The Jazz and Derrick Favors have mutual interest in a reunion, but that doesn’t mean it’s a sure thing, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. Favors spent most of the past decade in Utah before being traded to New Orleans last summer to clear cap room so the Jazz could sign Bojan Bogdanovic. Favors averaged 9.0 points and 9.8 rebounds this season as the Pelicans‘ starting center.
The 29-year-old is willing to accept a reserve role behind Rudy Gobert, Jones adds, and would likely sign for the mid-level exception. However, the Jazz must decide if that’s the wisest use of their MLE, which is their best hope for adding another wing who can hit 3-pointers and play defense. That need was evident in the playoffs, when Utah didn’t have anyone who could control Denver’s Jamal Murray.
“We lost some defensive integrity, some activity, some deflections,” executive VP of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey recently told reporters, including Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune, in recapping the season. “… Anybody who has defensive integrity at their position, can be an active, athletic defender, will be someone that would be of interest to us, especially if they don’t compromise the spacing.”
There’s more Jazz news to pass along:
- Utah could be looking at a lot of changes outside of its rotation, Jones notes in the same story. Mike Conley is almost certain to opt in for next season at $34.5MM, and Jones believes free agent guard Jordan Clarkson is too valuable to let go. However, although Emmanuel Mudiay was a pleasant surprise, the Jazz don’t own his Bird rights, and Miye Oni, Nigel Williams-Goss and Rayjon Tucker all have contracts that aren’t fully guaranteed for next season. Utah may be stuck with Ed Davis‘ $5MM contract after he suffered a knee injury during the restart.
- Sources tell Jones that Utah is willing to buy a second-round pick if the right opportunity arises. The Jazz own the 23rd choice in the first round, but their second-rounder belongs to the Warriors. Utah is hoping to add a young talent who can become part of the rotation, so Jones expects the team to hang onto its first-round selection.
- The Jazz are counting on improvement from young players who spent a lot of this season in the G League, such as Juwan Morgan, Jarrell Brantley and Oni, according to Ryan McDonald of The Deseret News. “We’ll see how they come back once they get away and hopefully improve and reflect,” Lindsey said. “We had a very successful G League season and we think a lot of those guys can provide internal solutions.”
Then Pelicans don’t have enough pieces to make trade and make playoffs
Jamal Murray is a PG, so ‘def.wing’ doesn’t have to be wing to target for that reason. The GM is probably watching Jae Crowder on TV and thinking… I gave him up for Conley… as well as Bazley, a first, a couple others. I liked the trade at the time but Conley left the bubble at a terrible time. (Tell wife: you can handle it.) They could have had Denver put away before they started on their comeback trail. Then maybe the Clippers were going to fall apart regardless of opponent. Oh well the Lakers look best.
Utah should trade Mike Conley, Ed Davis and a protected first in 2022 for Chris Paul.
Sign Derrick Favours on the MLE maybe 1 year 6mil would be fair.
Resign Jordan Clarkson at 1 year 12.5mil with a player option for a second season.
Then search the FA market for good bet minimum pick ups. Maybe Courtney Lee.
And lastly with the 23rd pick maybe swap back with Philly, and get back the 34th, 36th, 49th picks. Then I’d suggest drafting Jordan Nwora, a centre (Daniel Oturu, Vernon Carey, Isiah Stewart) and a PG (Nico Mannion, Trae Jones, Theo Maledon, TyShon Alexander, Devin Dotson)
1. Chris Paul. Clarkson. (Draft Pick)
2. Donovan Mitchell. Lee
3. Royce ONeale. Ingles. Nwora
4. Bogdan Bogdanovic. Favours. Tucker
5. Rudy Gobert. Bradley. (Draft Pick)
CP3 is a defensive upgrade and will get more production out of Gobert on offence. CP3 would also be a great leader in helping Donovan. However this is the team I would build for next season. Can play small with Favours at the 5 and have a bunch of shooters, can play big with Favours at the 4 and Bogi at the 3.
Off the bench you have great role players with Clarkson Ingles Favours. You also have a bunch of youth learning and coming through with the extra draft picks. Incase of injury you have capable back ups and depth.
Conley is better, if only because he’s expiring. He took most of the year to get up to speed but hopefully he delivers a payoff.
Yes but the Jazz are not going to sign any huge free agents so they need to do creative things via trade. I sort of like this deal mentioned above, but the chances of it happening could be slim in real life. Looks good to me on paper.
Conley is better …. is that a joke.
CP3 just made the all NBA second team. Just lead a team many thought would be tanking to the playoffs.
Career wise Paul has 10 all star games to Conleys zero, 9 all NBA teams to Conleys zero, 9 all defensive teams to Conleys 1. Not to mention 4 time assists and 6 time steals leader.
