The weather is starting to change and the NBA season is winding down which means we’re almost to the best part of the year: Playoffs.
With the postseason right around the corner, Jazz fans have some questions that need answering so I’ve opened up the mailbag once again.
Do you see Niang/Ilyasova/Gobert-Favors playing together in the playoffs? I'd like to see Ersan get PO Mins
— Josh Padmore (@JPadmore92) May 2, 2021
I think that just about everyone can predict what lineups are going to be used during the playoffs. If everyone is healthy, there’s no reason to believe that the Jazz will stray away from what they normally use with the main, nine-man rotation. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be small tweaks and clever changes based on matchups.
There is a world in which the Jazz would have to match up against a very tall and lengthy lineup and they’d need to go with an ultra big lineup. That being said, it’s hard for me to imagine a scenario in which Quin Snyder would use a lineup of Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors, Georges Niang and Ersan Ilyasova unless the circumstances were dire or he did it just for a couple minutes to shake things up.
I wouldn’t expect something like this in the early rounds of the postseason, or in the first few games of a series. I’d see this as a chess move that could be implemented if nothing else was working.
And, I know that there might be hopes that Ilyasova gets some more playing time but I don’t think that the Jazz are going to rely on him much, if at all, during the playoffs. That’s not a knock against Ilyasova. I covered him when he played with the Philadelphia 76ers and saw him do some great things during the playoffs. But, it was clear when Philly signed him that they would be using him. So far with the Jazz, that’s just not been the case. I’d think of him as insurance more than anything else at this point.
How long do you see the Jazz being able to keep the core of this team together?
— Landon Carter (@LandonCarter23) May 2, 2021
Donovan Mitchell and Gobert are under contract with the Jazz at least through the 2024-25 season (both have player options for the 2025-26 season). Royce O’Neale is under contract through the 2023-24 season, and both Bojan Bogdanovic and Jordan Clarkson are signed through the 2022-23 season.
I think that it would be pretty safe to assume those players will be here through those contracts. Of course, trades and other deals are always a possibility, but the Jazz have been successful with this group, so right now there’s no reason to think that they’ll be wheeling and dealing that much.
Mike Conley will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason and it seems like the Jazz will want to re-sign him, but the length and size of that contract still has to be negotiated. Joe Ingles has one more season on his contract after this year, how he plays next season will play a huge part in whether he sticks around. Both Conley and Ingles will turn 34 in October, so age is certainly something to think about. They’ve both had excellent seasons, maybe the best of their careers, but father time is undefeated.
The Jazz could keep this core together for a very long time if they want to, and I’d expect that to be the case over the next couple of years at least. But it’ll all depend on how well they perform.
Will Vivint Arena be at capacity by the time the playoffs start?
— Papa Dave (@ups_dave) May 2, 2021
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Jazz — and the NBA for that matter — want to get arenas as full as is safely possible by the time the playoffs start.
On Saturday the Jazz increased the number of fans allowed in the building from 5,600 to 6,700. That’s the first increase since March. With COVID-19 vaccinations on the rise there is likely to be another increase but it probably won’t be all the way to full capacity by the time the playoffs start, three weeks from now.
Though the Jazz have allowed a limited number of fans all season, many teams only recently started admitting fans into their arenas. It’s going to be a slow build back to normal, just as everything else has been.
Will jazz be able to afford to resign niang thoughts on Trent Forrest in limited minutes
— Miles Newby (@newbymiles89) May 2, 2021
The Jazz will be able to re-sign Niang if they want to, even if re-signing him takes them over the salary cap. Whether they’ll want to is a different question entirely, and answering that question might depend completely on how helpful Niang is able to be during the Jazz’s upcoming playoff run. Lately, Niang has been playing very well, and it’s the right time of the season to be doing that considering he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer. But, playing well now and having a good run during the postseason could drive his price tag up and how much the Jazz are willing to spend on him is also a bit of an unknown right now.
There are going to be a lot of moving parts for the Jazz this offseason and we’ll cover that all in depth at a later date, but the simplest answer is yes, the Jazz can re-sign Niang.
As for Trent Forrest, I don’t have a ton of thoughts because we haven’t seen him play a ton of minutes with the regular rotation guys. He had a good game on Saturday against the Toronto Raptors, but he only was able to log minutes with the regular players because of injuries to Mitchell (right ankle sprain) and Conley (right hamstring tightness).
Forrest has good defensive instincts and seems to be a skilled playmaker, but he still has work to do on creating for himself and being able to shoot consistently. He’s a rookie on a two-way contract, so I think he’s done just fine considering the circumstances.
Obviously you can't place too much stock in the last 2 weeks w/ Don out and a couple other key guys also missing some games. That said, what have you seen over this stretch that should make Jazz fans the most optimistic, and what should make us the most worried? #UtahJazzMailbag
— David NOT FROM HIGHLAND (@babydave13) May 2, 2021
I’m going to keep this one short. We are in the dog days of a grueling season. It’s really no surprise to me that there are a couple of nagging injuries, that there have been a few disappointing losses, and that there are some things that don’t seem great. That’s OK. The Jazz are in a great spot and should be turning their attention to getting healthy for the playoffs. So the first thing that Jazz fans should be optimistic about is that getting healthy seems to be the Jazz’s top priority right now.
Outside of getting ready for the postseason, Bogdanovic has been playing great, Clarkson has been playing better defense and Niang has stepped up his game. Once Mitchell and Conley are back, there’s no doubts about what they’re able to do and the same goes for Gobert. Seeing that the role players are doing more and being aggressive is a good sign right now. Go forth with that good thought in mind!
If you would like to have your question answered, you can send it to me at stodd@deseretnews.com with “mailbag” in the subject line, or you can send it to me via Twitter @NBASarah with the hashtag #UtahJazzMailbag.
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