The Jazz entered 2018 with a 16-21 record and with limited hope, struggling to play well in the shadow of a departed star. But just a few weeks after the calendar flipped, the team went on a season-changing run that pushed them through to the second round of the playoffs. Here’s The Salt Lake Tribune’s top Utah Jazz stories of 2018.
10. Jazz draft Grayson Allen
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Utah Jazz introduce their top draft pick Grayson Allen in Salt Lake City, Wednesday June 27, 2018.
With the 21st pick in the NBA Draft, the Jazz used it on the most controversial collegiate player in recent memory. Grayson Allen certainly had his pluses: tremendous athleticism, shooting talent and a clear will to win. But numerous incidents on the court — and the fact that he played for Duke — turned him into a villain in many circles. The 23-year-old Allen has struggled to adapt to the NBA game, though, and hasn’t seen the floor much due to poor defense. He’s currently out with a sprained ankle.
9. Jazz get a Christmas Day game and win it
Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell (45) wears an elf hat placed on his head by teammate Rudy Gobert after the win. The Utah Jazz defeated the Portland Trailblazers, 117-96, Christmas night at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
For the first time in 21 years, the NBA selected the Utah Jazz to play on Christmas Day, a reflection of the team’s success in the playoffs the previous season as well as a nod to the up-and-coming stars on the roster. In 1997, the Jazz beat the Houston Rockets by a score of 107-103, but 2018′s Christmas Day contest was a lopsided 117-96 blowout over the Portland Trail Blazers.
8. Jazz trade Alec Burks, get Kyle Korver back
Utah Jazz guard Kyle Korver, right, shoots next to Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Friday, Dec. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer)
After a poor start to the 2018-19 season, the Jazz stood at just 9-12 going into a December game against the Brooklyn Nets. That’s when Jazz General Manager Dennis Lindsey decided to pull the trigger, sending the second-longest tenured player on his team, Alec Burks, and two second-round draft picks to Cleveland in exchange for 37-year-old sharpshooter Kyle Korver. Korver’s shooting has helped the Jazz in an 18 minutes per game bench role. Meanwhile, in Cleveland, Burks is playing more — 26 minutes per game — but shooting just 36.8 percent.
7. Jon Absey, the man inside the Jazz Bear suit, is fired
Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Jazz portraits. Bear.
After 24 years inside the Jazz Bear mascot costume, Jon Absey was fired by Jazz management before the 2018-19 season began. The organization has never made the reasons behind the firing public. The Jazz Bear lives on with a new performer and has continued many of the iconic skits in games in 2018-19, though.
6. Jazz opt for continuity in the summer of 2018
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dennis Lindsey talks about the re-signed free agents, Dante Exum, Derrick Favors and Raul Neto, at the Jazz practice facility, Friday, July 6, 2018.
Utah Jazz's Derrick Favors walks off following an NBA basketball media availability with Dante Exum and Raul Neto, Friday, July 6, 2018, in Salt Lake City. Undergoing a roster makeover did not fit with what the Jazz have planned for the upcoming season. Rather than spend time and money trying to make a splash by bringing a high-profile free agent, the Jazz chose a different route announcing the free agent signings of Exum, Favors and Neto. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
After a successful season, the Jazz’s front office chose to bring everyone back for another year rather than make big changes. That meant new rich deals for Derrick Favors and Dante Exum, while Raul Neto was also re-signed. Meanwhile, the Jazz decided not to waive Thabo Sefolosha and Ekpe Udoh, despite non-guaranteed years in 2018-19. The only change made was cutting Jonas Jerebko — now playing 20 minutes per game for the Golden State Warriors — loose, while bumping Georges Niang’s contract up to a full roster spot.
5. Jazz make the playoffs
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz host the Oklahoma City Thunder, Game 3, NBA playoff basketball in Salt Lake City, Saturday April 21, 2018. Fans cheer in the fourth quarter.
