Utah Jazz 2021/2022 Season Preview – Show Us In The Playoffs
Bad Men, Bad Takes – Season 1, Episode 20
The Utah Jazz were disappointed to bow out in the second round of the post-season in their last campaign – and rightfully so.
The boys from Salt Lake City dominated the regular season, conquering all before them en-route to 52 victories at a win percentage of 72% (equivalent of 59 wins over an 82 game season), and the first seed in the Western Conference. When it came down to it though, it was all for nothing as the team blew a 2-0 lead over the LA Clippers, including two crucial games where the Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard.
This has raised questions about the credentials of the team heading into this season, but Hunter says that result hasn’t changed his opinion on the team, citing he didn’t buy into the hype around them last season.
“At no point did I ever think this was the best team in the West last season – they had the best record, but I never bought it”, he said.
When asked if coaching was the issue for the Jazz’s failure against the Clippers, Ben stopped short of blaming Coach Quinn Snyder though.
“I don’t think their coaching is an issue – Quinn is a good coach. But they got through the regular season last year and didn’t change things enough in the post-season”.
Rob was critical of Coach Quinn Snyder’s tactics in the Playoffs, despite still believing he’s a good Coach. Credit: Sports Illustrated
Rob was less supportive of Snyder, however, highlighting an adjustment he believes would’ve been beneficial against LA that the Coach failed to make.
“Why they weren’t isolating Gobert on guys like Mann and Batum in the post-season down low, I don’t know. If teams are going to go small and try to exploit Rudy not wanting to leave the paint, then you need to punish them on the other end”, he said.
“Gobert should never have had issue scoring against Mann or Batum – yet there wasn’t a single play drawn up to try to take advantage of that height difference”.
Heading into the new season, questions were raised about whether Donovan Mitchell has what it takes to lead this team to the next level – a question asked by Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal in an awkward post-game interview last season.
Does Donovan Mitchell have what it takes to lead a team to a Championship? Credit: Sky Sports
Ben was the first to declare his support for Mitchell as a player capable of reaching those heights.
“Donovan is an A1 guy – he can lead a team to a title. He’s shown he can put the team on his back and carry – he has the skill and ability, it’ll just take a bit of luck”.
The rest of the BMBT office were in agreeance also.
Listen to the full show podcast to hear whether the team feel Gobert was exposed in the post-season and whether he has any improvement left in his game, if the Jazz should start Jordan Clarkson or stay as a spark plug off the bench, where does Joe Ingles fit into this team, the impact Hassan Whiteside and Rudy Gay can have and more!
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