Utah Jazz editorial: Mitchell, Gobert and Snyder likely award snubs
By Ryan Aston
Utah Jazz players Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, as well as head coach Quin Snyder, are candidates for year-end honors. Don’t be surprised if they don’t bring home the hardware, though.
The unlikely success of the Utah Jazz this season keeps getting, well…more successful? Following recent wins over Lakers and the Clippers, and with a little help from the rest of the West, the Jazz band is suddenly doing the jive in the top four of the conference.
Clearly, the reasons for the turnaround from a lottery-bound squad to one that could have homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs are many. Chief among them, though, have been Donovan Mitchell‘s sensational efforts as a rookie, Rudy Gobert‘s defensive dominance and Quin Snyder’s masterful coaching.
However, if you’re expecting any of that trio to receive year-end honors, you may end up disappointed.
Don’t misunderstand me — all three have put together award-worthy seasons. In any other year, under slightly different circumstances, they’d probably be shoe-ins. The 2017-18 season has just been a different kind of year.
What Mitchell has done in leading the Jazz has been historic. If you want to look at all-around performance, the list of rookies who matched his points, rebounds, assists and steals per game averages is a veritable who’s-who of NBA legends.
Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Larry Bird, Allen Iverson and Ron Harper comprise that group.
But Rookie of the Year honors will be hard for Mitchell to secure. Philadelphia 76ers point-man Ben Simmons has been historic in his own right. The former No. 1 overall pick is putting up a 16-8-8-2 line. He’s also got an army of hoops pundits ready to cast their votes for him and they’re not wrong.
Meanwhile, what Coach Snyder has managed in another injury-plagued year, after losing Gordon Hayward over the summer, has been incredible. But will he be Coach of the Year? It seems unlikely. To say the field of candidates for this award is packed would be a massive understatement.
Brad Stevens seemingly gets more credit for coping with his own Hayward loss (to injury). Gregg Popovich has successfully navigated the loss of his own star player. Terry Stotts and Nate McMillan have helped their teams shock the basketball world. Finally, Dwane Casey and Mike D’Antoni tweaked their systems and are at the top of their conferences as a result.
Brett Brown’s job in Philly goes without saying.
The one award race where the Jazz seem to have the legitimate frontrunner is Defensive Player of the Year with Gobert. No player in the Association impacts the game defensively like Utah’s All-NBA center.
Unfortunately, his max-out point for games played this season stands at 56 thanks to injuries. Save lockout-shortened seasons, no player has ever taken home the DPOY trophy with so few games played.
So, while all three are deserving, actually receiving any year-end hardware could be unlikely.
That said, Jazz fans shouldn’t let things like award snubs get them down. Failing to take home top honors at an awards show won’t change the season that Mitchell, Gobert, Snyder and the Jazz had. And, make no mistake about it, the ’17-18 campaign has been an incredible one.
It’s not over, either.
Before the year, no one would have predicted the Jazz would be where they are. But here they are regardless; knocking on the door of a playoff berth and top seed. Inching ever closer toward the franchise’s stated goal of contending for an NBA championship.
In the end, that’s the only trophy that matters. And the team’s progress to that end likely trumps individual honors for the Jazzmen in question. It should for you, too.