The Utah Jazz's Summer Options

The Jazz have suddenly gotten national media attention in the second half of the season.  Since trading away a 3^rd overall pick in Enes Kanter, Utah has shored up their defense into one of the best defenses in the league. However their offense is still near the bottom of the pack. Should Utah make a trade? Should the sign a free agent? Can they even hope to sign a free agent? Or will they just stand pat and draft three new rookies this season. If you’re looking to brush up on your Utah Jazz knowledge, this might be a good start as we discuss the Jazz’s summer options below.

Let’s start by examining what Utah actually has on their team and their list of assets.  The starting five that they have been trotting out there recently is as follows.

1- Dante Exum
2- Rodney Hood
3- Gordon Hayward
4- Derick Favors
5- Rudy Gobert

The 3, 4, and 5 positions are obviously the foundation that this team will build around going forward.  All project to be borderline All-stars at least once in their careers even being conservative. With the front court set, we turn to the back court.  Utah has spent three first round picks in the last two years on point guards, with two young prospects to show for it. 

Dante Exum, the younger and less polished of the two has won the starting role.  This largely is due to the fact that he plays better than average defense.  The epitome of passive on offense, Dante might not make opportunities for himself, but he also doesn’t take them away from the other starters.  While the Jazz cannot hope to contend in the west with a point guard at Dante’s passivity on offense, he already is giving them a better chance with him in the starting five than Burke.  He is the future of the Jazz point guard position, and unless they trade for an experienced point guard this summer, he is also the present.  The skills and confidence should grow in time, but currently no one is quite sure what to expect from Dante.  The fact that that is the case at 19 and that he has already earned a starting job speaks well for his career and not so well for the other point guard on the team.

At the 2 position Utah has a bevy of guard/forwards that they have trotted out in the starter’s spot.  Their current choice has usually been their ‘other’ rookie, Rodney Hood.  Hood has been injured a great deal of the year and so has not been seen a whole lot until recently.  If you haven’t been watching, his recent 25 point outburst against the Sacramento Kings might look like it came from nowhere.  Jazz faithful, though have seen this coming.  There have been several games that when Rodney entered the game, he would go on a streak and get to double digits in points long before he got to double digits in minutes. Rodney will very likely turn out to be the best 3 ball shooter the Jazz have on the team currently, not only that, he beginning to learn to create for himself.  Can he do that against elite defenses that are trained on him, well probably not yet; but after the little time he has had on the court this season, his offensive role is a lot larger on some nights than anyone would expect, and he is becoming more consistent.  That 25 point game against the kings, Coach Quinn Snyder took Hayward and Favors, the main two productive offensive players out of the game, and turned it over to Hood.  First off, as a coach, that’s ballsy. Second off, this was never supposed to be Hood’s team, not even for one game.  Some options for Utah this summer have been floated that include trading hood away to get a wing player that can shoot 3’s.  If you’ve seen Rodney play, and you understand where the Jazz are right now with their youth movement… unless an all-star in his prime is walking through that door, you don’t trade Rodney Hood.

Bench
1- Trey Burke, Bryce Cotton
2- Alec Burks, Elijah Millsap,
3- Joe Ingles, Chris Johnson
4- Trevor Booker, Jeremy Evans, Jack Cooley, Grant Jerrett
5-

Now let’s talk about what the Jazz do or do not have on their bench. Starting with the point guard position, Bryce Cotton is a D-League prospect, who in the best case scenario becomes a third string point guard, so let’s move on as there is very little to talk about there.  Trey Burke on the other hand is the point guard that the Jazz moved up to get, using two first round picks.  With the amount of fanfare that went on in the Jazz HQ room when they drafted him, you would think that he would be playing as a starter just two years later with no experienced veteran on the team at his position.  This is not the case.  The reasons behind that are not very encouraging. In the Jazz’s system, defense and a slower pace rule.  Trey Burke struggles with both of these. On defense he is a revolving door at his position, which the Jazz cannot have with teams beginning to play against their two towers with smaller line ups. On offense he is the picture of inconsistency.  It is true that he has had more 20 point games than Hood this year, but if you look what he does when he is not having a 20 point game, you begin to see the problem.  When Burke is not scoring a lot, it is not because he isn’t shooting a lot.  He is inconsistent, and when he is off, like too many announcers suggest, he tries to shoot his way through it.  These attempts don’t come from spot up, open jumpers within the system either.  They are iso-ball prayers that seldom get answered. I have been in the arena for one of these 3 for 20 something nights and watched it cost the Jazz a game in overtime. Now to be fair, Hayward was out, and the Jazz lack a playmaker in his stead.  So I can see why Trey thought the burden was on him to chuck it up.  But trey has continued to prove that he is not that second play maker, even from the bench.  The best case scenario is that he becomes more consistent in his bench point guard role. But he is a ball heavy point guard, he needs it in his hands and the Jazz’s established 6^th man, Alec Burks, will be back from injury next year.  If Utah can get something of worth for him, Trey Burke will be on another team.  However that is a big if.  I could see him leaving town as the sweetener to some deal, or to make space for a free agent signing.

