Within their Thursday press release officially confirming the trade that sent Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland, the Jazz‘s top decision-makers explained why they felt it was necessary to move the club’s leading scorer, a three-time All-Star who just turned 26.
“It was clear that in order to optimize our opportunity to create a team that could truly contend and establish sustained success, we needed to transition our roster,” Jazz CEO Danny Ainge said in a statement. “In trading Rudy (Gobert) and now Donovan, it was a rare opportunity to maximize our ability to get quality talent and picks to best position us moving forward. We have a plan in place to help us assemble the championship team our fans deserve. It will take time to craft our roster. We all understand the work ahead and are committed to our vision.”
General manager Justin Zanik, meanwhile, referred to Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, and Ochai Agbaji as three “exciting young players,” suggesting the front office views the trio as part of the Jazz’s long-term plan.
“We believe that they fit the Jazz culture and hard-nosed, competitive brand of basketball we’ve built here in Utah,” Zanik said. “They give us versatility and athleticism on both ends of the floor as we grow toward the future. We look forward to our fans getting to know them.”
Here’s more out of Utah:
- Previous reports suggested there was some level of “animus” between the Jazz and Knicks, due in part to Knicks executives sitting courtside at Utah’s first playoff game vs. Dallas in the spring, as well as to New York’s decision to extend RJ Barrett while the two teams were negotiating his possible inclusion in a Mitchell trade. However, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his Lowe Post podcast that any hard feelings between the Jazz and the Knicks weren’t the reason why Utah made a deal with Cleveland instead of New York.
- “Emotions can play into this,” Lowe said, per RealGM. “I’ve been assured by the Utah side that ‘No, look, we’re mature people. Yes, we were upset with particularly the Mavs’ game incident, but we’re not going to make decisions based on those kind of things that now happened four months ago or whatever. We’ve made the best deal possible.'”
- In a column for The Salt Lake Tribune, Robert Gehrke focuses on the off-court impact of the Mitchell trade, arguing that Utah has lost a “conscience of our community.”
- Nekias Duncan of BasketballNews.com considers what Mike Conley can still bring to a contending team and explores which clubs might be realistic trade suitors for the veteran point guard. Meanwhile, Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune weighs where Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Jordan Clarkson could land if they’re traded.
- The Salt Lake City Stars – Utah’s G League affiliate – acquired the returning rights to Paris Bass and Elijah Cain in a trade with the South Bay Lakers, per a press release. Bass is reportedly signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the Jazz, so the team clearly intends to have him play for the Stars — it remains to be seen whether Cain is also in SLC’s plans for 2022/23.
Collin, Lauri & Agbaji plus picks are an even stronger package than Suggs, Franz & Hampton plus picks which I thought was more than enough. Utah made out extremely well & have a strong core to build on. I like Jared Butler & Leo Bolmaro as the type of guys that can feed their new scorers (mainly Collin, Lauri & Beasley) too. Interesting to see what they get for Bojan, Clarkson & Rudy Gay. Id consider keeping Conley tbh. He’s a great vet to have around, they’re thin with exp at pg & he wouldn’t bring back much anyway. This def gonna be 1 of the most interesting teams to watch this yr & going forward tho
Jazz are not going to build anything. Not with these players. The whole point of trading their two all stars. Was to get picks to build thru draft. That takes time. And the highest priority is to tank next yr. One of best draft classes (lottery) ever.
So Sexton will be moved for pick or younger players. Lauri also. Agbaji is only one I see staying. By the way, I see a big future for him. But next yrs draft (top 3). Is all Danny is dreaming about. I wouldn’t mind the Knicks reach out for Lauri. Jazz only interested in worst record next yr. It’s their best move imo.
Obv that wasn’t the whole point or they only would’ve traded for picks. All 3 of the guys they got from Cle are young, locked up for 3,4yrs, are extremely talented/productive & are the core of their team
Gotta look deeper lol. Lauri and Sexton can bring back picks. None are better than a top 3 pick next yr. And if you hit with #1, well. Wembanyamba is only there next yr. He is projected to be better than Rudy.
The Jazz are not trying to have the worst record next year. Smoke is being blown for them at this point.
In all cases no one is playing ball with them anymore. No more first round picks for Danny.
AFTER THAT, Danny will look like he has lost it with the front court the Jazz are sporting.
ChetBenYama won’t help if they do get him.
These statements likely put to rest that the Jazz are just winging it with these trades. They’re saying they have a clear vision and are willing to take the time to achieve that. That’s encouraging as a Jazz fan.
In the past, I felt they rushed the rebuilds. This past one was ruined by those big contracts. They couldn’t afford to sign quality wing defenders or didn’t have the vision to get one in trade yet.
Enter Danny Ainge… So glad he’s here with the Jazz. I’m sure he’s glad to have Justin running the day-to-day so he can focus on what he does best. Also glad that Ryan Smith is so well connected with all these various high-profile basketball people. Made bringing in Ainge that much easier when they already had good chemistry as friends.
The future looks bright, for the Jazz. Jazz fans just have to have patience for the “vision” to fully come into focus. =)
Go Jazz!
Ainge is off to as good of a start as you could hope for given he just traded the team’s two best players
It’ll be interesting to see how he does — as much as people hate Boston Utah is a challenging market as well
See the 2030’s for further details.
