Donovan Mitchell Sends Message to Jazz Fans Ahead of Utah Return

The much-anticipated rematch between the Utah Jazz and the Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland Cavaliers is just around the corner. The ex-Jazzman is returning back to where his NBA career started when the Cavaliers face the Jazz in Salt Lake City on Tuesday night.

Despite not having the cleanest of breakups, the four-time All-Star is hoping for a warm welcome from the Vivint Arena crowd.

“I don’t know what the response will be. I hope it’s cheers,” Mitchell said via cleveland.com. “We did a lot of great things there. Obviously, we didn’t accomplish our end goal. But I had a lot of positives despite not winning a championship. That’s not easy. Only one team does it. We had five cracks at it, and we missed.”

When scrolling the social media front, the Jazz fan base is a divided crew on the topic, although it appears the majority will be cheering for the ex-fan favorite. Either way, both franchises should be elated with the results of the exchange up to this point. Mitchell has taken his game to another level and is arguably a top-10 player in the league.

As for the Jazz, they were going to lose Mitchell in due time anyway. Getting an All-Star player back in Lauri Markkanen, along with a plethora of draft compensation, is more than what executive Danny Ainge could have asked for.

Mitchell’s homecoming will grab the headlines, but more importantly, Utah needs to flip the script on what’s been happening over the last two months in terms of wins and losses. After a 10-3 start paired with the emergence of Markkanen comes the expectation that the Jazz have enough talent on the current roster to make a push for a playoff spot.

Scoring points hasn’t been a problem, as the Jazz rank third in the NBA in offensive rating, but what they do on the defensive side has been their kryptonite. Utah ranks 27th in defensive rating while being the only team that has a top-10 offense in the league that’s currently in the lottery.

The Jazz have some pieces that could give them a boost on the defensive side but are only getting part-time minutes up to this point. Rookie Walker Kessler has proven he’s a force in the paint and at the rim, but only has averaged 18 minutes per game this year. Those numbers should improve with starting center Kelly Olynyk reaggravating an ankle injury on Sunday.

Also, four-year veteran Nickeil Alexander-Walker is a player that’s proven he can make a difference defensively by using his length on opposing guards, while still holding his own offensively. 'NAW' is shooting 41.9% from long distance, paired with a 49.9% field goal percentage, which are both career highs. Those are good enough numbers to make him a permanent fixture in the rotation, considering what he also offers on defense.

First-year head coach Will Hardy has juggled the player rotation around this year, but at some point, he’ll have to commit to more minutes supporting the defense if Utah wants to get back into the thick of things.

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