyone knew that he was able to play defense, so it felt like the effort just disappeared in the last season or so. Offense in the NBA has turned into a one man show as well, whereas defense is still a total complete team game, so they have different perspectives to be look at from.

Granted, I didn’t watch any of the 2020 COVID season nor did I watch the first place collapse in the year after due to living outside the country, so I didn’t get to see any of it go down, and last year I only got to see a handful of games, so I don’t know much about the situation. Though I didn’t experience must first hand, this is a lot of the stuff I’ve heard over the past year or so and what brings the nasty taste into a lot of fans mouths.

[BoiseUTE]

Best Rudy and DM…..really, what happen to Stockton and Malone? 

[dystopiamembrane]

Anyone else feel like watching the NBA is like watching a drywall installation?

[dystopiamembrane]

Don’t get me wrong. I love watching This Old House, but they have fun accents.

[Tony (admin)]

Yeah I just can’t hang with watching the NBA. 

[Utah]

I think a lot of what kills Mitchell’s drive in Utah was the whole racism/BLM. While it’s not all Utah fans, playing in front of fans and seeing the racist stuff didn’t help. 

Supporting BLM and the conservative fan reactions, didn’t help. 

The dumbass Stuart Adams telling a black man that he didn’t understand critical race theory didn’t help. 

Rudy Gobert being a complete asshat in general didn’t help (I still don’t get the Rudy love. Dude is an ass, but he downplayed COVID, didn’t say anything about racism and bought gift cards so he’s cool, amiright?). 

We can all be disappointed that it didn’t work out and Mitchell can be criticized for not putting out 100% effort every night, but we should be able to step back and say, “I didn’t like it, but I can see why someone like Mitchell would throw his hands up and say screw y’all, I want out.”

And we should all look in the mirror and maybe see if we could act a little better then next time a situation like this comes up. 

[thirtyfour-thirtyone]

This a 1000 times, and anyone who doesn’t see it is part of the problem.  Being in Utah, but not being a straight white Mormon man can be pretty frustrating, especially if you aren’t just in it for the skiing.

 

 

[Stone]

When DM joined the team, it reignited my love for the Jazz. Alas, that faded the last few years after the issues with Rudy and the relatively early playoff exits.

I think DM did a good job engaging the community and is great at PR. But I was very disappointed in him denigrating Utah with assertions of racism.

Is someon in Utah racist? Yes, of course. But someone in Cleveland is, too. Instead of recognizing that the vast majority of people everywhere are NOT racist, DM could not resist throwing out the slander of Utah being racist. I think he had a quote in that same article as how it is so nice to be in Cleveland around people who “look like him” (i.e., around more people with darker skin). I am over that s**t. For him to claim racism in Utah, then say that. It is full on racist to say that s**t, no matter the context or who says it. The double standard is bulls**t, and should not be tolerated anymore.

We, the entire human race, need to stop caring so much about the color of skin and a helluva lot more about the content of character. The US was certainly trending that way in the 80s and 90s (as compared to earlier decades), and I think the US is still a world-leader on that front, but some have found it to their benefit to highlight skin color again. Sadly. Seeing DM do that, playing to an audience, was garbage, and I lost a lot of respect for him for that. 

[Roy Rangum]

I don’t think Donovan was playing to an audience. He was speaking his mind according to how he saw things.

Quite frankly, the more I see people react to Donovan’s comments on racism has further solidified my view that too many in Utah just simply don’t have a clue when it comes to racism, and that Donovan was right.

To be fair to Utahns – it’s understandable why so many of us don’t understand racism. There aren’t enough people of color here in Utah for us to truly understand it.

That said – it’s still a bad look for the people of Utah, and the responses are only further reinforcing the stereotypes of Utah being a racist place.

[Author]

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