Hilarious
I expect we’ll see disgruntled Knicks fans for awhile. If they have something constructive to say then that’s great! Trolls I just don’t have time for. I mute them and never miss them, TBH. Life’s too short to be miserable all the time.
Recommend making a list of all you’re grateful for. Do this and read it often and you’ll find your outlook on life improves. =)
Who are these Knicks fans?
Every Knicks fan on this cite was against going after DM. Not after the fact, beforehand, with well thought out posts to why. So I ask again; Who are you talking about ?
Elsewhere, too. On Posting and Toasting, most were against the move from what I could see.
Not that there aren’t trolls/negative nancies out there, of course.
Yeah idk …. it seems like posters who hate the Knicks have been more upset about NY not getting Mitchell than any Knick fan that I’ve seen posting.
Haters just want to hate ……
Knicks just gonna wait ……
They know who they are. But also saying that I appreciate the ones that like to discuss rather than be driven by pure emotion. I’ve found that most fans on HoopsRumors are pretty reasonable. That’s why I much prefer here than Twitter. That place is the Wild West. Lol
Call back in in a couple of years see if the experiment worked out.
Knicks fans are salty…
Jazz fans get to tank… Just adding more salt to the Knicks wounds… Without drafting anyone they cannot build a decent team to attack free agents…
The Knicks ownership is the main reason the Knicks will be a joke for a long time…
Fire Thibs, hire a rookie coach, embrace the tank…
There are zero salty Knicks fans here and almost 100% of Knicks fans would agree with everything you wrote. He all hate Dolan and know the Knicks have been a joke for two decades.
Cmon Rct why ruin the party? These kids need hero’s and villain’s, its the only movie plots they have ever seen. Just let them turn their brains off and enjoy the ride
* Knicks have the highest BB IQ fanbase on THIS cite by far Imo. I’ll continue saying this till it deems not true
“Knicks have the highest BB IQ fanbase on THIS cite by far Imo. I’ll continue saying this till it deems not true ”
I don’t know man, A lot, and I mean a LOT of the people on here are just trolling much of the time.
Possibly the Knicks have the most sincere fans on here? Because you don’t have much idea what a lot of people here actually think about hoops. It’s like on Reddit, there are a lot of smart people on there, but most of them are messing around.
Idk rct I for one am pretty jealous that Jazz fans get to tank. Then again if we’re as bad as everyone says maybe we’ll luck out and get to tank too
Tanking really isn’t all that bad, you get to watch hoops without getting all wound up for a few years.
Exactly. You get to enjoy the freshest and sometimes the most explosive talent. It just depends on what your front office likes.
OKC seems to like skilled big men. Guess they went to find that next KD. Can’t blame them for that.
Houston seems to like athletic wings. They must miss the TMac days. Those were fun rivalry days with the DWill teams.
Orlando is kind of a mix. Not really sure what they like. They’re probably just drafting the best player available each time. They’ll figure it out later I guess?
Sacramento is finally embracing veterans again, starting last year. Now they just need to find the right mix. Although, keeping Fox over Haliburton was a goof.
My hope with the Jazz is to stack the roster with long, athletic, intelligent players at every position. A lot easier to create mismatches, defend, and rebound with a roster like that. Hopefully, at least 3-4 can hit the 3. All 5 would be ideal.
For example, Toronto and Milwaukee have really long rosters. Both have won titles recently. The Lakers did have a long roster but goofed with the WB trade. Golden State isn’t very long but they’re constantly in motion and are all very intelligent/high BB IQ.
I actually think the Knicks were on the right path with length. They just needed to trim the players who aren’t as intelligent. Instead, they wanted to get quick, smaller guards. They both would’ve been very intelligent. However, I would agree that they are better off waiting to get longer talent.
I still don’t understand why the Jazz were mad about the Knicks being courtside at that game. They more than likely were there for Brunson.
@Chris
It’s been no secret that they covet Mitchell too. I think it’s an unwritten rule too that ownership or the key front office guys don’t get together at road games so prominently. Usually they are in the luxury boxes.
Did Danny trade Mitchell to Cleveland out of spite???
That’s juicy and possible but my read on it is he probably just tried to get a Minnesota esque haul out of NY, and NY wasn’t QUITE that desperate and eventually talks just dragged on and on. So he took the Cleveland deal that was still extremely rich.
Love DM and wish him the best. Imo Cavs made a gutsy great trade. This young team could grow into the Beast of the East for years.
Knicks just need to regroup. We got plenty of assets to do something.
They can look to what the Cavs are doing and model that. The Cavs had a lot more depth so they could trade out more and not hurt their core. They did lose one starter, but they had already replaced Sexton. The Knicks then should just hang on to Randle, keep drafting and developing and then do a big trade. I think they were trying to rush the process compared to the Cavs.
Unfortunately in NY we will always feel the rush. It’s the Yankee mentality. Where they think you can just buy your way there. Frankly I’m amazed Dolan has been so quite.
Utah’s plan is to build a contender post-LBJ, post-Steph.
If you imagine that the best player is yet to be on their team, this plan is like 5 or 6 years away. Find the next franchise player or two within that time, and maximize their prime in a different NBA landscape. An older Giannis. Embiid will be gone. Joker will be almost gone. KD gone etc… you’ll have a 30s Tatum. There’s no clear young dominant successor to the Steph and LBJ throne at this point. Not like when MJ stepped away and you had Kobe.