Given everything that happened in May, it’s hard to remember that even making the playoffs was in question for the Jazz until late in the season. It wasn’t until April 8 that the Jazz even clinched a playoff berth, thanks to a crowded Western Conference picture that didn’t make life easy for the Jazz. The team won 11 games in a row in early February, and the Jazz still didn’t find themselves in the top eight until mid-March, after having to go on another nine-game winning streak. After everything that happened in the offseason in 2017, making the playoffs at all was a goal accomplished.
4. Rodney Hood traded for Jae Crowder
(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz forward Jae Crowder (99) holds up three fingers after nailing a three-pointer during the Utah Jazz versus Detroit Pistons at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City Tuesday March 13, 2018.
Rodney Hood came into the 2017-18 season hoping to earn a starring role with the Utah Jazz, the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, and a massive contract earning him more than $20 million per season. Instead, it all fell apart. With his starting role usurped by Donovan Mitchell, Hood eventually found himself “isolated” from the team and asked for a trade. He got his wish come trade deadline day, when he was sent to Cleveland in exchange for Jae Crowder. The Jazz also received Derrick Rose and sent Joe Johnson to the Kings in the three-team deal. Rose and Johnson were waived. Hood went on to disappoint in the playoffs for Cleveland — as did Johnson for the Rockets — while Crowder became the power forward in the Jazz’s most successful lineup. Rose didn’t play well after being picked up by Minnesota in 2017-18, but has had a resurgent 2018-19.
3. Rudy Gobert wins Defensive Player of the Year
Rudy Gobert, of the Utah Jazz, poses in the press room with the defensive player of the year award at the NBA Awards on Monday, June 25, 2018, at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
The Jazz were busy on NBA awards night. Center Rudy Gobert made good on his ascendancy, becoming the Jazz’s first Defensive Player of the Year since Mark Eaton in 1989. Rookie Donovan Mitchell came second to Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons in the Rookie of the Year race, while head coach Quin Snyder was a runner-up to Toronto coach Dwane Casey — who was fired after his award-winning season. General manager Dennis Lindsey too came close to his own accolade, finishing second in the NBA’s Executive of the Year voting behind Houston’s Daryl Morey.
2. Jazz defeat Oklahoma City in playoffs
Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder hugs guard Donovan Mitchell (45) after the team's 96-91 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder during Game 6 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Friday, April 27, 2018, in Salt Lake City. The Jazz won the series. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Coming into the first-round matchup between the fourth-seed Oklahoma City Thunder and fifth-seed Jazz, most observers expected it to be close, but for the Thunder’s star-laden roster of Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony to pull through. But the Jazz turned the series around with a Game 2 comeback led by Donovan Mitchell, then took control with two consecutive wins at home. One featured a Ricky Rubio triple-double, the first by a Jazzman in a decade, and the other was a scrappy affair with another big Jazz victory. The Jazz held a 25-point lead in Game 5 before collapsing in a monumental turnaround by the Thunder, before holding serve at home in Game 6 thanks to Mitchell’s 38 points. Of course, the Jazz went on to lose to the Houston Rockets in the West semi-finals, but the first round win made the season for Utah.
1. Donovan Mitchell becomes a superstar
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell (45) signs autographs for young fans before the Sacramento Kings NBA game at Vivint Smart Home Arena Wed., Nov. 21, 2018, in Salt Lake City.
As big as a playoff series win is, in the NBA, the emergence of a long-term superstar matters more. Donovan Mitchell’s meteoric rise from being the rookie selected No. 14 in the draft to becoming a franchise-leading star drastically changed the franchise for years to come. Whether it was his dunk contest win, his combative Rookie of the Year race with Ben Simmons, getting into it on Twitter with Donald Trump, getting a signature shoe from Adidas, Mitchell changed what was possible for a star from Utah.
And Mitchell’s work to endear himself to the community, from paying for a stranger’s iPhone to going to a random Fourth of July pool party and barbecue. While his second season hasn’t come easy, the NBA’s contractual rules for young players mean that Mitchell has plenty of time — likely a half-decade more at least — in Utah to push the ceiling for himself and the Jazz higher.
