Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 120-91 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Donovan Mitchell’s second return
For only the second time since he was traded, Donovan Mitchell returned to Utah to play the Jazz.
It’s a natural time to reflect on what happened here, with the Jazz at the bottom of the Western Conference while Mitchell’s Cavs are at the top of the East.
“I think we had our opportunity. We had a lot of windows. I think we had our opportunity, we just missed it. I think it’s just one of those things, we had plenty of opportunities to get things done. We had injuries that one year. The last year we were together, you know, we just didn’t capitalize,” Mitchell said.
“Sometimes you just miss your window. I talk about it with my friends a lot, we’re comparing this team we have now versus the first place team we had here (in Utah),” he continued. “I’ve gotten to a point that is like, ‘It’s okay,‘ We did a lot of positive things.”
They did. There were two high points for me: Mitchell’s rookie year when they beat the Thunder, and that post-bubble 2021 team that had the No. 1 record in the league. Both teams, especially the latter, played some absolutely phenomenal basketball. Mitchell was legitimately happy then.
A lot happened in the year that followed, though. The team’s failure to get a defensive guard cost them a playoff run, losing in embarrassing fashion to a Kawhi-less Clippers team despite a 25-point lead in the second half of Game 6. Utah Senate President Stuart Adams said Mitchell needed to be “educated” about the legislature’s push to remove diversity education. Mitchell was flabbergasted that a white man would tell a black athlete that he needed to be educated about those issues. And then in his final year, the team faltered, as they couldn’t figure out how to stop losing leads.
I still think trading Mitchell was probably the right move — there was just no way Mitchell was coming back to Utah, given how unhappy he was by that point.
But it should have never gotten to that point. The team should have done much more to support Mitchell.
Frankly, they cheaped out, for one. Salary dumping Derrick Favors to avoid luxury tax payments, losing a first round pick that could have been used to improve the team via trade, was a significant misfire. Believing Rudy Gay would improve things was a massive mistake in pro player scouting, believe Udoka Azubuike would be good was a massive failure in amateur scouting. And the team never, ever addressed the perimeter defensive issues, hoping Royce O’Neale would be good enough. He was not.
The Cavs have done a much better job of surrounding Mitchell with quality talent that can both score and defend, while the Jazz simply hoped Rudy Gobert would be enough to stop everyone.
The failures to do more five years ago still haunt the Jazz now — and if the Jazz are lucky enough to get a Cooper Flagg or an A.J. Dybantsa in the next two drafts, they’ll simply need to do far better in creating a supporting cast that works in the playoffs, and they’ll need to do more to keep that player happy off the floor.
2. Cody Williams' airballs
It almost feels like Jazz rookie Cody Williams has the yips. Three airballs in one game? That also means he’s had five in a week, plus another that hit backboard only from above the break.
How many shots are airballed, generally? The NBA doesn’t keep track of airballs in the stats. But in 2016, the league for a short while publicly released its ball-tracking data from the cameras in the ceiling. Inpredictable counted: about 2.2% of the league’s shots were airballs during that time.
Williams has taken 236 shots this year overall. 2.2% of that is about five shots. In other words... Williams has hit his yearly quota for airballs in just a week’s worth of play. And honestly? These are open ones he’s missing.
I asked Will Hardy if there’s anything he says to Williams in these kinds of moments:
“I’m not talking to him much about it. I think there are times where nothing needs to be said. I think it’s more about telling Cody — and Walker, in some instances right now — about like, I want you to shoot good ones. If you get in the rhythm of shooting good ones, the makes and misses will turn for you. If you start pressing, that’s bad. If you start turning them down, that’s also bad."
Well... he is still taking them. But it’s pretty clear he’s pressing.
It simply must be mental at this point. This guy was a 41% shooter from the 3-point line in college. He is not so bad that he should be airballing the misses on wide-open jumpers.
3. Kyle Filipowski’s efficiency
Woof, dreary Triple Team so far. Let’s switch it up.
Kyle Filipowski has just been so impressive this season. The defense has been rough at times — but the offense has been so efficient that he can probably find a way on the floor for a good team anyway, even if he doesn’t improve on the other end.
Filipowski’s effective field goal percentage: 60.2%, which is 88th percentile in the league. He’s now up to 39.5% from three — 82nd percentile. But he’s also making 50.7% of his midrange shots, which is 92nd percentile.
He’s also doing a killer job rebounding, with a 24% defensive rebounding rate. Tonight, he had 13 rebounds despite playing half of his time alongside Walker Kessler. That’s just great.
Maybe the only marks against him offensively are the turnovers (high so far) and free-throw percentage (just 62%). You figure both will improve, though — the turnovers nearly always go down after a player’s rookie season, and he simply has better touch than to be a 62% free-throw shooter. (He was 71% in college, for example.)
I think of the Jazz’s rookies and sophomores, I might be highest on Flip. So long as he can keep shooting like this, he’s an every night NBA contributor for sure.
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