For the Utah Jazz, free agency filled in the gaps
By Adam Coffman
In an effort to retool after losing their star forward, the Utah Jazz took care of many needs during NBA free agency.
The summer of 2017 will always be looked back upon as a disappointing one for the Utah Jazz, what with the departure of former centerpiece Gordon Hayward from what was shaping up to be franchise with some seriously high aspirations.
His departure left a contending team with a huge hole to fill, and given that the Jazz couldn’t recoup his talent in one fell swoop, their free agency had to be done piecemeal.
Of course, the Jazz had other shoes to fill as well. Shelvin Mack, Jeff Withey, Boris Diaw, George Hill, and Trey Lyles all left the team in one way or another, taking with them a sizable part of Utah’s depth from last season.
A couple moves were made prior to the July 1 free agency period. Lyles was shipped off on draft night in exchange for the rights to draft Donovan Mitchell, while the club also used a future first round pick to deal for former Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio.
However, the bulk of the Jazz’s signings were made after most of the big prizes had come off the market due to the timing of Hayward’s decision. None of deals that followed are likely to change the course of their new team, but they each do have specific value to add.
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Jonas Jerebko, a former Boston Celtics stretch big who signed a two-year, $8.2 million contract, will likely serve as a direct replacement for Boris Diaw, whom the Jazz released in lieu of paying his $7 million salary.
He can provide decent spacing at the power forward position, taking nearly half of his shots from behind the three-point line and making 36 percent of his catch-and-shoot triples.
Jerebko is also low-usage, taking just 3.4 field goal attempts per game. In a pinch, he has the potential to play small-ball center, a look the Celtics went with 21 percent of the time he was on the floor.
Utah made a somewhat unconventional move in replacing backup center Jeff Withey, looking out of the country in inking Euroleague Final Four MVP and former NBA lottery pick Epke Udoh to a two-year, $6.5 million contract.
Udoh was one of Europe’s best defenders last season, blocking 2.2 shots and gathering 7.8 rebounds per game. He’ll perform best in the screen game, and has enough passing ability to survey the floor on short rolls.
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In between the Jerebko and Udoh deals, the Jazz also moved to shore up their lost depth at the wing with Thabo Sefolosha, a veteran defender who can eat minutes at either forward position.
At just over $5 million per year, Utah is getting yet another low-usage player who can space the floor decently, to the tune of 34 percent three-point shooting last season.
He can’t do much on offense except take open jumpers, but it’s on the defensive end where Sefolosha excels. According to Synergy, he rated in the 76th percentile defending isolation possessions, allowing opponents to shoot just 39 percent in such instances.
He won’t start, but Sefolosha could be thrown at a superior scorer for bursts in order to slow him down. In the Jazz’s playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, Gordon Hayward was unable to carry the load on both ends in running the offense and defending Kevin Durant.
These three signings made up the brunt of he Jazz’s free agent period, at least as far as filling team’s needs goes. Utah did wind up making two more deals, signing Summer League standout Eric Griffin to a two-way contract and locking up the relatively unknown Royce O’Neale to a three-year deal.
With 16 players under contract for next season, the Jazz will need to let go of at least one player currently on their roster. Joel Bolomboy appears to be a likely candidate; the Jazz are well-stocked at his position and his Summer League performance certainly did not do much to help his chances at an increased role.
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Each of the main signings is acceptable when viewed on their own, but none of them will be able to put the Jazz “over the top,” as it were.
However, the plan as a whole becomes more shrewd with the incoming players considered together.
Along with each contract being very reasonable as far as cost goes (making them more tradeable), every deal is only two years, with possible team options being reported for the 2018-19 season.
With Ricky Rubio and Alec Burks‘ combined $25 million in salary also coming off the books that summer, the Jazz will have a ton of cap room available.
Many big-ticket free agents should be on the market, among them Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard, but other bargains could arise out of the star-studded market.
Of course, banking on prying established superstars away from their current situations is never a reliable strategy, but you get the feeling Dennis Lindsey has to have a preliminary plan in place for him to coordinate his signings as such.
Utah has almost assuredly taken a step back in the abstract over the last month, but they still could be set up to reload sooner rather than later.
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This summer will never be seen as anything but a loss for the Jazz, but the front office has done well to plug the holes that were left by Hayward and their other free agents’ departures.