Coast to Coast: Quick takes on the Cavs, Jazz and more


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It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another edition of nobody’s (shoutout dad) favorite sports column. When I heard the Cleveland Cavaliers were trading players for the Utah Jazz’s Donovan Mitchell, I knew I had to write this column with the most committed Cleveland sports fan I know. Jack Hallinan, welcome to Coast to Coast. 

Did the Jazz get enough?

Jack Hallinan: The Jazz didn’t trade Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell to turn around and compete immediately; their goal was to accumulate draft capital and begin a rebuild. Between the two trades — Gobert to Minnesota, Mitchell to Cleveland — the Jazz now have an additional seven first-round draft picks and a slew of young players who could develop into decent role players. You can go back and forth as to whether or not the Jazz received “enough” to dump their two all-stars, but they undoubtedly accomplished their goal — to clean house. 

Yoav Gillath: The Utah Jazz brought back a pretty hefty haul for the 3-time All-Star out of Louisville. It’s not often you get a chance to trade a budding superstar entering his prime, and they certainly made the most of it. The picks will go a long way in jumpstarting the rebuild in Salt Lake City, but to me, this trade’s value rests on the shoulders of the young guns moving out West. Can rookie shooting guard Ochai Agbaji continue the development that saw him go from 3-star recruit to All-American at Kansas? If Agbaji explodes and combo guard Collin Sexton can recapture the form that saw him average 24.3 points per game in 20-21, the sky’s the limit in Utah.

Where do you see these teams in five years?

JH: While Mitchell will provide Cleveland with serious firepower, the path to success in the Eastern Conference is challenging. As long as the Celtics have Jayson Tatum, the Bucks have Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the 76ers have Joel Embiid, fellow conference contenders will remain relevant. Not to mention the Atlanta Hawks, who acquired Dejounte Murray over the offseason to set up a new all-star backcourt of their own. That being said, the Cavs have the best young core in basketball. If Evan Mobley can develop his offense over the next couple of seasons, the Cavs will win the Eastern Conference at least once with Mitchell on the team. For the Jazz, though, tanking is not as effective as it used to be after the NBA evened out the odds for the number one pick. Utah will hope to win the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes next June, but Jazz fans should understand that it’s no guarantee. They might have to settle for Scoot Henderson or Nick Smith Jr. Regardless of who they pick, the Jazz will at least return to being a fringe playoff team by 2027. 

YG: If all goes according to plan for the Utah Jazz, Victor Wembanyama should be donning the purple throwbacks in the 2027-28 season. The consensus number one prospect in next year’s draft, Wembanyama, is generational talent. No prospect has generated this much hype since Lebron James. On the other side of the country, the Cavaliers will be coming off back-to-back championships. It’s a bold prediction, I know, but no one will ever come back to read this column in five years anyways. Point guard Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell will split Finals MVP honors, and all will be good in the Land until the salary cap salary caps.

Who’s looked the best at Eurobasket?

JH: NBA fans will recognize four of the top five scorers in points per game at Eurobasket: Giannis, Lauri Markannen, Luka Doncic, and Nikola Jokic. Except for Markannen, these guys are all household names — MVP candidates, unanimous top 10 players in the league. The fifth name on that list? Aleksandar Vezenkov, the Bulgarian dynamo who averaged 26.8 points (third overall) and 12.2 rebounds (first overall) in the tournament. Bulgaria didn’t make it out of the group stage, but on a team with no NBA players, the 6’9” power forward played at a level matched only by NBA greats for five games.

YG: Luka Doncic looks primed for an MVP-caliber season in the NBA after a sparkling Eurobasket run. While Slovenia fell short of a second consecutive crown after their 90-87 loss to Poland in the quarter-finals, Doncic had a couple of explosions in the tournament. A 47-point effort against Rudy Gobert’s France was the highlight of a strong run for the Slovenian superstar. In the end, a few nagging injuries limited Luka to 5-15 shooting in the team’s finale against the Poles. When he’s back to full health, watch out.

Yoav Gillath is a sophomore writing about professional and college sports. His column “Coast to Coast” runs every other Thursday (except for this week).