Should the Utah Jazz trade for Kyrie Irving?
By Jason Oliver
Utah isn’t the place for prima donnas
“Prima donna” as per Dictionary.com: a temperamental person; a person who takes adulation and privileged treatment as a right and reacts with petulance to criticism or inconvenience.
If that definition isn’t the polar opposite to what the Jazz embody as a franchise, then I don’t know what does.
The Jazz are an organically made team, built on oneness with the end goal of winning as a group. To welcome a guy that is demanding a bigger role despite already seeing more of the ball come his way than 99 percent of the league doesn’t make a lot of sense.
As good as a player Irving is, he’s a bit of a prima donna.
Utah might not be the place for him.
Doesn’t fit Quin Snyder’s style
Even before Hayward left, Snyder and the Jazz developed a style of play not everybody fits into. They make the extra pass, ignore counting stats, and do whatever is necessary to compete. There’s no demand for extra shots or recognition. Players don’t seek the spotlight.
That doesn’t sound like something Irving is into.
He want’s to be the main man. He wants any team success to be because of him as an individual.
Irving’s isolation plays aren’t what Snyder seeks in a point guard. That much is proven in the team’s trade for George Hill and subsequent trade for Rubio. He wants a guy to order the troops and make the right pass, not send them to the wings so he can drive in to score whenever he thinks it’s on.
It would require a change in personality and style for Irving to fit in with the Jazz. Those are changes he’s more than likely unwilling to make.
Lindsey would be risking a two-year rental
Irving’s current contract expires at the end of the 2018-19 season, with a player option for 2019-20. Should he arrive in Utah via a trade this summer, there’s a big chance he’s only a resident in Salt Lake City for two years before moving on again.
For the pieces the Cavaliers would demand in return for Irving — much of Utah’s developing youth like Donovan Mitchell, Dante Exum and Rodney Hood — it’s not a risk work taking.
Losing Hayward was bad enough this summer. To then ship out the future core players for immediate success, only to be 10 steps back in the rebuild in two years time, endangers the prosperity of the franchise over the next decade.