The Utah Jazz’s 2016-17 season came to a sudden halt at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. Their next moves will determine if they can rise to the next level.
Despite winning 51 games and reaching the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2010, the Utah Jazz find themselves somewhat at a crossroads.
First-time All-Star Gordon Hayward is a free agent and is bound to receive a slew of offers from across the league. And following the release of the All-NBA teams, Hayward’s non-selection now limit’s the Jazz’s chance to offer him the absolute maximum allowed to re-sign a player.
As Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical tweeted:
With Paul George, Gordon Hayward left off All-NBA teams, Pacers and Jazz lose chance to re-sign them to 5-year, $207M super-max contracts.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 18, 2017
So instead of the five-year, $207 million “super-max” deal, the most the Jazz can offer is a five-year deal in the $177 million range.
Another key free-agent the Jazz need to negotiate with is point guard George Hill. When Hill was healthy this season, he was highly productive, averaging 16.9 points and 4.2 assists per game. He shot 47.7 percent from the field, 40.3 percent from behind three and was a +256 over the course of the season while on the floor. The problem was, he played in just 49 games.
And although Hill has just turned 31 and was plagued throughout the playoffs with the same toe injury that hampered his regular season, he is also bound to receive several generous offers from rival teams. Granted, the Jazz had to forego the 12th overall pick of the 2016 NBA Draft to acquire Hill’s services, and will certainly have this in the back of their minds when deciding on Hill’s future.
But from the outside looking in, a large contract, coinciding with Hill’s age and recent injury woes, represents a dicey prospect for Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey.
While falling to the all-conquering Warriors in the playoffs is nothing to be ashamed of, it does also gave an indication as to the Jazz’s current status in the West. Jumping from 40 to 51 wins this season was terrific, but the Jazz, like many other teams, are still a sizable way off from reaching the absolute elite tier of the league.
They are going to need to think outside the box and get creative, as their current ceiling is severely limited.