The Jazz lost to the Suns 131-111 last night. Ricky Rubio popped off for 22 against his old team including a +31 rating. His replacement, Mike Conley, scored 8 points and never really made an impact on the game. You never want to overreact to one game but I think it incapsulated the truth. Mike Conley Sucks, Ricky Rubio is better, and the Jazz are screwed. Nobody should take the league’s biggest fan boy team seriously.
Mike Conley has been a disaster in Utah. I’ve been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. You can’t do it anymore. Utah is 4.4 points better when Conley sits. His offensive rating ranks towards the bottom half of the league. Did I also mention that he’s shooting less than 40 percent on the year? Did I also mention that Conley has a player option worth $35.5 million next year? Did I also mention that the Jazz are 17-6 when Conley doesn’t play at all? Utah is 19-15 with him.
Just the eye test is telling you he lost a step. 13.4 points and 4.1 assists on less than 40 percent isn’t cutting it. He’s not the same guy defensively anymore either. Let’s just be honest about this. The Jazz got robbed. Utah would have been better off keeping Jae Crowder, Brandon Clarke, and re-signing Rubio.
Speaking of Rubio, there is no question he’s the better player. Ricky Rubio has never been known for his shooting acumen. The Spanish point guard has a better shooting percentage than Conley. Say whatever you want about Rubio, that guy plays his ass off on both ends. He’s a significantly better distributor and defender at this point. Rubio actually makes a positive impact on his team. Rubio has a +/- of 8.5. Phoenix gets outscored when he’s not out there. Rubio beats Conley in virtually every statistical category. He also doesn’t look totally washed like Conley does.
This Jazz team is so screwed. They’re not athletic enough to keep up with guys like LeBron or Kawhi. Wake me up when Rudy Gobert wins anything. He’s 10 percent better than Andre Drummond who the Pistons gave away for nothing. Conley is a deterrent. Bojan Bogdanovic and Joe Ingles can make it splash, but that’s not enough. The Jazz missed their window.
The Jazz have no chance to be taken seriously if Conley is a shell of himself. It wasn’t a big window, to begin with. Gobert’s contract is up in 2021 and then you have to worry about giving a center who can’t shoot a supermax deal. I don’t care if you even like Gobert, you really want to give that guy a five-year $247.3M extension? That’s what it’s going to cost. The luxury tax will start to become a problem when you have to give Donovan Mitchell the max and figure out how to put a good basketball team on the floor. The Utah Jazz are screwed. Jump off the bandwagon while you still have a chance.
