Utah Jazz: A look back at NBA Draft history before 2018
By Mason McFee
With the 2018 NBA Draft fast approaching, we take a look back at how the Utah Jazz have fared on draft night in recent years.
A year ago around this time, the Utah Jazz still had Gordon Hayward, but had just been dispatched by the eventual champions, the Golden State Warriors. Hayward would end up signing with the Boston Celtics, but the Jazz made a draft-night trade for Donovan Mitchell in the hopes of giving Hayward more incentive to stay.
The rest is history. Well, not quite.
The Jazz hold the 21st and 52nd overall picks in the 2018 NBA Draft, and will be looking to add more contributors with a few key offseason decisions (namely, Derrick Favors and Dante Exum) upcoming.
The Jazz have needs like every other team in the NBA, but with the emergence of Donovan Mitchell and Ricky Rubio, and the continued improvement from players like Joe Ingles and Rudy Gobert, they’re in good shape overall. This draft will be more about patching the holes on the roster rather than drafting for a need. It’s a position that Utah hasn’t been in for quite some time.
The Jazz have picked in the No. 21 position before (four times to be exact), with the most recent time coming in 2013 where they selected Gorgui Dieng at that slot. Dieng would never suit up for the Jazz, as he was traded with Shabazz Muhammad (an earlier Utah selection) on a draft night trade in exchange for college sensation Trey Burke.
Burke would later be traded in 2016 for a 2021 second round pick to the Washington Wizards after never really finding his footing in Utah, although he did experience a bit of a career resurgence last season with the New York Knicks.
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The other three times Utah selected at No. 21, it added Blue Edwards (1989), Eric Murdock (1991) and Pavel Podkolzin (2004).
Overall, the 21st overall selection has produced some good to great players (depending on the criteria). Dating back to 1980, players like Rajon Rondo, Darren Collison, Ryan Anderson, Nate Robinson, Boris Diaw and Brendan Haywood have all been taken with the No. 21 pick, so they are living proof that there are still quality players later in the first round.
On the flip side, there have been not-so-great selections at this spot – Jared Sullinger (played last season for the Shenzhen Leopards of the Chinese Basketball Association), and Daequan Cook (hasn’t been in the league since 2013).
As for the 52nd pick, the Jazz have only been in that slot twice in their franchise’s history, selecting Jarron Collins in 2001 and Joel Bolomboy in 2016. Jarron Collins is the brother of the NBA’s first openly gay player, Jason Collins. Jarron would play in the NBA for a total of 11 seasons, but would spend the majority of his career (eight seasons) with the Utah Jazz.
While with the Jazz, Collins would only average 4.3 points per game and 2.6 points per game. Those would be the highest averages of his career, as he would make three one-year stops in Phoenix, Los Angeles and Portland before retiring after the 2010-11 season. He is currently an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors.
Bolomboy was considered a sleeper out of college with stretch-big potential, but some attributed that more to the fact he played his collegiate career at Weber State, where current Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard also attended. He would only last one season with the Jazz, as they waived him in October of 2017. This past season, he latched on with the Wisconsin Herd, the G League affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks, averaging 16.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game.
As for NBA Draft history as a whole, there aren’t too many notable players that have been taken at pick No. 52. Current Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg was taken at that same position, and he had a solid career as journeyman role player, but there really isn’t anyone else of note that hasn’t been already mentioned in this article.
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None of this is to say that the Jazz can’t find serviceable/solid talent at either spot, but then again, they’ve already caused the league to take note of them. Only time will tell if they can continue to build some more harmony for next season’s campaign.