Utah Jazz: Trey Lyles has officially solidified himself as a villain in SLC

Due to some recent disparaging comments from former Jazzman Trey Lyles, he will certainly find no support from the Utah Jazz faithful.

Honestly, it really isn’t hard to win over the hearts of Utah Jazz fans. Did guys like Marvin Williams, Al Jefferson or DeMarre Carroll ever take the team to unprecedented heights or bring overwhelming success to SLC? Not really. But ask any Jazz fan how they feel about those guys, and the vast majority will express positive feelings about them. When they return to play in Utah, they’re largely welcomed with open arms.

All of them worked hard, did their job and had good things to say about the organization. And that’s all it really takes to win us over – play hard, hustle, give a good effort and show some love for the organization/state, even if it isn’t the most glamorous of all markets to play in.

The current team is so beloved, because it’s chock-full of guys who do exactly that. Joe Ingles, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Jae Crowder, to name a few, have all gone over and above to make themselves part of the community and express nothing but love to play for the Jazz.

Contrast that to former Jazzman Trey Lyles who was traded away in exchange for rookie phenom Donovan Mitchell. Lyles was visibly disappointed to be selected by the Jazz in the 2015 NBA Draft. He showed some promise in his rookie season, but it quickly became clear that he was unfocused, undetermined and disenchanted with the Jazz in his second year.

A lot of those reasons contributed to him being traded away to the Denver Nuggets this past summer in a move that was without a doubt not only addition by subtraction, but also netted the Jazz an apparent budding star in Mitchell. While Lyles wasn’t exactly a fan favorite for the reasons listed above, several were hopeful that he’d find himself in a better situation. After all, Utah isn’t for everyone, and if he was able to blossom somewhere else while the Jazz potentially improved as well, then it would be a win-win for both sides.

Unfortunately, Lyles fell out of grace even further shortly after being traded by tweeting out a GIF of Leonardo DiCaprio laughing that was mocking the Jazz once Gordon Hayward flew the coop. It was an immature move and a bad look from the former Jazzman that fanned the flames of Jazz fans’ ire. Even so, many fans were still willing to give Lyles the benefit of the doubt, wish him well and simply allow both sides to go their separate ways.

Yet, even for those fans that had some amount of respect left for Lyles after all this, he was certainly walking on thin ice. And after the comments that he made on teammate (and another former Jazzman) Richard Jefferson‘s latest Road Trippin’ Podcast, he has absolutely gone crashing through that ice into the dark depths of no return.

Make no mistake about it, Trey Lyles will now forever be considered a villain in Salt Lake City.

As Deseret News’ Jody Genessy pointed out in a recent article, on the podcast, Lyles was quick to show his disdain for the team that drafted him by interrupting Jefferson’s question about being drafted by Utah and saying, “Unfortunately.” He went on to say that he “just didn’t like it in Utah” and his lack of words (it was more like a groan) when asked about Salt Lake City and the fans on a number of occasions said more than a thousand-page essay could have.

I’ll sum it up for you, Lyles was not impressed, to say the least.

He also was critical of head coach Quin Snyder, complaining about having to practice everyday. I mean, a basketball player practicing? Absurd…

Richard Jefferson, who was completely opposite of Lyles and praised Utah almost incessantly, called Lyles out for this and went as far as to ask him what was wrong with working hard. To that, Lyles replied in snarky fashion, saying, “I didn’t say nothing about working hard. Three-hour practices? C’mon now.”

Based on Lyles’ regression from his rookie season to his sophomore year, I think it’s pretty obvious how seriously he took those practices. Meanwhile, in an ironic twist of fate, the Utah Jazz are now better off than the Denver Nuggets and certainly came out victors in the trade that sent Lyles away. Maybe that had a little something to do with an elite coach and a team dedicated to working hard, but, of course, I’m just speculating.

Next time Lyles takes a look at the Western Conference standings, though, maybe he should think long and hard about complaining about those practices.

A portion of the podcast was also spent discussing the five worst NBA cities and Lyles was adamant that Utah be added to the list. It turns out that along with disliking three-hour practices, Lyles also has adverse feelings towards geography. After all, Utah is in fact a state, not a city.

In short, it was a pretty difficult thing to listen to as Lyles sounded a lot like the whiny ex who tries to act like he’s better off when really his former significant other is the one thriving with their newfound love, a.k.a. Donovan Mitchell.

But more than just making some negative comments about the Jazz, Lyles has now truly dug himself into a hole that he can’t get out of. His unabated statements left no doubt about his feelings for the team that drafted him and tried to develop him, though it appears he wasn’t up to the task. As such, there will be no more benefits of the doubt extended towards him.

Any time he visits the Jazz in the future, he should expect to be met with nothing more than a chorus of absolutely deserved boos.

As I said to start this piece out, winning over the hearts of Jazz fans is simple. Play hard, give everything you’ve got and show the organization/state some love. Not only did Lyles fail to do those things, but he went ahead and did the complete opposite.

And as easy as the recipe is to win over the hearts of Jazz fans, it’s also just as easy to do the opposite. Lyles perfected that one to a tee.

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Were it not for these comments, Trey Lyles would have gone down in Jazz history as “the guy we traded to get Donovan Mitchell.” He’ll still be known as that, but now he’ll also forever be known by another title.

A villain.