LoPo
Well-Known Member
I agree that it would be a step back for the regular season. Of course it will be.If you take a step back Donovan will ask for a trade next offseason. There are decent avenues the Jazz could take to reroute the ship but it’s going to take a couple years and at least one season of a big step back to do so. The issue is, the dude you lavish over will ask for a trade if you try to take the foot off the gas for a season or two and steer the ship in a different direction. If you knew for sure you could have Donovan another 5/6 years and he wouldn’t throw a fit if you got worse for a couple years you could do it, the Jazz don’t have that luxury and there’s no indication of it at all. They could completely re-work the roster to be more Donovan centric for the future but it would take a couple down years, and I don’t think he’d be okay with that. He’s committed to winning him a championship, not the Jazz.
Don’t re-sign Mike, gauge the market for Rudy, let a few contracts drop, open up cap space for a year or two from now and add longer wings, but you’re looking at 2 seasons of not being a contender, before getting back to possibly being a contender and they do. not. have. that. time.
But what happens to Rudy's production if Conley leaves without us getting anything back? I believe that Rudy's offensive contribution will fall considerably without a true PG. And I'm a Don homer, but I acknowledge that he isn't a prototypical PG. He'll get better, but he's not going to bring out the best in Rudy.
And we talk about the next couple years, but what about Rudy's really bad extension years when he alone is taking up 30%+ of our cap number and he's aging and even more of a liability?
I think Don is more optimistic about taking a small step back now but have the franchise built around him with a brighter future than worrying about being a late playoff seed.