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Jazz Sign Denzel Valentine To 10-Day Contract

January 10th, 2022 at 1:02pm CST by JD Shaw

JANUARY 10, 1:02pm: The Jazz have officially signed Valentine to a 10-day contract, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

Utah pivoted away from Ennis because he was a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19 and the Jazz wanted to make sure their newly-added player could be cleared in advance of Monday’s game vs. Detroit, Charania tweets.

JANUARY 9, 7:12pm: Utah no longer plans to sign James Ennis to a 10-day contract, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Instead, the team will sign forward Denzel Valentine in his place, Wojnarowski tweets.

Valentine holds five years of NBA experience and most recently played in Cleveland. He has appeared in 254 games in his career, averaging 7.0 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. In his 22 games with the Cavaliers this season, he averaged 2.9 PPG in 9.3 MPG, shooting 37.1% from the floor.

JANUARY 9, 5:52pm: The Jazz plan to sign veteran forward James Ennis to a 10-day contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Ennis most recently played on 10-day contracts with the Nets and Clippers.

Utah lost forwards Rudy Gay and Elijah Hughes to the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Sunday, opening space to add Ennis to the rotation. The team is also missing Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles due to the protocols.

For his career, Ennis has averaged 6.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in 20.4 minutes per game across 392 appearances, making stops with nine different NBA teams. In 41 games with the Magic last season, the 31-year-old averaged 8.4 PPG and 4.0 RPG, shooting 43.3% from three-point range.

Utah owns the third-best record in the Western Conference at 28-12. The team is also 17-3 at home and has upcoming games against Detroit on Monday and Cleveland on Wednesday.

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COVID-19 Updates: Gay, Hughes, Harrell, Hachimura, Winslow, Waters, Brooks

January 9th, 2022 at 7:30pm CST by JD Shaw

Jazz forwards Rudy Gay and Elijah Hughes have entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the team announced on social media (Twitter link). They join Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles as players in protocols for Utah.

All four players will miss the team’s game against the Pistons on Monday. Two-way player Malik Fitts will also be sidelined due to a right wrist injury, meaning Utah will be without five players for the contest. According to our tracker, nearly 50 players are currently in the NBA’s protocols.

Here are some other COVID-related notes from around the league:

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House Playing On Hardship Deal

January 7th, 2022 at 9:57pm CST by Rory Maher
  • Since the Jazz were only carrying 13 players on standard contracts, there was some uncertainty about whether Danuel House had received a traditional or hardship exception 10-day deal, but Keith Smith of Spotrac tweets that it used a hardship exception. House’s contract won’t count against the salary cap or luxury tax, but it’s still an opportunity for him to potentially earn a roster spot with Utah, as the team is only carrying 14 players on standard deals. He had 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists in 26 minutes in his debut Friday, a 122-108 loss to Toronto.
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Udoka Azubuike Makes First Career Start

January 7th, 2022 at 2:24pm CST by Luke Adams
  • Udoka Azubuike hasn’t played much for the Jazz since being selected with the 27th pick in the 2020 draft, but he logged a career-high 16 minutes in his first ever start on Wednesday in Denver, holding his own against Nikola Jokic. Tony Jones of The Athletic has the story on the young center’s unexpected showcase, which came with Rudy Gobert and Hassan Whiteside unavailable. “I’m not going to lie to you, I was a little nervous,” Azubuike said. “I just came back from (an ankle) injury, and I’m playing against the MVP? That was a lot to process.”
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Stein’s Latest: Simmons, Hawks, Ingles, Cavs, Blazers

January 7th, 2022 at 12:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Although it’s possible the Sixers will trade Ben Simmons before the February 10 deadline, their preferred scenario would be to convince him to rejoin the team and play as much of the rest of the season as possible, a source familiar with Philadelphia’s thinking tells veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein.

Trading Simmons in the next month for the best available package would improve the Sixers’ chances of competing in the short term, but the team fears that taking that route may mean squandering an opportunity to land a true complementary star for Joel Embiid, says Stein. Convincing Simmons to play the rest of this season would improve the club’s short-term outlook while also leaving the door open for Philadelphia to make an offseason play for a star, should someone like Damian Lillard or Bradley Beal become available.

One league source who spoke to Stein suggested keeping an eye on the Hawks as a potential suitor for Simmons. Atlanta badly needs to upgrade its defense and president of basketball operations Travis Schlenk said this week that he plans to be active at the trade deadline in an effort to improve his struggling squad (Twitter link via Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution).

