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.
The young hotshot: Donovan Mitchell
With their picks coming 24th and 30th, the Jazz weren’t expected to add any major contributors or prospects in this year’s draft. However, that all changed when they traded up 11 spots to get Donovan Mitchell.
A sophomore out of the University of Louisville, Mitchell is an athletic combo guard in the mold of Avery Bradley. Excelling on defense, particularly in the passing lanes, his frame and physical base are already at a high NBA level.
Early returns are good, as Mitchell tore up NBA Summer League, even putting up 37 points and eight steals in one contest. The one thing to watch will be his shot selection, but playing with a more talented lineup should alleviate some of his tendencies to chuck.
There’s a bit of competition at the guard positions on the Jazz’s depth chart, but if Mitchell is as ready as he’s shown himself to be, he’ll be in line for minutes at the backup shooting guard spot behind Rodney Hood.
Considering all they had to give up was an under-preforming Trey Lyles and the 24th pick, the Jazz appear to have made out like bandits in this deal. It’s obviously too early to make a declarative decision, but Utah looks to have earned high marks here.
Grade: A
The upside play: Tony Bradley
With their second pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, the Jazz again traded up two spots to select University of North Carolina big man Tony Bradley with the 28th pick. Although he’d been mocked around the late first round all summer, just looking at the numbers doesn’t paint the picture of an up-and-coming prospect.
In his lone collegiate season, Bradley put up 7.1 points and 5.1 rebounds in just over 15 minutes per game while playing off the bench behind established upperclassmen like Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks.
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However, his measurables (248 pounds, 7’5″ wingspan) are enough to convince most executives that he has a future playing the modern 5. He’s raw on both ends, but does have a couple of developed skills, most notably his knack for rebounding.
This was evident in Summer League, where most of his points came on offensive rebounds and put-backs. He also flashed a mid-range jump shot that could be useful in the pick-and-pop game down the road.
Before he cracks the rotation, Bradley will have to learn the finer points of defending and operating in the pick-and-roll, as well as how to use his wingspan to block shots. There’s a long way to go before he can become serviceable.
He wasn’t a win-now pick, but Bradley might be able to one day take over the backup center position.
Grade: C
Trading for a point: Ricky Rubio
Just hours before free agency was set to begin, the Jazz made a move that used the last of their 2016 cap space, dealing a future first round pick for Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio.
In doing so, they effectively gave up their pursuit of George Hill, who wound up signing with the Sacramento Kings on a three-year, $57 million contract. Rubio will be making about $14 million each of the next two years, after which point he’ll be an unrestricted free agent.
It’s worth noting that Utah made the move for Rubio prior to Hayward’s free agency decision, which changes the deal’s ramifications now that we know more about the team’s roster makeup for next season.
In terms of the cost it took to get Rubio for the Jazz, this deal is an absolute steal. The only question will be how the team will work his playstyle into the offense. In prior years, Rubio’s lack of scoring and shooting ability effectively tanked any offense he was tasked with running, but his numbers went up in a big way over the second half of last season.
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If the Jazz offense can support his questionable off-ball spacing, Utah could have a fearsome pick-and-roll duo of Rubio and Rudy Gobert to terrorize defenses with. His fit will be something to watch, but there’s no question the Jazz pulled a great trade here.
Grade: A
Bringing back the Aussie: Joe Ingles
Coming into the summer with three big-ticket free agents outgoing, the Jazz wound up retaining only one of them in Joe Ingles. The swingman burst into role-player stardom last season, shooting 44 percent from 3-point range and playing a host of roles and positions.
Utah Jazz
As a restricted free agent, the Jazz had the ability to match any offer Ingles would receive, but they chose to be proactive, inking him within 24 hours of free agency’s start. At four years and $50 million in total, his per-year salary will decline each year as he ages past 29.
As was the case with Rubio, the Jazz signed Ingles before Hayward’s decision went down, which made it a trickier case for Utah’s management. Ingles was obviously a great assistance piece, but his fit is a little more questionable on a team needing on-ball scoring.
Ultimately, he will likely wind up starting at the 3 next season and for the foreseeable future. His role will have to increase without Hayward to take touches on the wing, and given how little he’s shown in a featured slot, this will be an unknown next season.
The Jazz won’t be at their peak for a couple of seasons as it stands now, so the timeline of Ingles’ contract doesn’t make a ton of sense. At best, he’ll be on the decline when they need him the most.
Perhaps the team wouldn’t have re-signed Ingles, at least for the years and dollars they did, if they had known Hayward would be leaving. He certainly made a lot more sense in a world where he was playing alongside Hayward, but he’ll still have value to the Jazz nonetheless.
Grade: C-
The defensive ace: Thabo Sefolosha
With depth at the wing to fill after Hayward’s exit, the Jazz scooped up a proven player to eat some minutes in Thabo Sefolosha. A 12-year veteran, the forward is known mostly for his defensive prowess, but will be used as a complementary 3-and-D asset.
Like Ingles, Sefolosha plays mostly at the 3, but can also defend shooting guards and power forwards if needed. Most of his impact comes from smart rotations and IQ, as his foot speed isn’t quite elite anymore at age 33.
