Utah Jazz Team Review

 

2024-25 Finish: 50-32

 

Season Highlight:

The Jazz probably put together the best looking team on paper last season and made another playoff appearance, which unfortunately was short lived. James Harden was in MVP form and played all 82 games (which is a feat on its own compared to his teammates) and was a 35/5/5 guy on the season. Unfortunately in what shouldve been a season full of highlights, things just didn’t go that way and I'll touch on that in the next part

Season Lowlight:

The injury cloud and fit. Jazz’s best front court guys just couldn’t get and stay healthy. Embiids body is unfortunately just breaking down and hes more of a burden than an asset these days and the same can probably be said for Porzingis. Dejounte Murray went down early and was moved on, just incredibly bad luck in regards to health. The fit of all these players just doesn’t seem right either. There’s too many high usage guys and they seem to get caught up in feeding everyone rather than winning as a unit.

 

Best Trade:

 Utah

Matisse Thybulle ( $ 11,550,000 ) Austin Reaves ( $ 13,937,574 ) Matt Ryan First rounder (Was 27) for 2025 - (Rasheer Fleming) Second rounder (NY ) for 2027 - ()

Dario Saric ( $ 5,426,400 ) Josh Richardson Jalen Smith ( $ 9,000,000 ) Tidjane Salaun ( $ 7,863,240 ) Second rounder (Sac 41) for 2025 - (Sion James) Second rounder (Pho 43) for 2025 - (Bogoljub Markovic) First rounder (Sac ) for 2026 - () First rounder (Utah ) for 2028 - ()

Easy win here for Utah imo. Reaves has done nothing but ascend the last couple of years and he will give them a great all round punch from the bench. He should be starting, but the amount of guys that demand and need the ball in the 5, just leaves him the odd man out.

Worst Trade:

Utah

Alex Len Second rounder (Cha ) for 2029 - ()

Doug McDermott ( $ 2,296,274 ) Second rounder (Bos 42) for 2025 - (Chaz Lanier) Second rounder (Pho ) for 2026 - () Second rounder (NY ) for 2027 - ()

Not a horrible trade, but 3 2nds (though 1 came back) for a guy that can barely cling onto a 15^th roster spot seems overs.

Other Notable Trades:

Utah

Kristaps Porzingis ( $ 30,731,707 ) Precious Achiuwa ( $ 2,296,704 ) Second rounder (Orl 34) for 2025 - (Ben Saraf) Second rounder (Bos 42) for 2025 - (Chaz Lanier) Second rounder (Pho 43) for 2025 - (Bogoljub Markovic) TPE for $ 4,019,721

Dejounte Murray ( $ 30,801,103 ) Jabari Smith Jr. ( $ 12,350,392 )

I had this close as my best trade, but Zinger himself only played 44 games (33 for the Jazz) and while it was a good deal value wise, just fell a little short because Zinger was barely available.  

Free Agency:

The Jazz had 2 very important members to resign this offseason in Harden and Wagner(RFA) and were able too without any issues. They brought back depth RFA pieces in Dru Smith, Keaton Wallace and brought back veteran Eric Gordon. They made a great signing in free agency with Al Horford but unfortunately couldn’t officially sign him due to cap issues. Overall though, Jazz handled their business in free agency and made sure they kept their guys.  

 

Star:

James Harden

It’s well known this writer isn’t much of a Harden fan, but hes one of the NSL goats. Even well into his 30’s he carried the Jazz to 50 wins last season, dealing with a rotating roster that weren’t able to ever figure out what the best mix was.

James averaged 34.6ppg 5.1apg 4.8rpg with 47/34/87 splits

 

Flop:

Joel Embiid

When your franchise guy is only playing 20 games, you’ve got a big problem. Embiid is easily one of the most skilled big men of all time, but his body has broken down to the point to where hes more of a burden than an asset. If there’s any trade out there where you can get any sort of positive asset, do it. Joel is done more than a Steak that's been cooking for 30 minutes.

 

 

Draft Grades:

Pick 27 – Rasheer Fleming (Traded to Phoenix)

Draft Grade: N/A

Utah only made 1 selection and he was traded to Phoenix. A quiet draft for Utah but nothing to be concerned about considering the roster at Jase’s disposal.

 

The Future:

I think Utah need to look into some trades that gives the team an identity and sets the food chain. Harden, Embiid(when he plays), Porzingis, Wagner, Reaves are all high usage guys and its getting to the point where fit really needs to start playing a part. The roster is also very guard heavy, which seems imbalanced when your front court guys aren’t the beacons of health. Dyson is the perfect guard next to Harden though and Reaves, while should be a starter, will be an excellent punch off the bench when the team is fully healthy. Moving Embiid for a rim running, low usage defensive big and whatever asset you might be able to get seems to be the one that sticks out to. Zinger for a 3nD type that doesn’t overly demand the ball would be nice and i just feel these moves would open the floor for Harden/Wagner. Either way, there’s a lot of top end talent here and the future looks decent. Health will play a big part going forward as well. This feels like a make or break season for the Jazz.

 C: Joel Embiid/Jaylin Williams
 PF: Kristaps Porzingis/EJ Liddell (2 Way)
 SF: Franz Wagner/Matisse Thybulle
 SG: Dyson Daniels/Austin Reaves/Isaiah Joe/Eric Gordon/Ben Saraf
 PG: James Harden/Keaton Wallace/Dru Smith/Tyrese Proctor