Contrary to some recent statements, Colin Cowherd actually had some flattering words to say about Quin Snyder, Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz organization.
Utah Jazz fans are used to being overlooked or falsely analyzed by the national media. The small market Salt Lake City team isn’t often in the limelight and as a result, the analysis from a less attentive national audience isn’t always that well-presented.
Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd has been an excellent example of just what I’m talking about. He has done a pretty good job of making enemies out of Utah Jazz fans with some questionable comments about the team. Back in June, he essentially claimed that Donovan Mitchell was merely a hyper-athletic guard that would fizzle out shortly into his career without ever being a winning piece for the team.
Not only was his criticism unfair at the time, especially considering that Mitchell was a rookie that had just led his team to the second round of the playoffs, but it was largely inaccurate. Of all the players of a certain mold that Cowherd compared Mitchell with, Mitchell was far more efficient with a much higher usage rating in comparison to their rookie seasons.
Colin Cowherd had some...um...interesting things to say about Donovan Mitchell recently. Via @jaredwoodcox https://t.co/OBnyGhea1b
— The J-Notes (@TheJNotes) June 14, 2018
But he wasn’t done there. Less than two months later, Cowherd publicly discussed the Jazz yet again, and this time he committed a cardinal sin – he insulted Joe Ingles. Specifically, he claimed that Ingles can’t defend a bar stool. Apparently Cowherd wasn’t paying attention to the 2018 Jazz-Thunder series, or countless other stalwart Ingles defensive performances.
In that same segment, he essentially bashed the Jazz from head to toe and suggested that if the Jazz and Lakers met in the first round of the playoffs (which is what some oddsmakers were predicting at the time), the Lakers would wipe the floor with them.
Now that I’ve reminded you of these instances, are you getting a pretty good snapshot of how Cowherd feels about the Utah Jazz? Well, now that I’ve done all that, get a load of the latest.
In surprising fashion, considering how Colin has categorized the Jazz in the past, he took to Twitter on Friday to heap some praise upon Jazz coach Quin Snyder and second-year player Donovan Mitchell. Here’s what he had to say–
Had a speaking engagement last night w Utah Jazz HC Quin Snyder and @spidadmitchell. World class people. And the staff of @utahjazz were first class. Felt lucky to be invited. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
— Colin Cowherd (@ColinCowherd) January 11, 2019
Of course, it’s one thing to talk on TV/radio about people you’ve never met before, and another to then discuss them after you’ve finally sat face-to-face with them. Perhaps after a positive experience with the Jazz, Cowherd will start paying a little better attention to the team and portray them in a more accurate light.
Regardless of his past statements or perhaps lingering feelings about the Jazz, it was good to see him categorize Snyder and Mitchell as world class and the Jazz staff as first class. These are well-known items among the Utah faithful, but getting the word out to the rest of the doubting NBA world is a nice work in progress.
The oftentimes uninformed opinions of national media members notwithstanding, I’m exceptionally glad that the Utah Jazz have Quin Snyder as their head coach and Donovan Mitchell as their rising star. You couldn’t ask for a more gifted and classy duo.
Perhaps Cowherd’s recent speaking engagement with them that he alluded to will help him come around and realize the error of his past Jazz-slandering ways.