Utah Jazz players celebrate Father’s Day

We at SLCDunk hope all you fathers, grandfathers, and symbolic fathers out there had an excellent Father’s Day yesterday. It’s truly a blessing to have good fathers or father figures. My dad has been a monumental influence in my own life for good, and I owe a lot of who I am to him. There are also others who I have been able to look up to, from neighbors, to teachers, to bosses, so here’s to all of you who make life better for the people around you.

Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz team President Steve Starks, and Jae Crowder gave public shoutouts to their own fathers on social media. I especially like the picture of Jae and his dad—former Utah Jazz player Corey Crowder—at a Jazz presser. It’s things like this that make basketball special. Jae Crowder and the Jazz just seem to be a match made in heaven. Hopefully the business side of things allow him to stay here for a while, but for now we’ll savor the time we’ve got.

Our Andy Bailey wrote one of the best articles I have read in a long time for Bleacher Report, on how the Utah Jazz are the best fit for LeBron that he will never consider. Of course, there is no team in the NBA that would turn the best player in the league down if he were to express interest in signing there. However, LeBron doesn’t just fit the Jazz, but the Jazz fits LeBron like that pair of jeans you pick up at the retail store that you accidentally walk out of the store wearing because they feel so nice. Andy goes into greater detail describing why the Jazz fit the King of the NBA.

Gobert wouldn’t just help LeBron on defense. He’s also one of the league’s top rim-runners. According to Basketball Reference, six players put up at least 200 attempts in the range of zero to three feet from the rim and hit at least 70 percent on such shots in each of the last two seasons.

Gobert and LeBron are two of those six. That pick-and-roll flanked by the shooting of Ingles and Mitchell would be a nightmare to defend. ...

Utah was plus-64 in four games against the Warriors this season. It has one of the only defenses in the league that can make Golden State work a little bit. And adding LeBron to that mix would make it an instant title contender.

From the Gobert Effect, to Donovan “Young King” Mitchell, to (probably) certified genius Quin Snyder, Utah is a destination LeBron should at least consider before he inevitably teams up with Kawhi in Los Angeles. I highly recommend a click-through to read the rest of this article.

The Jazz are making some adjustments to the coaching staff. Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune announced that Utah Jazz assistant coaches Alex Jensen, Johnnie Bryant and Tony Lang will be the ones to accompany Utah Jazz Head Coach Quin Snyder on the bench for next season. In the case that Quin Snyder is ejected or otherwise unable to coach during a game, Alex Jensen would be next up in the chain of command to take the lead on the floor, although Tony Lang was made the official lead assistant.

This news came shortly after it was reported that the Jazz are apparently in the process of hiring the Greek Fotis Katiskaris as an additional assistant coach. The Jazz lost assistant coach Igor Kokoskov to the Phoenix Suns, who signed him on as their new head coach a couple weeks ago, and these moves are no doubt a carefully thought out response to that loss.

Fotis Katiskaris, 2013 EuroCup Coach of the Year and 2014-16 head coach of Greece’s National Team, brings a wealth of experience with him to the Jazz. This is another example of the Jazz’ international reach. Our management does as good a job as anybody else in the league at finding and evaluating international talent. This move should solidify the bench for the upcoming season, where the Jazz will be looking to build upon their 48-win 2017-18 season. Nothing official has been announced as far as the contract being signed, but if all goes according to plan, we will happily receive Fotis Katiskaris with open arms here in Utah.

#MuscleWatch is on again. Rudy Gobert went on social medias to post this menacing picture:

Raul Neto also posted some of his offseason work, going through some heavy dribbling drills.

With the draft coming up, we’ll start to see what type of strategy the Jazz will deploy this offseason. They could be very aggressive, and blow up half the team for a chance to sign or trade for a star player like Paul George. Or—more likely—they may be a little more patient and conservative, relying on inner growth and setting up for the future. Next offseason we will have more cap space, and there are a few more star players that could be potential recruits if the Jazz have another strong season, and the pairing of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert continues to develop and improve. That may be something to consider as moves are made this season. Just looking at spotrac’s 2019 Free Agent list, there are some very alluring options, in a year where the Jazz currently have a bit more flexibility. Is signing a solid role player this season worth tying up the cap space that could be used to sign a Kemba Walker, Klay Thompson, Tobias Harris, Nikola Mirotic, or some other high-impact player? Luckily, we have elite management to make that decision, while we are free to sit back comfortably and speculate.