2- Alec Burks, Elijah Millsap,

Now about that 6^th man back from injury.  Why is he not in the starting line up?  Well frankly because no one has seen him play since the beginning of the season.  Alec moved into the starting lineup this year with the coaching and culture change at Utah. He is an explosive athlete, and a great finisher.  He is not an elite jump shooter.  He does not hit threes with any type of consistency.  So though he might be a better player currently, if he is fully recovered, than Rodney Hood, he might not fit into the lineup as well.  The Jazz need a shooting guard who can nail threes in their starting lineup since stretching the floor will be a priority with Gobert and Favors in the front court.  Alec might not be that guy, but he is the perfect 6^th man guard.  Alec is a ball dominant guard just like Trey is, but with the ability to finish at the rim.  This might be the biggest argument of why the Jazz will move Trey.  Alec and Trey do very similar things and might be asked to play the same role, and Alec is a better defender. Surrounded by shooters and hustle, Alec could lead a second unit in scoring and creating for others.  Of course until we see him back on the court, this is all very much conjecture.  Trey might stay around as an insurance plan if Alec is not back up to top form.  Elijah Millsap is a plus defender who has found his own on the Jazz team.  A good rotational player, hopefully the Jazz can keep him and develop him.

3- Joe Ingles, Chris Johnson

Let’s just start with Chris Johnson. D-League call up who has not seen minutes in a real game.  Joe Ingles on the other hand is the third of the Jazz rookies this year.  Though he doesn’t feel or look like a rookie.  Jingles played many years in Australia and looked to be a signing to make Dante feel at home at the beginning of the year.  However, Joe is the rookie that has gotten the most minutes so far.  With his experience playing the game, and an older head on his shoulders, Joe has stepped into his role quickly.  However even with the surprise that he has been this season, his ceiling is what we are seeing. And John the Baptist probably summed it up best: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”   Dante and Rodney are the future.  Joe Ingles will probably stay with the team, but if he is playing meaningful minutes in 2 years, the jazz are not competing for home court in the west.

4- Trevor Booker, Jeremy Evans, Jack Cooley, Grant Jerrett

What looks to be a log jam at backup power forward is mostly Trevor Booker, 2 D-league call ups, and a Slam Dunk champion that can’t seem to get on the court. (sigh, the Human Pogo-stick was such a good nickname too) Booker is the Jazz’s latest rendition of Hustle and Muscle.  He has fit right in and excelled in that role, becoming a glue guy that makes everyone better. Utah has the easiest route to cut ties with Booker this offseason.  They could eat his contract for pretty cheap if they needed to in order to sign a big deal.  But Jazz fans know that we are probably not going to attract that type of deal to Utah.  I would keep Booker, at least for the last year on his contract, and then see if the price is right to sign him again or look elsewhere.

5-

At the backup center position we have… um, wait a second we don’t have a backup five?  Nope.  For some reason when talking about Utah’s lack of depth everyone seems to forget that there is no backup for Rudy Gobert. Utah gets along fine rotating its power forwards through.  But it has no one on the roster that reaches 6’ 10” besides its starting frontcourt. Some center depth is needed.

Draft Picks and Cap Space:

2015- Jazz 1^st round, Jazz 2^nd round, Cavaliers 2^nd round
2016 - Jazz 1^st round, Jazz 2^nd round, Boston or Toronto’s 2^nd round, Golden State’s 2^nd round
2017 - Jazz 1^st round, GSW 1^st round, Jazz 2^nd round, Det 2^nd round, GSW 2^nd Round, NYK 2^nd round
2018 - Jazz 1^st round, Jazz 2^nd round, Denver 2^nd round

*Jazz will get Oklahoma City’s first round pick at some point probably 2016

Cap Space: 12.5 Million (+4 Million if we eat Trevor Bookers Contract)

So that is a lot of information to take in, a lot of picks, a lot of cap space.  Which all sums up to mean the Jazz have a lot of flexibility.  Here is where everything becomes murky, because the Jazz have so many options.  So where are the holes?  Backup Center and point guard are glaring needs.  If we want to compete sooner rather than later a wing would be useful. Should the Jazz use the draft picks and hope enough young guys mature fast enough? Or should they swing them for more veteran players. 

Zach Lowe wrote an article exploring some of these options.  Let’s go down the list.

Avery Bradley – Plus defender averages double digits.  He’s a guard who doesn’t need the ball in his hands. A very smart player. Definitely would love to have him.  But I wouldn’t give a bunch to get him.

