Anthony Edwards has posted some big offensive numbers during the postseason and the Timberwolves’ second-year guard is embracing the spotlight, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Edwards racked up 36 points in the Game 1 upset of Memphis and was thrilled to have a national audience to witness it.
“I think it’s very important to play at my best because they hide me during the regular season as far as no national TV games,” Edwards said. “So, people don’t really get to see me play unless I have an enormous game where I score 40-something or hit a game-winning shot or I get a huge dunk. I feel like games like this, I have to take advantage of because it’s the only time I get to be on TV so I’m trying to showcase my talent and everything I can do.”
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- Luka Doncic‘s calf strain has actually put more pressure on the Jazz this postseason, Sarah Todd of the Deseret News opines. Dallas evened up the series with a victory in Game 2 on Monday. If the Jazz fail to eliminate a Mavericks team operating without their franchise player for at least part of the series, they would likely undergo major changes throughout the organization this offseason.
- Donovan Mitchell made some comments out of frustration late in the regular season as the Jazz stumbled into the playoffs, saying “it’s the same s—” that had led to the team’s demise in previous seasons. However, Mitchell addressed the team shortly after those comments were made to reassure his teammates that he had seen growth with this current group and still believed in their chances to make a deep run, Sam Amick of The Athletic reports.
- The Trail Blazers have the resources for an accelerated rebuild, ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) writes in his offseason guide. They can go over the cap to re-sign key free agents Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic and use their $20.9MM trade exception to pull off a major deal. They’ll also have the $10.3MM mid-level exception at their disposal in free agency.
As Mitchell should have done as the team’s leader, but he and everyone else know the Jazz are toast.
Trade Gobert
Trade Conley
Fire Snyder (?)
Do good stuff
Lean into the young players a bit more (Butler?)
Hope for better results next year
None of the things you mentioned are “good stuff” Mitchell is great offensively but he needs to play some D.
And, pray tell, your magical plan for improving the Jazz with no cap space and without giving up anything to get anything of quality?
The friction between Mitchell and Gobert is well documented, and it was always questionable locking up so much money in a center like him as good as he is defensively. Clearly, he cannot be your #2. It’s time to move on and get back some assets they can utilize in a different way.
Conley just scored 0 points in a playoff game. He’s also old and has a rather extensive injury history in recent years. It’s only logical to consider moving him.
Yes, the Jazz need more defense, particularly on the wing. But keeping the status quo is not the answer. This team is far enough from a championship that a more significant shakeup is needed to see if a different approach can work. They have already tried to shuffle some smaller pieces around their core and it hasn’t worked.
The team can always try to sign a center like Mitchell Robinson in FA to replace Gobert’s production. He won’t be nearly as effective, but an argument can be made that a player like that at a much lower cap hit would be a wiser investment.
Already knew gobert time was coming he’s a basic center that play defense you can get anybody else for cheaper to do that he not a two way center and Mitchell not a two player they not winning no championship ever anyways so don’t matter
The Jazz are in year two and game 3 of the 1st round of being a very good to great team.
I’ll admit that there’s is definitely some media generated “friction” between Gobert and Mitchell.
The fact remains though that a small market team shouldn’t trade the heart and soul of the team for scrap and filler. There’s nobody they could trade Gobert for that would even make a modicum of difference. As good as Mitchell is the Jazz would be a lottery team without Gobert.
I could see some merit in trading Conley and giving the reins of the team to Mitchell offensively. Maybe..just maybe he’s ready to take on that role. Who’s going to take on Conley though and what are they going to get in return?
Butler was the 40th pick in the draft for a reason. He’s young and he has potential but he hasn’t shown anything to instill any confidence that shows he’s ready to take on the role of being the starting SG role on a contender.
“The fact remains though that a small market team shouldn’t trade the heart and soul of the team for scrap and filler.”
Not sure where I suggested this, but obviously Gobert is a good enough player where the Jazz shouldn’t even consider anything remotely close to a salary dump. That’s why I said they should try to trade him for real assets. There are plenty of other teams which could badly use his services.
“I could see some merit in trading Conley and giving the reins of the team to Mitchell offensively. Maybe..just maybe he’s ready to take on that role. Who’s going to take on Conley though and what are they going to get in return?”
As for Conley, he’s being paid $21 million to get the job done. Either he can or he can’t, and I don’t blame him for a failure to do so at this stage of his career. But that is valuable cap space to the organization. As for whether they can get anything worthwhile for him, I have no idea. Again, that’s why it’s worth exploratory talks. If they would have to give up real assets to move him, maybe it wouldn’t be worth considering. But he most certainly should be on the block.
“Butler was the 40th pick in the draft for a reason. He’s young and he has potential but he hasn’t shown anything to instill any confidence that shows he’s ready to take on the role of being the starting SG role on a contender.”
Indeed, Butler was the 40th pick of the draft for a reason…but it wasn’t his talent. It was his injury history. In fact, Vecenie of The Athletic had him as his 17th rated prospect last year. I’m not suggesting he would or should be a major contributor next year, but when you’re in the situation that the Jazz may find themselves in next year it may be better to prioritize development of talented youth than to pray minimal home court advantage would be of any use in the playoffs. Beggars can’t be choosers, after all. In any event, it was meant to be more of a footnote than a key component of a thoughtful plan.
I was wrong on Edwards. I wasn’t a big fan coming into the nba. I eat my words.
Agreed. Very impressive but there’s a lot of “I’s” and “Me’s” in that quote.
Ant loves the spotlight and the media attention, but he’s really a good team player. When you can opposites like KAT and Pat Bev to love you, you’re doing something right as a team player.
Ant is the type of player that I think without his god given talent would fail to be sufficiently motivated to be the best version of himself in the NBA, given his admitted lack of true love for the game. That was always my concern coming out of the draft.
That said, his insane talent and desire to show it off seem to have allowed for his work ethic to shine through on both a personal and team level and make him into a budding star. I knew that was always a very real possibility; it was just a little difficult to bank on depending on how the early stages of his career went.
Obviously I could be wrong about all of that. Just my opinion.
Mea Culpas are supposed to include “me”s and “I”s. (Or “mea”s.) Apologies or admissions for someone else ring false.
This Mitchell dude is always pointing fingers & making noise, I just wish he would back himself up with his play, he is just a volume scorer, poor shooter, can’t rebound & just average passer, I mean he is probably a starter in many teams, but he can never be considered anywhere near a star player unless he starts doing a lot more & a lot better on the court!
You see, like in this series, yes he is averaging 33 in the first 2 games v DAL… but with a 39/31 shooting line… & he has been overall ok at best, 5 out of 10… in the playoffs you need your stars to be very good, like 8 out of 10!
He is one of the most overrated players in the league, I wouldn’t want him in my team, that is for sure!
Utah does not have a star. They Brought Danny Ainge in for a rebuild. Conley was old and slow last night. Mitchell looked like westbrick. Bodo was the only my one who could score. Rudy has no O. Mavs in 6.
We’ll see how the Jazz respond at home. Hard to fault a team for losing to a higher seed on the road. Dallas still won plenty of games without Doncic during the regular season.
The Jazz will likely score a lot more points per game at home. Dallas won’t be able to keep up without Doncic. When healthy, most teams couldn’t keep up with the Jazz #1 offense. Just have to find the rhythm.
I’ll I heard out of Edwards mouth was “me, me, me, oh and a little more about me”!!