The Hawks don’t have the sort of trade candidate who would appeal to the 76ers as the centerpiece of a Simmons trade, but have several young players and draft picks they could put on the table, as Stein observes.

Here’s more from Stein:

  • The Jazz considered the idea of trading Joe Ingles during the offseason, but decided against it due to concerns about how it would affect the team’s culture, says Stein. However, Danny Ainge has been hired by Utah since then and may be less reluctant to move Ingles if his expiring contract is necessary to land a defensive-minded wing.
  • The Cavaliers continue to seek more play-making after acquiring Rajon Rondo from the Lakers, per Stein. Cleveland has lost two key guards – Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio – to season-ending injuries.
  • According to Stein, teams are keeping a close eye on how the Trail Blazers handle Damian Lillard‘s abdominal injury, since an extended absence for the star point guard would likely impact Portland’s approach at the trade deadline.
  • There has been an “undeniable uptick” in trade discussions around the NBA since the holidays, according to Stein, who identifies Myles Turner, Jerami Grant, Dennis Schröder, Eric Gordon, Terrence Ross, Buddy Hield, Marvin Bagley III, Robert Covington, and Jusuf Nurkic as some of the players considered league-wide to be this year’s most likely trade candidates.
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Jazz Sign Norvel Pelle To 10-Day Contract

January 7th, 2022 at 10:32am CST by Luke Adams

10:32am: The Jazz have officially signed Pelle to a 10-day deal using the hardship exception, the team announced today in a press release.

8:35am: The Jazz intend to sign center Norvel Pelle to a 10-day contract using the hardship exception, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski, Pelle is expected to be available for Utah’s game vs. Toronto on Friday night.

Pelle recently finished up a 10-day deal with the Celtics, though he didn’t play at all for Boston during those 10 days. Previously, the big man played for a handful of international teams and bounced back and forth between the NBA and the G League over the last two seasons.

Pelle appeared in a total of 37 games from 2019-21 for the Sixers, Nets, Kings, and Knicks. A talented rim protector, The 28-year-old has averaged 2.2 blocks per game in 95 career G League contests and put up 8.9 PPG and 8.3 RPG in nine games (22.1 MPG) with the Cleveland Charge this season.

Utah enjoyed some great COVID-related luck for much of this season, having not placed a player in the health and safety protocols until earlier this week. Joe Ingles and Rudy Gobert are now both in the protocols for the Jazz, meaning the team is eligible to sign Pelle to a hardship deal, which won’t count against team salary for cap or tax purposes.

Pelle, who will earn $95,930 during his 10 days with the Jazz, has a chance to play a rotation role immediately, with Gobert out and backup center Hassan Whiteside listed as questionable as he goes through the concussion protocol.

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Jazz Sign Danuel House To 10-Day Contract

January 6th, 2022 at 5:57pm CST by Luke Adams

JANUARY 6: House’s 10-day contract with Utah is now official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

JANUARY 5: The Jazz intend to sign forward Danuel House to a 10-day contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

House, who averaged 9.7 PPG and 3.9 RPG on .431/.373/.759 shooting in 138 games (27.7 MPG) for the Rockets in the three years preceding 2021/22, struggled and fell out of Houston’s rotation this season. He was waived by the Rockets in December and signed a 10-day hardship contract with the Knicks a few days later, appearing briefly in just one game for New York before his deal expired over the weekend.

It’s unclear whether House will be added on a standard 10-day contract or if it will be a hardship deal. The Jazz do have one player (Joe Ingles) in the health and safety protocols, but they’re also below the standard roster minimum, carrying just 13 players. Teams are permitted to dip below 14 players, but only for up to two weeks at a time.

We’ve seen teams with 14 players complete hardship signings that don’t count against the cap this season, but it remains to be seen if a club carrying just 13 players would be granted the same leeway.

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COVID Updates: Gobert, Holiday, Jackson, Moon, Mykhailiuk

January 6th, 2022 at 5:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Rudy Gobert has entered the league’s health and safety protocols. The Jazz center returned two rapid negative tests on Thursday but his PCR test overnight came back positive, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter links). Of course, Gobert’s COVID-19 positive in March 2020 led to postponements and cancellations across the sports world. The big man is having another fine season, averaging 15.5 PPG and 15.1 RPG.

