For the Jazz, having an undersized back court paired with an undersized front court player (O'Neale) and a poor defensive player (Bogey) is something I consider a fatal flaw for this team. Rudy is good enough to cover up for that during the regular season, but it is exploitable in a 7 game series and I think there are lots of teams out there that can exploit us.
The Jazz could look to trade JC for a more defensive guard off the bench (e.g. Smart, Hart) but then who is finishing games? Would the Jazz put Conley on the bench to be better defensively? I do not believe Mitchell or Ingles is capable of being our starting point guard, so if you try to upgrade in size by trading Conley you need a starting caliber PG in return and I struggle to find a trade that makes sense. In theory Ben Simmons could work if the 76ers were sold on Conley, but A) that would fundamentally change the nature and structure of this team and B) I do not want Ben Simmons. I recognize he is talented, but do not like his mentality at all. I know Brogdon was debated earlier in the thread and could perhaps be an upgrade, but I'm not certain he actually is (and of course he cannot be traded until next summer anyways). We debated Lonzo during the summer and I could still see him making some sense if the Bulls thought adding Conley could expedite becoming contenders, though Lonzo's inexperience would likely push our contention window back.
Conley's shooting, playmaking, and poise have been so important to our team this year - especially with the decline of Ingles - and it is hard to say that any of these possible Conley trades would actually make the Jazz better. Any of them would probably make the offense worse and the question would be whether their size/defense would make up for it. However, as others have pointed out Conley's defense isn't actually the problem.
I know the Jazz will not trade Mitchell unless he asks to be traded and I really like Mitchell. Mitchell has been out of this world offensively in the playoffs, which would be incredibly difficult to replace. That said, he is undeniably a liability on defense. As a thought experiment I do wonder how this team would perform if you replace Mitchell with someone like Jaylen Brown.
Over the last 40+ years there have only been two NBA champions that had a starting back court 6'3 or under: the 2019 Raptors (Lowry and VanFleet) and the 1990 Pistons (Thomas and Dumars). For the Raptors, they paired their back court with tremendous size and defensive skill (Leonard, Siakam, Gasol). Assuming the Jazz are not going to trade Mitchell or Conley, I have to think that upgrading the forward positions for size/defensive/athleticism is the only other thing that makes sense. My guess is any change we do make this year will be a bench player, but I'm not certain that will be enough.
The Jazz could look to trade JC for a more defensive guard off the bench (e.g. Smart, Hart) but then who is finishing games? Would the Jazz put Conley on the bench to be better defensively? I do not believe Mitchell or Ingles is capable of being our starting point guard, so if you try to upgrade in size by trading Conley you need a starting caliber PG in return and I struggle to find a trade that makes sense. In theory Ben Simmons could work if the 76ers were sold on Conley, but A) that would fundamentally change the nature and structure of this team and B) I do not want Ben Simmons. I recognize he is talented, but do not like his mentality at all. I know Brogdon was debated earlier in the thread and could perhaps be an upgrade, but I'm not certain he actually is (and of course he cannot be traded until next summer anyways). We debated Lonzo during the summer and I could still see him making some sense if the Bulls thought adding Conley could expedite becoming contenders, though Lonzo's inexperience would likely push our contention window back.
Conley's shooting, playmaking, and poise have been so important to our team this year - especially with the decline of Ingles - and it is hard to say that any of these possible Conley trades would actually make the Jazz better. Any of them would probably make the offense worse and the question would be whether their size/defense would make up for it. However, as others have pointed out Conley's defense isn't actually the problem.
I know the Jazz will not trade Mitchell unless he asks to be traded and I really like Mitchell. Mitchell has been out of this world offensively in the playoffs, which would be incredibly difficult to replace. That said, he is undeniably a liability on defense. As a thought experiment I do wonder how this team would perform if you replace Mitchell with someone like Jaylen Brown.
Over the last 40+ years there have only been two NBA champions that had a starting back court 6'3 or under: the 2019 Raptors (Lowry and VanFleet) and the 1990 Pistons (Thomas and Dumars). For the Raptors, they paired their back court with tremendous size and defensive skill (Leonard, Siakam, Gasol). Assuming the Jazz are not going to trade Mitchell or Conley, I have to think that upgrading the forward positions for size/defensive/athleticism is the only other thing that makes sense. My guess is any change we do make this year will be a bench player, but I'm not certain that will be enough.
