5:27pm: The Jazz have confirmed the signing of Alston via a press release.
5:04pm: Former Boise State wing Derrick Alston Jr. is signing a training camp deal with the Jazz, reports Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link).
The 6’9″ swingman averaged 17.0 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 2.2 APG across 32 games, all starts, during his final collegiate season with the Broncos in 2020/21. He also posted shooting splits of .444/.382/.856.
Alston, 23, went undrafted in 2021. He was named to the All-Mountain West Second Team in 2020 and the All-Mountain West First Team in 2021.
Further details of the contract have yet to be released, but it is most likely an Exhibit 10 agreement. As of this writing, the Jazz have 13 guaranteed contracts ahead of training camp and one of their two-way slots available. There are thus a few avenues through which Alston could latch on with the club.
This move gives depth to the Jazz at least. I wonder if they will send him to the G-League for minutes as well. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a bit more scouting and see the developmental side for this guy. I saw him play a few times and thought he can do it professionally. His shooting isn’t bad and slightly shocked his rebounds aren’t a bit higher. He seemed to have court awareness when I watched him play. He may not be the fastest guy on the court, but I think Jazz got a steal here.
Most of these camp invites are door openers for their G-League team.
The Jazz tend to develop some guys longer than others, but that’s usually when that position is 2-3 deep already. Still, they like insurance in case there’s injuries.
Trent Forrest got quite a bit of playing time at the end of last year when Conley was out, for example.