"I said at the end of the season, don't trade him…and that didn't happen”- Donovan Mitchell reveals he demanded Rudy Gobert to stay at Utah, says he has no grudges against Jazz, and Cleveland is home to him
Cleveland Cavaliers' latest acquisition Donovan Mitchell has hit out at claims made by Utah Jazz CEO Danny Ainge. Ainge said that the Jazz didn't achieve much success because they didn't believe in each other as Mitchell disagreed with the statement from Ainge.
In an interview with ESPN, the three-time All-Star spoke about how much he believed in his former teammates and wanted to run things back with them. Mitchell specifically said that he wanted to try again with Rudy Gobert and figure things out with him on the roster as opposed to trading him.
"I don't think we didn't believe [in each other]. I said at the end of the season, don't trade [Rudy Gobert]. Let's figure this out, let's do. And that didn't happen. For him to say that after six months around the team, I disagree. But you know, at the end of the day, that's his decision," Mitchell said.
Danny Ainge has changed the direction the franchise is heading as they entered a full-blown rebuilding phase. They inflated the market by trading Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves for five first-rounders and a couple of role players.
They then proceeded to trade Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers and not the New York Knicks despite being linked with the latter for years. The Jazz acquired players like Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Ochair Agbaji, three unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps.
It was widely reported that Danny Ainge did not believe Donovan Mitchell was good enough to be the best player on a championship-winning roster and that's why he wanted to trade the guard and acquire as much draft capital as possible.
Donovan Mitchell:
"I said at the end of the season, don't trade [Rudy Gobert]. Let's figure this out, let's do it. And that didn't happen.”
(via @WindhorstESPN, espn.com/nba/story/_/id…) https://t.co/pqSWb0e6Zk
Why did things not work out for Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz?
The Utah Jazz have established a trend over the last few years where they would earn title credentials with their regular season performances. But when it came to the postseason, the franchise invariably capitulated and ended the campaign in a disappointing fashion.
Donovan Mitchell and the company's best chance came during the 2020-21 season when they went up against the LA Clippers in the Western semifinals. Despite losing Kawhi Leonard for the last two games of the series, the Jazz ended up on the losing side as they were without Mike Conley and were beaten from the perimeter by LA.
Might be something but probably nothing:
Rudy Gobert averages almost twice more passes to Donovan Mitchell (4.5) than Mitchell to Gobert (2.3) this season. https://t.co/yQXfbBu6LZ
Things have been more or less the same over the last few years. Their perimeter defense continues to be exploited by teams, especially by dragging Rudy Gobert to guard outside the arc.
But the one main impediment standing in their way is the health of their key players. They have proven time and again to be unreliable when it comes to staying healthy in the biggest moments.
Either way, Donovan Mitchell and Co. were going nowhere at this pace. It was about time that they blew this team up and started to build from scratch.