- Jazz forward Georges Niang and guard Miye Oni are focusing on improving their defense as they look to claim roles in the team’s regular season rotation, writes Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. Niang is entering a contract year, while Oni’s 2020/21 salary remains non-guaranteed, so both players will be motivated to prove they deserve to play.
The Jazz have waived point guard Nigel Williams-Goss, per Eric Woodyard of ESPN (via Twitter). Williams-Goss had been owed a $1,517,981 salary for the 2020/21 season, but it was non-guaranteed.
The Jazz drafted Williams-Goss with the No. 55 pick in 2017 out of Gonzaga. Utah held onto his rights even as he opted to play overseas to start his pro career, spending time in Serbia and Greece during the 2017/18 and ’18/19 seasons. The 6’3″ guard then signed a three-year, $4.2MM deal with the Jazz in 2019, although only the first season was fully guaranteed.
Williams-Goss finally made his NBA debut in the 2019/20 season. He appeared in just 10 games for the Jazz, averaging 5.0 MPG. He got significantly more run with the Jazz’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars. Across 17 games (all starts), Williams-Goss averaged 15.3 PPG, 5.5 APG, 3.9 RPG, and 1.6 SPG in 29.6 MPG for the Stars. He also boasted a respectable shooting line of .508/.352/.778.
Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets that, even after this transaction, the club remains $2MM over the league’s luxury tax threshold. The Jazz now have 11 players with guaranteed deals, three with zero salary protection (Shaquille Harrison, Miye Oni, and Juwan Morgan), three more on Exhibit 10 contracts, and a pair on two-way pacts.
The 2020/21 NBA regular season will get underway on December 22, so it’s time to start getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign.
With the help of the lines from a handful of sports betting sites, including Bovada and BetOnline, we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.
Of course, there are plenty of wild cards to take into account this season. For one, teams are scheduled to play 72 games instead of 82, so if you’re picking a team to win 41 games, you’re not just expecting them to be a .500 club — you’re projecting them to finish 10 games above .500. For each team’s over/under below, we’ve noted the record they’d have to achieve to finish “over” their projection, as a reminder.
It’s also worth noting that the coronavirus pandemic could cause some games to be canceled in 2020/21. We don’t want you to have to take possible cancellations into account when making your picks though, so don’t let that stop you from taking the “over.” If a team has a couple games canceled, we’ll adjust their over/under figure downward, so you’re essentially just projecting that team’s winning percentage.
We’ll turn today to the Northwest…
Denver Nuggets
- 2019/20 record: 46-27
- Over/under for 2020/21: 44.5 wins (45-27)
- Major offseason moves:
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Nuggets poll.
Utah Jazz
- 2019/20 record: 44-28
- Over/under for 2020/21: 42.5 wins (43-29)
- Major offseason moves:
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Jazz poll.
Portland Trail Blazers
- 2019/20 record: 35-39
- Over/under for 2020/21: 41.5 wins (42-30)
- Major offseason moves:
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Trail Blazers poll.
Minnesota Timberwolves
- 2019/20 record: 19-45
- Over/under for 2020/21: 29.5 wins (30-42)
- Major offseason moves:
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Timberwolves poll.
Oklahoma City Thunder
- 2019/20 record: 44-28
- Over/under for 2020/21: 22.5 wins (23-49)
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Al Horford, George Hill, Trevor Ariza, Justin Jackson, Ty Jerome, T.J. Leaf, Darius Miller, Kenrich Williams, Admiral Schofield, Aleksej Pokusevski, Theo Maledon
- Lost: Chris Paul, Steven Adams, Danilo Gallinari, Dennis Schroder, Nerlens Noel, Terrance Ferguson, Abdel Nader, Deonte Burton, Andre Roberson
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Thunder poll.
Previous voting results:
- Boston Celtics (45.5 wins): Over (66.3%)
- Brooklyn Nets (45.5 wins): Over (58.6%)
- Philadelphia 76ers (44.5 wins): Over (57.4%)
- Toronto Raptors (42.5 wins): Over (54.7%)
- New York Knicks (22.5 wins): Under (59.5%)
- Jazz starting small forward Bojan Bogdanović saw his first in-game action since May wrist surgery on Saturday in a preseason contest against the Suns. Bogdanovic exhibited the many ways he can contribute to the team’s offensive output, according to Sarah Todd of the Deseret News. “It’s kind of kind of strange, this is my first time in my life that I didn’t play for this long,” Bogdanovic remarked after the game.
