A short summer?
A strange training camp?
A truncated preseason?
Forget all of that. Donovan Mitchell isn’t interested in making excuses. The 2020-21 NBA season — with all of its unprecedented-ness and unpredictable possibility — is here, and the All-Star guard wants to establish what may be called, in the parlance of our time, a new normal for the Utah Jazz.
“We need to come out ready to go,” Mitchell said recently, “because losing in the first round ain’t it no more.”
There are still 72 games to play over the next five months before the Jazz could get the chance to erase the memories of recent playoff frustrations, but Mitchell and his teammates want to send a clear message with a strong start to the new campaign.