Harrison Barnes -  yawn, nothing that excites me here honestly.

Ty Lawson – Yes please! If Utah could swing it’s first round pick and let’s say trey burke, or some 2^nd rounders for Ty Lawson I’d pull the trigger.  It’s not often you get a point guard of his caliber on a team about to hit the reset button.  Denver imploded after firing George Karl, in what has gone under the radar as one of the stupidest coaching moves this decade.  If they are thinking about resetting, grabbing Lawson would accelerate the Jazz’s chance to compete like little else would.  Don’t sell the farm, but I’d even throw 2 first rounders denver’s way if the deal looked to die, maybe that annoying OKC pick that we’re not sure when it’ll show up.

George Hill – Too old, not probable for us to get him, I’m going to keep this short.

Jrue Holiday – I was intrigued with Holiday back when he was traded to the pelicans.  I was again intrigued when Zach brought his name up for trade with the Jazz.  However, given the option, I would pick Lawson.  A highlight reel of Holiday’s assists mainly show lobs to Davis, which you could say would transfer well to Utah with Favors and Rudy, but neither of those two are Anthony Davis.  Jrue Holiday lacks the creativity of Lawson.  Jrue being 24 is maybe the biggest boon.  If Quinn Snyder could teach him the system and he could learn and grow in a couple of years… wait a second, don’t we have two young point guards on the team we are looking to grow into Quinn Snyder’s system?  If we could get him for Burke and some future 2^nd rounders, sure, but we’re not getting him for that, so let’s move on.

Free Agents – This is almost a bad word when it comes to the Utah Jazz.  If you want to spit on a Jazz fan, simply bring up free agency and ask them who their team has signed in the last decade.  Scratch that, who have the Jazz signed period, in the history of the team in Utah?  It’s not pretty, I’ve looked it up.  Carlos Boozer might arguably be the best name, and there is not much after that.  With a success rate that makes Trevor Booker look like a major victory, free agency is probably not going to move the needle much for the Jazz.  But who knows, maybe with this young core getting more national attention, there are some athletes that want to take a chance in the small market.  Let’s take a look.

2015 Free Agents:  Lebron James, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love, Marc Gasol, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade, Goran Dragic, DeAndre Jordan, Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson, Tim Duncan, Greg Monroe, Brandon Knight, Rajon Rondo, Monta Ellis, Draymond Green, Reggie Jackson, Brook Lopez, Roy Hibbert, Tyson Chandler, Jeff Green, Luol Deng, David West, Jamal Crawford, Khris Middleton, Josh Smith, Arron Afflalo, Wesley Matthews, Robin Lopez, Omir Asik, Enes Kanter (lol), Timofey Mozgov, Manu Ginobli, Thaddeus Young, JR Smith, Tobias Harris, Tristan Thompson, Gerald Green, Danny Green, Patrick Beverley, Brandan Wright, DeMarre Carroll, Brandon Bass, Marco Belinelli, Jeremy Lin, …

Holy crap there are a lot of free agents this year, I just finally stopped listing them. Most of them don’t make much sense in Utah. So let’s look at position of need.

Point Guard, Backup Center, Shooting guard.

If the Jazz could get them, I would sign: 

PG – Goran the Dragon Dragic (ok I can dream), Patrick Beverly, you could talk me into a low ball offer to Jeremy Lin

C-

SG- Wes Mathews welcome back, Danny Green, Jimmy Butler, Marco Belinelli isn’t leaving San Antonio, but if he does… wouldn’t complain

Other – DeMarre Carroll, Khris Middleton, Brandon Bass if we let Booker walk,

To be honest, I doubt we will get any of those.  So let’s look at the draft.

2015 Draft

The Jazz pick at 11, and there just so happens to be a center projected to go at 10, 11, and twelve.  I know everyone is clamoring for the jazz to upgrade their backcourt, but the front court needs depth. And there are a couple centers that can shoot beyond the arc.  If you watched the Jazz pre-Enes Kanter trade, you saw that Quin Snyder was trying to get Enes to be a stretch 4.  Why not Draft one?  The most obvious name would be Frank Kaminsky, if he is there, I would take him.  Myles Turner would be my second pick slated to go at 11, a giant who’s bread-and-butter came from the perimeter. Then if those two options fail, draft the guy who is already in your city: Jakob Poeltl the 7 foot center who played for the Utes.  Where Utah is drafting is strong with centers, so don’t reach for a guard, take what is available and fits a need.  That is if we still have our first rounder by that time (hmm Ty Lawson).

Summary

It has been a long time since it has been this exciting to be a Jazz fan.  Dennis Lindsay has shown he is up to the task of General Manager.  It will be interesting to see what he does this summer.  Even standing pat gives us 3 new rookies.  The New Era has finally arrived at the Energy Solutions Arena.