Utah Jazz: Complete 2017 offseason grades
By Adam Coffman
The Utah Jazz’s offseason was at large, a net negative, but there’s not a lot else the club could have done to prevent this. Here’s how they graded out in each move they made.
After going through a years-long rise to power in the Western Conference, the Utah Jazz faced the most pivotal summer in recent franchise history. Gordon Hayward, who’d been with the team since his draft year in 2010, was becoming an unrestricted free agent, with no shortage of suitors after his services.
As much as the Jazz could accomplish elsewhere, this one storyline would come to define their summer, for better or worse. There’s no conceivable way they could fully recover from a potential Hayward exit, so for the most part, the front office entered the offseason with no real contingency plan.
Therefore, grading them on how they’ll be expected to preform compared to last season is unfair. The best way to look back on the Jazz’s summer is on a case-by-case basis, evaluating what each new piece will bring to the club, as well as how financially viable their contracts are.
With a surprisingly active draft followed by a busy free agency period. there’s a lot to dive in to regarding how Utah’s front office performed over the last few months. Let’s see exactly how each move shook out.