Utah Jazz Team Review

 

2021-22 Finish: 15-67

 

Season Highlight:

For the Jazz, they were always expected to get few results on the court this year. One look at their roster and you can see that, so the season highlights are all to do with the player development and knocking the draft out of the park! They landed Josh Giddey, who was stellar as a rookie and a triple double threat every night. They landed Franz Wagner for a steal who quickly became their best player and was in the running for ROY. Chris Duarte fell 10 spots into their laps, and turned in a nice rookie year too and then they had step ups from the likes of Devin Vassell and Amir Coffey, while turning other more redundant pieces like Terence Davis into valuable future assets. This team is poised for a brighter day.

 

Season Lowlight:

The obvious low light is the on court production and results. They didn�t really challenge the win column and they had their better players set to not get many minutes to boot. This type of line up will be greater scrutinised going forward so we can expect some better results and stats also.

 

Best Trade:

Jazz send: Terence Davis
Jazz get: Wayne Ellington, Dallas 2023 1^st, Portland 2024 2^nd

This deal has been much talked about, and looks even better as the months go on, but even at the time it was an amazing head scratcher from the Mavs. Davis had a solid rookie year, but now in his 3^rd year and with off court issues, it was already clear he was a roster filler role player type, and suddenly you�re offloading him for a 1^st from a team who was bottom 5 at the time and set to pull the rebuild pin�and a 2^nd�yup.

 

Worst Trade:

Jazz send: Jordan Poole and Zeke Nnaji
Jazz get: Houston 2022 1^st round pick, #16 � Franz Wagner

This one is a borderline �last year� trade as they agreed on it the previous year and finalised it in the new year. It�s a long long time ago now, but it hasn�t aged well at all. Pick 16, and Franz Wagner is obviously hard to suggest as bad return, but Poole went on to break out completely and Nnaji has since been shipped for a 1^st by himself. The value, is iffy, now. But this is how hard I have had to look to find a �bad� trade by Jason!

 

Other Notable Trades:

Jazz send: Luke Kennard and Jarred Vanderbilt
Jazz get: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Washington 2025 1^st round pick

Kennard is continually maligned in 2k with his lack of burst and Vanderbilt hasn�t yet properly arrived while KCP is a known and trusted commodity and a future 1^st down the line.

 

Jazz send: Khem Birch
Jazz get: Jeremy Lamb and Pick 34

Really solid return for Birch, even if Lamb hasn�t stuck in the league.

 

Jazz send: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Chicago 2023 2^nd
Jazz get: Bogdan Bogdanovic

Not sure I bring in Bog for KCP, who went on to sign a non-blocking extension and a 2^nd to boot, but Bog might yet yield an asset.

 

Jazz send: Toronto 2024 2^nd
Jazz get: Zach Collins

Low risk add here, though Collins has a long way to prove he�s worth anything.

 

Free Agency:

The Jazz are not expected to be very active in FA, and nor would they have been banking on it with a down record and healthy pick stash. Amir Coffey is off contract and earned a pay day, but he�s an RFA so will be coming back 100%. Otherwise, unless they can pull off a Bogdanovic trade which also happens to open up roster spots, they have only 1 available spot to fill outside of their 2^nd rounders to be signed after FA. Maybe they can go for a 1 time 99 point bid on a kid who isn�t expected to get a big bid to fill the spot? Or maybe they just stand pat and claim someone on a bigger salary later in the year.

Amir Coffey � RFA, Coffey had a break out year and earned his cash, and now he�ll be back as a definite this year.

 

Star:

Franz Wagner

Franz is the man in Utah at the moment. Though his numbers look horrid due to his GM tanking out the season. So he averaged 9.4 points, but in only 23 minutes a night, for their best player! This year I would expect to see him hitting 30+ minutes a night if no sanctions are to be forthcoming and he�ll respond by pushing 15-20 points a game in return. You know your team is young and new, when a rookie averaging 10 points is the star of the squad!

 

Flop:

Devin Vassell

There could have been a couple of players to put their name in here, like Moses Brown showing so much promise the end of the year before and then disappearing, but Devin Vassell comes with big ups and yet averaged only 4.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 24 minutes a night. He was obviously tanked down too last season, but still these numbers will need to drastically improve to even get close to how high his name is held in esteem in Utah and around the league.

 

Draft Grades:

#3 � Jaden Ivey
#8 � Dyson Daniels
#32 �Jaylin Williams
#34 � Josh Minott

Another draft, another massive draft haul for Utah! I gave the Ivey pick an A+, and still wouldn�t change that yet despite not getting to see much of the kid yet. He still projects the same way I described, as a Ja Morant type and his aggressive athletic style will be great for this team right away.
Daniels I suggested as a B+ originally due to the price they paid to land the pick, as well as the position log jam they continue to build on when they could have looked at a Duran here. That hasn�t alleviated, with only Zach Collins, Kai Jones and fresh rookie Jaylin Williams as legitimate big men on the roster (and Moses Brown waiting in the 2way wings). However, Daniels has looked amazing and has started the right way in justifying the price paid for the pick, so I�d probably bump him up to an A.
Jaylin Williams at pick 32 was an A+ for me due to team need and due to him being one of the best guys left on the board at the pick too. He should have some nice run in the NBA and with a projection to Kevon Looney, that�s a solid benchmark.
Josh Minott I gave an A to at the time and would hold to that still. He�s looked really nice in the time he has been given over the offseason, and while he will probably struggle for court time in the big league off the bat, he should play his way into a role over time and be a value pick for Jason here.

 

The Future:

The Jazz are literally all future. Their oldest player is 30�which is still prime really, and he�s on the trade block big time. After that, a 26 year old 2way guy and then Duarte and Coffey at 25 are it. This has to be the youngest roster in the league. (I�m not going to go look that up). 11 guys have played 2 years OR LESS, and they are all looking like they will have careers, so the future is bright in Utah for sure. The right now, is bleak, unless things turn quickly, but they should have 2x top 5 picks next year with the Dallas pick in tow, and then maybe they try turn the young talent into legit pieces.

C: Zach Collins/Kai Jones/Jaylin Williams
PF: Franz Wagner/Josh Minott/Naji Marshall
SF: Devin Vassell/Josh Giddey/Amir Coffey
SG: Bogdan Bogdanovic/Chris Duarte/Dyson Daniels
PG: Jaden Ivey/Miles McBride