DECEMBER 11: The signing is official, according to a team press release.
NOVEMBER 30: The Jazz are bringing back Trevon Bluiett on an Exhibit 10 deal, Ian Begley of SNY TV tweets.
Blueitt was with the club in training camp prior to last season but got waived. He’ll likely wind up with G League’ Salt Lake City Stars if his longshot bid to make the opening night roster doesn’t pan out.
The 26-year-old swingman played for the Stars last season. He saw action in 41 G League games, averaging 14.9 PPG.
Bluiett spent the previous season with the Pelicans on a two-way contract.
For the time being, only five teams – the Jazz, Pelicans, Magic, Rockets, and Grizzlies – are continuing with their plans to have some fans in arenas when the regular season begins, sources tell David Aldridge of The Athletic.
The Mavericks and Heat each confirmed today that they won’t have fans for their preseason games, per Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link) and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Miami also won’t host fans for its Christmas Day game, as Chiang notes.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- The NBA intends to administer a daily point-of-care, rapid coronavirus testing system for the 2020/21 season, according to Shams Charania and Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter links). Those tests would return results within 30 minutes in teams’ home markets and within 90 minutes on the road. In the event of invalid results, the player would undergo another rapid test at least 30 minutes after the first one and could participate in team activities while awaiting the result, sources tell The Athletic.
- Veteran forward Wilson Chandler is expected to leave Zhejiang Guangsha, his team in China, a source tells Sportando. Chandler, who finished the 2019/20 season with Brooklyn, signed to play in the Chinese Basketball Association in the fall. It’s unclear whether or not his reported exit is related to an NBA opportunity.
- ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz have published their first list of the top 100 prospects for the 2021 NBA draft. Oklahoma State point guard Cade Cunningham leads the way, followed by USC’s Evan Mobley and Jalen Green of the G League Ignite.
- Speaking of Green and the Ignite, they’re scheduled to scrimmage on December 15 and 17 against a group of veteran G Leaguers, according to Givony (all Twitter links). It’s unclear whether or not those games will be streamed, but NBA teams will get access to the film, according to Givony, who says Isaiah Briscoe, Tariq Owens, and Bryce Alford will be among the vets scrimmaging against the Ignite.
The contract signed by new Jazz guard Shaquille Harrison is non-guaranteed, per John Hollinger of the Athletic. Jazz head coach Quin Snyder also told reporters today that Harrison is currently recovering from a broken hand, Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune tweets. The newest member of the team is engaging in individual workouts with a single coach at present.
Snyder lauded Harrison’s potential as a defender for the Jazz. “When you watch him play, it jumps out at you that he can defend,” he said.
- The latest offseason addition to the Jazz roster, defensive-minded guard Shaquille Harrison, can help guard multiple positions off the bench, according to Tony Jones of the Athletic. Jones adds that, due to Harrison’s lack of shooting touch, he will need to be employed in shooting-heavy lineups.
4:35pm: The Jazz have officially signed Harrison, the team announced in a press release.
3:03pm: The Jazz are finalizing a contract agreement with free agent guard Shaquille Harrison, sources tell Shams Charania and Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link). It’ll be a one-year, minimum-salary deal, Charania adds (via Twitter).
Harrison, 27, spent the last two seasons with the Bulls, averaging 5.9 PPG and 2.7 RPG in 116 total games (16.5 MPG). Harrison’s offensive output, including a shooting line of .442/.305/.706 as a Bull, was relatively modest, but he’s considered a strong perimeter defender.
The Jazz indicated heading into the offseason that they were making it a priority to add defensive-minded players to their roster. Harrison certainly fits that bill — he has averaged 2.3 steals per 36 minutes over the course of his NBA career, and the Bulls had a 99.7 defensive rating when he was on the court in 2019/20, compared to a 110.0 mark when he sat.
The Jazz only have 11 players with fully guaranteed salaries for 2020/21, so Harrison looks like a good bet to make the regular season roster. Utah also has a pair of openings on its 20-man training camp roster, so no corresponding move will be required to sign Harrison.
Jazz point guard Mike Conley cleared all COVID-19 protocols and practiced in full on Tuesday, Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune tweets. Utah has one unnamed player who has yet to be cleared. Conley had close contact with a family member who tested positive, which forced him to the sidelines. He had to produce seven consecutive negative tests before he could exit quarantine.
- Jazz swingman Bojan Bogdanovic says he’ll be ready to play at the start of the season, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets. Bogdanovic, who underwent wrist surgery in May and missed the restart, has been practicing in full this week.