When we look back on the 2021-22 NBA playoffs in the future, we will likely see it as a pivotal moment for the Utah Jazz. After years of being good in the regular season, and then really good, they saw their postseason dreams end in familiar fashion as they were dumped out of the competition by the Dallas Mavericks.
The fact that it was in the first round was bad. The fact that it was done by a Mavericks squad operating largely without Luka Doncic through injury was even worse. It left the organization in a situation whereby change not only seemed like an avenue to explore, but is actually a necessity as panic struck the franchise.
We now know with certainty that the Utah Jazz are a playoff team, but aren’t close to a championship contender.
As devastating as that sentence may sound to Jazz fans, it is not all bad. In Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, they have two of the top 25 players in the NBA. Alongside one-time Sixth Man of the Year Jordan Clarkson, that is an enviable position to start. Certainly, a position that many other franchises, especially those in small markets, would like to be in.
Change also doesn’t guarantee success either, and that is why it is so scary. As things stand, the Jazz have something, it has just been found out one too many years in the postseason.
But as the Philadelphia 76ers will tell them, changing because it looks like the thing to do doesn’t always work out either. This summer is a vital one for the Jazz, and here is why.
A huge offseason awaits for the Utah Jazz: 3. Don’t fire Quinn Snyder
In Quinn Snyder, the Jazz have one of the best head coaches in the league. Too often it is the person in charge on the bench who becomes the fall guy. It is why we won’t be surprised if Doc Rivers is let go by the 76ers this offseason, and explains why Frank Vogel was deemed surplus to requirements to the Los Angeles Lakers, despite leading them to a championship in 2020.
Getting rid of Snyder would be the easy thing to do in order to shake up the group moving forward, but no matter what, the Jazz should steer clear of this. Even if they happen to blow it all up and go into a full-on rebuild (which seems unlikely), Snyder should still be the guy who leads this group for the next number of years.
What is more likely, though, is the Jazz taking a step back through trades or simply from falling down the Western Conference pecking order. Even still, Snyder is their guy. He had them as the best offensive team in the league during the regular season (116.2), and third overall in net rating (6.2).
Those who say that these are regular season numbers that did not translate to bigger playoff success have a point, but there’s still a lot to be said for that level of stability and consistency throughout the regular season. The Jazz very much have a system in place, and it works because of their stars, but also gives role players a chance to thrive and have a real say in how the Jazz play.
They only need to look at another team in the East to see that keeping a head coach no matter what can pay huge dividends. Erik Spoelstra has seen it all in his 14 years as head coach of the Miami Heat. Some bad seasons, but also championships alongside LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
Right now, he is in the Eastern Conference Finals and made the Finals in 2020 as well. All of which is to say, it doesn’t matter if the Heat are contending or reloading (they don’t rebuild in the conventional sense). Spoelstra is the ever-present coach at the helm. The Jazz need to do the same with Snyder.
A huge offseason awaits for the Utah Jazz: 2. Double down on the offensive play
If there’s one thing the Jazz can do really well, it is execute offensively. Already we have spoken about them being the best team in the league in that area last year. The previous season, they ranked fourth (116.5), and the year before that, they were ninth (111.8). Coach Snyder has built on their offensive schemes year on year, and it really paid dividends this season.
No matter what happens next, the Jazz need to continue to commit to being an elite team on that end. Having Mitchell is a great place to start, but Clarkson is able to create shots out of nothing. He averaged 16 points this season, a lovely boost off the bench as he started only one of the 79 games he played in.
Bojan Bogdanovic was another who helped massively, averaging over 18 points a night on an impressive 38.7 percent from deep (taking over six attempts per night). Both players have their flaws (Bogdanovic is injury prone and Clarkson can take some ill-advised shots), but both are also hugely important to what the Jazz do.
What’s interesting here is that the Jazz shot 36 percent from deep during the regular season, leaving them just outside the top 10 in that category. During their brief postseason run, however, that number plummeted to 27.4 percent, the worst of all 16 teams who made it to the playoffs.
Obviously, some of this is down to shots not falling and defenses setting up differently when the games really matter, but the Jazz need to address this and look capable of doing so. If they can be the best team offensively in the league but be closer to league average than the top in terms of three-point shooting, just think how good they could be if they address that area this summer.
A huge offseason awaits for the Utah Jazz: 1. Trade Gobert or Mitchell
It is time. Time to address the elephant in the room and get it done. Trading one of Gobert or Mitchell does not guarantee things will get better. If anything, the Boston Celtics could make a case for keeping them together. It looked like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could not co-exist, then Tatum made a leap, and the Celtics are one round from the Finals.
It is not out of the question that Mitchell makes that leap. Despite guys like Devin Booker, Luka Doncic, (Tyler Herro?), and Trae Young having overtaken him, he is capable of putting himself back into the equation with a monster year next season. It looks a lot more likely to happen than Gobert changing who he is.
A three-time Defensive Player of the Year, Gobert is still unable to have the impact required in the postseason. Trading him and keeping Mitchell would seem like the obvious play here, and it may be that the state of other franchises means that the market for Gobert could be about to expand for the Jazz to cash in on.
The Phoenix Suns just saw their championship hopes go up in flames and don’t seem keen on giving Deandre Ayton a max deal. Could trading for Gobert to pack the paint in a better way behind Booker and Chris Paul re-open their window to contend? Even if that is a deal that backfires on the Suns, the Jazz wouldn’t care. They’d get younger with Ayton next to Mitchell.
Obviously, Mitchell would have more suitors, but getting rid of an All-Star just as they are hitting their prime for a smaller market team is among the riskiest things a front office can do. Unless the return for him is so good it keeps the Jazz relevant now and sets them up for the future, keeping Mitchell seems the way to go.
Maybe they play us all and trade both? Perhaps Mitchell has had his fill of Utah and asks to be traded. No matter what, though, something has got to give this summer for the Utah Jazz, and a big trade seems likely.