Utah Jazz: Who Will Play Power Forward?
The Utah Jazz current roster is full of guards, small forwards, and centers. The biggest need right now is the power forward position.
This offseason it was clear that Jazz will be playing Derrick Favors at the center position. Therefore, Utah needs to find somebody to play next to him in the starting lineup, and even to come off the bench and play next to Enes Kanter.
Last week the Jazz tried to help fill two needs with the trade of Steve Novak of the Toronto Raptors.
Novak is big enough to play the 4 and he has the shooting ability that the Jazz were looking for this summer. Then you look at Novak’s numbers over the past few years and see that he is probably better suited coming off the bench.
As a result, the Jazz will still need to find a player who can start at the power forward position. Marvin Williams, is a name the Jazz have thought about bringing back to play the position, but is Williams really the right fit next Favors in the starting lineup?
We will take a look at Novak, Williams, and other options for the Jazz at power forward for the upcoming season.
Steve Novak
Novak is a 6’ 10” shooter, who is a career 43 percent 3-point shooter. Now as mentioned before Novak is not really at starter in the NBA, in fact he has only started six games in his eight year career.
The Jazz will be Novak’s seventh team in his career, and has never averaged more than eight points during a season. In addition, Novak has never played starter’s minutes, the most he has averaged in a season was just more than 20 minutes per game.
The real weakness in Novak’s game is the fact that he cannot play defense. At 6’ 10” he should be matched up with power forwards, but he cannot handle then down on block.
Then when he is guarding small forwards he does not have the speed to keep up. Therefore, Novak will be better served coming off the bench providing offense and stretching the floor.
Marvin Williams
Williams played the last two seasons for the Jazz, he ended up starting 101 games and averaged 24 minutes a game. He is entering his 10th season and would add a nice veteran presence to the team. Furthermore, he can provide some defensive help and was able to average 5.1 rebounds last season.
The only thing with Williams is the fact that he only shoots 34 percent from 3 and the Jazz really need a power forward that can provide some spacing. Williams would be a cheap option to fill the starting role, however, I do not fill like he would help the Jazz progress.
Other Options
Some of the power forward option would be players like Channing Frye of the Phoenix Suns, Josh McRoberts of the Charlotte Hornets, or Patrick Patterson of the Toronto Raptors. All of these players committed to new deals, all for not very much money.
Frye was the biggest deal, which was four years for $32 million. The Jazz missed an opportunity to sure up the power forward position by getting a good player who could play next to Favors.
These deals leave the free agent pool for power forwards very thin. Therefore, the best option might be to re-sign Williams to a small deal and see what the Jazz can do in the draft or future free agency.
Utah will need to find a way to space the floor and with their current players, the best option to add shooting was at the power forward position. This is something to keep an eye on for the future as the Jazz look to build a contender again in Utah.