With the Atlanta Hawks last season, Sefolosha averaged career-highs in steals and blocks at 1.5 and 0.5 respectively. In Utah though, his performance will mostly be judged based on his 3-point shooting as he’ll be sharing the court with mostly spacing-challenged point guards.
One contract wrinkle that applies to Sefolosha’s deal as well as the next two — the second year, which also comes in at $5.25 million, has been reported to be non-guaranteed, meaning the Jazz could cut bait on him if the arrangement goes awry.
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At the low price they got him for, there’s really nothing to lose in signing a player like Thabo Sefolosha, which is why this deal earns a favorable grade.
Grade: A
Upgrading the 4: Jonas Jerebko
The Jazz signed a stretch-4 last offseason in Boris Diaw, but his performance in 2016-17 wasn’t anything more than lackluster. While being pushed into a larger role due to Derrick Favors‘ injury troubles, he shot just 24.7 percent from behind the arc.
Thus, the Jazz sought out to find his replacement this summer, winding up with former Boston Celtic Jonas Jerebko. With eight years of experience, the 30-year-old has proven himself to be a competent floor spacer, shooting 34.7 percent from deep last year and 37.7 percent during his three-year tenure in Boston.
Over half (50.8 percent) of his possessions last year came on spot-ups, with no other playtype coming in at over 10 percent of frequency. On defense, he has just enough mobility to stick with combo forwards, although his rebounding and shot blocking aren’t anything to write home about.
On the whole, Jerebko should be a good fit to play next to Rudy Gobert, spacing the floor without having to demand the ball to succeed. There’s also the possibility that he could play some small-ball center, where he spent 21 percent of his minutes last season.
Like Sefolosha, Jerebko’s $4 million salary is only guaranteed for 2017-18. He is a virtually no-risk signing — at worst, the Jazz will wind up with a league-average power forward at an appropriate price.
Grade: B+
Reaching overseas: Ekpe Udoh
On the same day they signed Jerebko and Sefolosha, the Jazz made a less predictable move in looking to the EuroLeague to acquire former NBA big man Ekpe Udoh. Once a lottery pick with the Golden State Warriors, Udoh flamed out of the NBA after four seasons.
However, he reinvented himself with a stint overseas, winning Final Four MVP with Fenerbahce Istanbul during a EuroLeague championship season. Specializing as the low-usage, defensively mobile center many teams in the modern NBA are coveting, he’ll translate NBA-level talents back immediately.
Watch for him to develop pick-and-roll chemistry with Ricky Rubio, who is also familiar with the European style of basketball.
Udoh’s signing may be a signal that the Jazz are planning on playing Derrick Favors at the 4 rather than the backup center spot. Retaining Jeff Withey could have been a less risky option if all the club was looking for was a third-string, stopgap center.
Being that he’s transitioning leagues, there’s a little more unknown regarding Udoh than with Jerebko or Sefolosha, but his contract (two years at $6 million total, with the second year nonguaranteed), alleviates most of the danger.
Grade: B
Out of nowhere: Royce O’Neale
Just prior to the Jazz’s signing of Royce O’Neale, many fans and pundits around the league thought their free agency period to be complete. Their roster sat at the regular season maximum of 15 contracts for next season, and with no discernible depth chart holes, there wasn’t a clear reason to add another player.
However, add a player is exactly what Dennis Lindsey did, plucking O’Neale off of the New Orleans Pelicans’ summer squad. A former Baylor Bear who spent the last two winters in Spain in Germany, O’Neale averaged 4.6 points per game over five games in Las Vegas.
With only the first season of his three-year contract guaranteed, there’s a good chance that he’ll have to show management a lot in order to stick with the team for the following year.
Still though, that doesn’t explain his being signed in the first place. Although O’Neale can play a host of positions (likely 2-4, due to his solid 215 pound frame), his NBA body of work is lacking.
He might have been better served on a two-way contract, especially as his presence means the team will have to release one other player. Maybe the front office knows something we don’t, but at the moment, this looks like a confusing decision.
Grade: D-
Overall
Judging on a case-by-case basis, the Jazz’s summer looks to have gone pretty well, with role players signed to team friendly deals and no egregiously bad contracts or decisions. However, the team as a whole will be unquestionably worse next season than the 51-win total they put up last year.
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There are essentially two parts to looking back on the macro of Utah’s summer – for some time, their moves were meant to appease Hayward and prepare for a future without him.
With the Rubio trade and Ingles signing, it certainly looks like they accomplished this.
After July 4, their focus then became to recover as much value as they could from the market with the limited options still available.
The Jazz did just about all they could to convince Hayward to stay, but even when that wasn’t enough, their fallback deserves praise.
Losing such a big piece and chunk of production is a huge blow to small-market team like the Jazz, and coming out of the fray with no major issues to speak of is no small feat.
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Eliminating the issues that were out of the front office’s control shows the ingenious nature of Utah’s summer process. Commending them for a job well done feels strange when their record will suffer, but that’s the grade they deserve.
Final Grade: A-