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Fixing Donovan

His poor shooting continues. What's it going to take to get him back on track?
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So Mitchell's 3 pt shooting is dropping off at a scary rate. Consider the following:

Games 1-25
6 out of 25 games Mitchell shot under 35% from 3. The rest well over 35%.

Games 26-34
6 out of 9 games Mitchell shot under 35% from 3, only one of the other games over his 38% mark on the season. In fact the last game he played, against Orlando, who are notorious for bad 3 pt coverage.

Combined with his career lowest mark at the rim, this is a bad trend. Is this just regression to the mean, with him dropping slowly but steadily back to his career (before this season) 35% mark from 3? Is he nursing an injury we do not know about? How is he going to get his 3 pt Mojo back?

Mitchell is our iso guy. His drop off at the rim this year is very concerning. Now with a drop off from the 3, this is a problem.

I am confident he will get it back before the playoffs, that this is hopefully a blip, or a "market adjustment", and he will get back on track. But there is reason to be concerned, as he is our one "super-star" player.

Thoughts?
Didn't read other comments, but I think this is because DM is concentrating more on improving his passing and involving other guys.
 
Love Mitchell, his inconsistencies are a bit scary for us. We need him to win, we lose when he doesn't show up or doesn't show up enough.
 
I wonder what our record is when our starting point guard (Rubio or Conley) misses the game.
I'm guessing it's like an 85% win percentage or better.

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Donovan McChuck is going to shoot Utah out of a lot of games. I've decided to live w it and enjoy the show. Chances are he shoots Utah out of the playoffs at some point, then it's on to the Rockies and no pitching.
 
Aren't we at 100% this year without Conley?
Yes. We were very very good last year without Conley too.
And we were really really good without Rubio whenever he missed a game

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Yes. We were very very good last year without Conley too.
And we were really really good without Rubio whenever he missed a game

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To me the big difference there is Ingles quality of play. He plays so much better as a starter that it is just about worth considering if Conley should come off the bench.
 
I don't think Donovan will make significant strides until he spends a summer with Jazz coaches. He gotten better a somethings, but also picks up bad habits and regresses in other areas. His game continues to get more and more instagram-trainer influenced over time, which has resulted in a mixed bag. He has all the talent in the world, but I think it's going to waste with his relative lack of improvement.
 
To me the big difference there is Ingles quality of play. He plays so much better as a starter that it is just about worth considering if Conley should come off the bench.

One of the worst things the Jazz do is freeze Joe Ingles out of the game. I don't think it has anything to do with being a starter or bench player. When Conley is in uniform, he naturally gets frozen out of the game because there's another dominant ball handler. That's the problem.

Joe is a really good PnR ballhandler on his own. We should always get him touches for that simple reason...but it's extra important for him to get regular touches because without them he disengages from the game. His defense isn't as good, he's more reluctant to shoot shots, and it also means the bigs are going to get less touches. When we get him involved, the game is so much easier for everyone on both ends.
 
One of the worst things the Jazz do is freeze Joe Ingles out of the game. I don't think it has anything to do with being a starter or bench player. When Conley is in uniform, he naturally gets frozen out of the game because there's another dominant ball handler. That's the problem.

Joe is a really good PnR ballhandler on his own. We should always get him touches for that simple reason...but it's extra important for him to get regular touches because without them he disengages from the game. His defense isn't as good, he's more reluctant to shoot shots, and it also means the bigs are going to get less touches. When we get him involved, the game is so much easier for everyone on both ends.
Lotta guys on this team need touches. The balance is difficult.
Clarkson, Conley, bogey, Joe, Donovan all need ample touches. Only so many possessions in a game.

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Since coming back from injury Jazz are 2-3 in games Mike plays. Mike himself has been decent but something is happening there across the team.
 
Since coming back from injury Jazz are 2-3 in games Mike plays. Mike himself has been decent but something is happening there across the team.
No focus, no continuity, no effort, no aggression. That is the problem. The fact that we have been able to hang even in our losses tells you that if we fix even 2 of those things mentioned we would be 5-0 over that stretch. QS gotta get his team to perform. I think they may have an eye on the break and not on winning games.

Doesn't help that they had so many games in such a short time period, and with travel no less. But still, fix just the aggression piece and they are at least 3-2 over those games, like 4-1.
 
He does get pressured more, but he has since his rookie year really.

I am not saying he hasn't improved at all, he is better in some aspects, his numbers overall are marginally above his career numbers, 24.5 ppg vs 24 last year kind of thing. I just think to really make a deep run we will need the Mitchell that went off in the bubble last year. I think he will get there but his recent dip in shooting is a concern, as is his finishing at the rim, which has declined each year since his rookie year.
Love the Jazz and all the success but Shaq does have a point when he called out Donovan for not leading theJazz to a better result last year. Donovan definitely heard this and unfortunately, it seems like he is now trying too hard instead of just playing his game. As the Alpha dog of the Jazz, he needs to be more aware when his shot is off (which is unfortunately often) and quit forcing it. He should definitely keep penetrating and drawing the defense to him but he must look to dish to the open teammate more and quit trying to be a hero. I’ve played with people like Donovan before and it’s great when they are on, but frustrating when they are off and selfishly continue to jack it up— I used to call players like this “black holes” because once they get the ball you will never see it again.
The Jazz play the best team ball in the NBA but sometimes Donovan (and sometimes Clarkson) like to play on on one too much.
I realize my opinion will not be popular to most especially the Jazz announcers who only gush about Donovan but in my opinion, the Jazz will never win a title until Donovan becomes more of a team player.
BTW, I also did not like him ripping Rudy last year in public. That should have been a private conversation.
 
Man, if this is what the fans are talking about in the forums of the team with the best record in the NBA I can only imagine what it going on in the Timberwolves forums...
 
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