He just averaged 17.6-5-6.7 while almost shooting a 50:40:90 whereas Conley averaged 14.4-3.3-4.4 and shot worse in every area compared to Paul.
So your very wrong, Paul is better and it’s not even close.
Not to mention Paul has years of experience making defensive centres (DeAndre Jordan) actually productive on offence with his passing and lobs and pick and roll play. That would be perfect with Rudy Gobert. CP3 is makes young players better. For example SGA was nice in LA with the Clippers, but with CP3 in OKC he almost doubled his stat line. Imagine if he could have a similar impact with Donovan Mitchell. Maybe not doubling his already impressive stat line but just helping him in both ends of the floor and be better.
Conley is a dud on an expiring deal, yes CP3 has more years on his deal and is older but in reality he’s still a much much better player and would make this Utah team a lot better.
You’re using the wrong stats. Those include Conley’s slow start and many absenses. CP3 is better for his durability— he only missed two games and one was the last one.
But in the playoffs Conley was 20-3-5, with 53% 3pt, PER of 27, BPM of 9, WS/48 of .255. Looking good next to Paul’s 18-5-7 overall and playoff 21-7-5 with 30% 3pt, PER of 19, BPM of 4, and WS/48 of .142.
All Conley had to do to beat the Nuggets and thank the Clipper’s issues and take advantage of Rondo, was show up for game one, and the story would be different. He left a nobody to start because Clarkson doesn’t. Then he returned and piled it on.
Biggest stat: He is expiring and making $34.5mil; CP3 is still due $85.6mil and is currently holding up a rebuild.
Would Utah be better? It’s up to DMitchell, if he wants to be the alpha or not. That is probably what held up Conley’s development, figuring out to mix with the impetuous combo DM who the team must please to get a re-sign. Probably DM & CP both want to be in charge.
I think your wrong, Conley was absent most the season yes and would’ve takem time to get use to playing second fiddle but I have no doubt at all CP3 is still the much better player and has been every year he’s been in the league. Paul is a better defender, playmaker, leader and shooting wise it’s pretty close but Paul’s all round play is way ahead.
Yes it would be a growing process between CP3 and Donovan Mitchell but it’s not like Paul hasn’t played with other stars, cause he has and so he can give up touches and let others control the rock.
I think Donovan would welcome Paul into the team and let him have a leadership role and want to learn from him. End of the day Paul is a top 10 PG of all time and Donovan would love to learn everything. Paul would also know this is Donovan’s teams and that Donovan is the teams best scorer and only reason he is here with a chance to win is cause Donovan wants him. So it would be a 50:50 type thing, maybe 60:40 in Mitchell’s favour but i think they work it out. Both players just want to win, be successful and get a ring.
Salary has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with who is a better player. Conley could be argued as a better acquisition, (although I wouldn’t argue that) but in no way whatsoever is he anywhere in the conversation of players better than Chris Paul. You’re talking the difference between John Stockton and Stephon Marbury. Marbury was a good, albeit flawed, player, but Stockton was an all time great. This is one of those opinions that will cause people to not take you seriously on other things because it is so mistaken.
It’s not about who’s better apart from their contract. I am responding to a trade suggestion; contracts matter. I can’t say Conley’s acquisition is better than Paul’s because he’s already there. I did say “Conley was better”— in the sense of better to have him and have capspace available for 2021. In a dual comparison CPaul is better, but playoffs for him have not worked out, and playoffs are Utah’s problem. In the playoffs they will probably be about equal; and IRL, that was true.
I predict Utah says no if offered, and nobody has claimed otherwise. Whether they should or not, IDK, there’s a lot of shoulds floating around, and the Bucks are more motivated. If the Utah trade happens, I think there will be another year of disappointing adjustment, then Paul would be their 2021 guy. Mitchell may want more on tap for his next 4,5 years. I can’t assume he chooses the Knicks anyway.
Since what was proposed is pretty much a straight swap (Davis being a salary dump now), and Paul is available, we will be able to see if GM Lindsey is interested IRL. Most propositions are not so clear-cut one-for-one.
The cap space issue is not really that big a deal for Paul since it is only 2 years. Sure, it could be inconvenient to a team that already has a couple of max/near max players like the Warriors or Lakers, but for a team like the Jazz, where your best player is still on a cheap rookie deal, Paul’s salary is not really that bad. Even after you factor in a Mitchell extension for 21-22, it’s still not that bad. And even then, you would have one of the biggest expiring contracts in the history of the cap to pick up some additional assets or create an immense amount of cap space.
Personally, I am more in favor of Charlotte picking up CP3 for Batum/Rozier. They need a star and CP3 could combine with Graham the same way he did with Shai in OKC. Charlotte could then use their #3 pick to perhaps pick up Gobert. A CP3/Gobert pairing with PJ and the Hornets young wings in the East is a top 6 seed.