We have more on players entering or exiting the health and safety protocols:

  • Bucks point guard Jrue Holiday has entered the protocols, Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. Holiday, who was also in protocols last season, joins teammates George Hill, Grayson Allen and Pat Connaughton.
  • After eight teammates exited protocols this week, Pistons guard Frank Jackson entered the protocols, Rod Beard of the Detroit News tweets. Jackson is currently sidelined with an ankle injury.
  • Clippers guard Xavier Moon has entered the protocols, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Moon signed a second 10-day contract under the hardship exception on Tuesday.
  • Raptors swingman Svi Mykhailiuk has cleared the protocols and is available for Friday’s game against Utah, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets.
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Jazz/Thunder Trade Notes: Draft Pick, Cash, Deck

January 5th, 2022 at 9:51am CST by Luke Adams

The 2028 second-round pick the Thunder acquired from the Jazz in Tuesday’s Miye Oni trade was technically already owed to Oklahoma City conditionally, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter).

When the Jazz sent Derrick Favors to the Thunder in an offseason deal, Utah included a top-10 protected 2024 first-round pick. If that pick falls in its protected range, the Jazz would instead owe the Thunder their top-10 protected first-round pick pick in 2025. If it still hasn’t changed hands by that point, it would become a top-eight protected 2026 first-rounder.

The conditions of the Favors trade called for the Thunder to get Utah’s 2028 second-round pick if that first-rounder fell in its protected range all three years. Now, Oklahoma City will receive the pick unconditionally. If the Jazz’s 2024 first-rounder isn’t conveyed after 2026, the Thunder will instead receive $890K in cash, according to Marks.

Here’s more on the Jazz/Thunder swap:

  • The Thunder sent $1MM in cash to Utah as part of the trade, according to Marks. So not only did the Jazz avoid having Oni’s dead money increase their year-end tax bill — they also received more than enough cash to cover the prorated salary they’d already paid him this season.
  • The Thunder, who had to waive Gabriel Deck to make room on their roster for Oni, will carry a cap hit of $1,690,507 in dead money for Deck. His $3,676,852 salary wasn’t guaranteed, but Oklahoma City paid him a portion of that figure prorated across 80 days.
  • Sarah Todd of The Deseret News considers how trading away Oni and creating another opening on the roster could affect the Jazz’s plans on the trade market in the coming weeks.
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Northwest Notes: Whiteside, Finch, Edwards, Bol

January 4th, 2022 at 8:03pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

With Jazz reserve center Hassan Whiteside unavailable while recovering from a concussion, Utah struggled to find much success in its small-ball lineups when All-Star center Rudy Gobert went to the bench, writes Eric Walden of the Salt Lake City Tribune. Walden notes that lineups with 6’8″ reserve forward Rudy Gay playing the five were minus-19 across 19:52 of action.

“It’s different without having a traditional big in Hassan or Rudy [Gobert] back there, because we base our defense solely on forcing everybody to our big,” All-Star point guard Mike Conley said. “Everybody’s kind of activated into more of a help-the-helper situation, as opposed to trying to make it a two-on-two situation with the big and the guard like we’re accustomed to doing.” Gay signed a two-year, $12.1MM contract with the team this summer.

There’s more out of the Northwest Division:

  • Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch has earned rave reviews for the way he handled Minnesota’s rotations as the team was impacted by several coronavirus-related absences, writes Chris Hine of the Star Tribune. Win or lose, the Wolves have always been prepared and kept contests close. “His [after-timeout plays], his mindset, how he conducts practice, very detailed man,” point guard Patrick Beverley said. “His professionalism, I preach to these guys every day that they’re fortunate to have a coach like that, for sure.”
  • After Finch had a quick hook for Timberwolves wing Anthony Edwards due to what the head coach perceived as lackluster defense in the first quarter of an eventual 122-104 Minnesota victory over the Clippers, Edwards responded with renewed effort, writes Chris Hine of the Star Tribune. Finch inserted Jaylen Nowell in Edwards’s stead early in the first quarter. “I wasn’t a big fan of his approach defensively to start the game, which is why I went that direction early,” Finch said. “He responded to that and was a lot more dialed in.” Edwards conceded that Finch had a point: “I get mad, but he right. At the end of the day I can’t do nothing but take the constructive criticism and come back and show him that I can do it.”
  • 7’2″ Nuggets power forward Bol Bol showed promise in scoring a career-best 11 points across 20 minutes against the Rockets in a 124-111 win this weekend. He has support in high places as a prospect with upside, per Mike Singer of The Denver Post. One big name in his corner is Denver head coach Michael Malone, who sent Bol a congratulatory text after his big night.
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