Pure speculation as we have no idea how Hardy or our front office feel about keeping those 2 together, but hear me out:
While I’m personally of the belief that the Jazz should blow it up and trade both players, it’s probably true that the quickest way the Jazz could legit contend for a title would be finding a way to get Mitchell and Gobert in love with the idea of continuing to play together, sliding Don to the PG spot, and then finding a way to put 3 other starters on the floor who have both height and defensive ability.
While most of what I mentioned is pretty unlikely, I do think hiring a young coach like Hardy could possibly flip the paradigm in Utah. Had Quin stayed on, we pretty much had a ZERO percent chance of keeping both guys. The players had played enough under Quin to know that nothing was really gonna change while Snyder was in charge.
However, IF Hardy is of the mindset that he can win with Don and Rudy, he could sit down with both players and make a pretty compelling argument on how he could maximize their relationship. Prior to this season, Celtic fans were screaming that Boston couldn’t make it work with Tatum and Brown. They had maxed out a couple of years ago and had been looking more and more mediocre ever since. Then Boston makes a coaching change, the result was immediate, and we see Tatum & Brown led Celtic team in the finals.
Again, who knows how likely a situation like this would be, but I do feel confident when I say this: Ryan Smith is not gonna be the owner that decides to blow up his team and start a rebuild the same year he’s hosting the ASG. He also strikes me as a guy who knows exactly how much Donovan’s celebrity status can be leveraged by the Jazz.
While I’m personally of the belief that the Jazz should blow it up and trade both players, it’s probably true that the quickest way the Jazz could legit contend for a title would be finding a way to get Mitchell and Gobert in love with the idea of continuing to play together, sliding Don to the PG spot, and then finding a way to put 3 other starters on the floor who have both height and defensive ability.
While most of what I mentioned is pretty unlikely, I do think hiring a young coach like Hardy could possibly flip the paradigm in Utah. Had Quin stayed on, we pretty much had a ZERO percent chance of keeping both guys. The players had played enough under Quin to know that nothing was really gonna change while Snyder was in charge.
However, IF Hardy is of the mindset that he can win with Don and Rudy, he could sit down with both players and make a pretty compelling argument on how he could maximize their relationship. Prior to this season, Celtic fans were screaming that Boston couldn’t make it work with Tatum and Brown. They had maxed out a couple of years ago and had been looking more and more mediocre ever since. Then Boston makes a coaching change, the result was immediate, and we see Tatum & Brown led Celtic team in the finals.
Again, who knows how likely a situation like this would be, but I do feel confident when I say this: Ryan Smith is not gonna be the owner that decides to blow up his team and start a rebuild the same year he’s hosting the ASG. He also strikes me as a guy who knows exactly how much Donovan’s celebrity status can be leveraged by the Jazz.
