Utah Jazz: Ranking the last 10 first-round picks
By Corey Rausch
8. Tony Bradley (2017)
I will admit complete bias here but I think this will quickly bear out. Tony Bradley may even rank higher than this before long. At the University of North Carolina, Bradley showed flashes as a freshman in a limited role (14.6 minutes per game as a reserve) and was able to average 7.5 points and 5.1 rebounds.
After a National Championship run Bradley surprised some by deciding to jump to the NBA but was rewarded when he was taken in the first round by the Jazz. Bradley spent the majority of his first two seasons in the G-League and was impressive.
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During his rookie season he appeared in 24 games and averaged 15.4 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. His production dipped slightly the following season but this year he has made the jump up to the core team. Appearing in 50 games for the team Bradley averaged 4.7 points and 4.3 rebounds in 10.7 minutes per game.
While young centers are becoming less of a necessity for teams in the league today, taking Bradley that late in the lottery made sense. The Jazz knew what they wanted in moving up from the 30th pick (also giving up the 42nd pick) and it is only debatable that Derrick White or Josh Hart would have been better choices.
Given that the team took Donovan Mitchell earlier in the draft makes it even easier to understand why they did not want to take another young guard. While Gobert will not be supplanted by the play of Bradley having him behind him is a good bit of potential depth for this team. I honestly wanted to have him higher but I controlled myself.