It has been more than three years since Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell last played for the Utah Jazz. It was clear that their time as Jazzmen was over, and now they face playoff contenders with title aspirations. However, despite now being on different teams, Mitchell and Gobert are in the exact same situation as they were with the Jazz.
Those days for the Jazz should still be fresh in the fanbase’s minds because they were some good times. Sometimes. Without wanting to harp too much on that era of Jazz basketball, when the Mitchell-Gobert teams were at their peak they were a very good team, but they never were. Great.
It just felt like something was missing from those teams, like the Jazz needed one more crucial ingredient to get into the title conversation, and they never got it. They certainly made some slick moves to improve their ceiling, but despite all their success, it never quite felt like they were there.
And now it feels like the same thing is happening with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Both teams have been good, and if you ask them if they would still make the same trades today that they made with the Jazz three years ago, they would say yes. Both Gobert and Mitchell are still among the best at what they do, but like the Jazz of old, it feels like their current teams are missing that one ingredient that will push them over the top.
Like the Jazz back then, both the Cavaliers and Timberwolves have made smart moves to solve their problems and improve their chances. Yet they don’t get the results they wanted. Neither is close to the top of their respective conferences, and while they are better than their record suggests, the shortcomings in the roster are too obvious.
There are differences between the Cavs and Wolves
The Cavaliers and Timberwolves acquired the prized Jazz alumni for different reasons despite paying similar prices. Cleveland acquired Mitchell believing he was the man on their next title team. Minnesota acquired Gobert and already had the guy (Anthony Edwards), believing Gobert’s elite defense would catapult them into title contender status.
And the funny thing is, they weren’t wrong about what those two could do. The problem for Cleveland is that the supporting cast around Mitchell simply isn’t good enough. The problem for Minnesota is that it lacks a playmaker who can help orchestrate the offense.
For Cleveland, having a trio of Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen to put next to Mitchell is really good, but none of those guys are franchise players. Garland and Mobley are stars, but they have yet to prove that their ceilings as players are not limited. That’s why Mitchell has put together historic playoff performances that ultimately make no difference to Cleveland.
They’ve made trades over the past year to solve the problem, such as acquiring De’Andre Hunter, Lonzo Ball and Larry Nance Jr. All solid players who round the edges, but the core of the Cavaliers’ problems is that they need a talent upgrade in their top four, and it’s hard to see how they’ll get it.
For Minnesota, the talent and rotation on that team is pretty good. Edwards, Gobert, Julius Randle and Jaden McDaniels is a fantastic quartet. Their problems now are the same problems they had when they first acquired Gobert: they’re missing a point guard. They fixed this when they acquired old friend Mike Conley, but now Conley is too old to play that big of a role these days.
So they need a replacement, and that will be difficult to find without compromising what they have now. If they don’t, they might not see the same success they did the past two postseasons.
Does this all sound familiar? They should be, because even though they aren’t in exactly the same situation as the Jazz were when they had Mitchell and Gobert, the problems are still the same. These are good teams that are unfortunately too flawed to reach the promised land.
The good news in all of this is that if the disappointment gets bad enough, maybe they’ll make changes that could make the picks they owe to Utah all the better.
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