Royce O’Neale’s Resurgence Deserves some Credit

Royce O’Neale got off to a pretty poor start this season. He looked out of place and like he should be out of the rotation. It seemed like he was being asked to do too much and wasn’t staying within his game. From the past few weeks however, he’s gone on a tear and is an important part of the Utah Jazz rotation.

Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert have deservedly received most of the credit for Utah getting back into the playoff picture. Royce O’Neale deserves some of that credit as well with how great he’s played of late. Making less than 1.4 million this year, his contract is one of the best in the league.

Keith Smith has been putting some trade deadline articles together, including this one about the NBA’s most tradable contracts. A Jazzman made the list at number 7:

7. Joe Ingles, Utah Jazz: Two years, $22.8 million (pay declines annually) – Ingles is another rags-to-riches story. He signed a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014, but never made it out of training camp. Utah claimed him on waivers and he’s become an integral part of their lineup ever since. Because Ingles was a bit older than most players when he signed a new deal as restricted free agent, the Jazz were able to get him on a sweetheart of a deal. At under $12 million for each of the final two years, Ingles, 31, is a steal. His value as a defender, shooter and playmaker is a big part of the Jazz’s success, as is his selfless nature.

Let’s jump into our Fan Posts of the week!

Gobert_the_Destroyer was advocating everyone to get Rudy Gobert some all star votes! If you didn’t you’re a terrible person and should be ashamed of yourself. I kid, I kid. Mostly...

Karl Stalone 32 talks about the Utah offense without Rubio:

What I’m NOT Arguing:

The Jazz are better without Rubio

That the numbers over a six-game sample are 100% meaningful.

Anything about spacing b/c I can’t prove it without videos; although I 100% believe there is a ton video evidence of it

What I Am Arguing:

Looking at ORtg since Rubio went out is not a good way to evaluate the offense, since players are in new unexpected roles, specifically players like Grayson Allen, AND b/c ORtg over the course of six is going to heavily swing with several misses or several makes.

This is an attempt to create a more nuanced conversation. Please feel free to look at other lineups over the past five games.

And for our last one, supernintendochalmers has a list of 9 potential trade targets:

To forewarn, all of these deals are unlikely. It’s really hard to gauge what trade partners want, and in most cases they probably prefer to keep their player since so many teams are in the playoff race. I also think saving cap space for an offer to Tobias Harris or Khris Middleton gives the Jazz a higher ceiling. All that said, here are a bunch of ideas:

The legend of Boris Diaw continues. I was reminded of an awesome story about the retired Frenchman the other day on Twitter. I couldn’t help but include it in a downbeat. This might be my favorite story about Diaw.

The all star team selection is coming up quickly. The Ringer decided to pick what their rosters would be here. And I was pleasantly surprised to find the following selection:

• Gobert anchors the league’s fourth-ranked defense and is integral to Utah’s steadily improving offense, even when he’s not flushing lob dunks. Gobert averages 6.1 screen assists, which lead to 14.1 points per game; both lead the league. The Stifle Tower should be a lock.

I 100% absolutely, positively agree. And while he won’t be selected as a starter, the coaches would be crazy not to include him. He deserves an all star bid as much as anyone.