For a third straight season, a top-five defense helped buoy the Jazz and their middle-of-the-pack offense to one of the best records in the Western Conference. However, Utah’s 15th-ranked offense looked even more pedestrian in the postseason than it did in the regular season, as the team fell to Houston in five games in the first round.
Of the 16 teams that made the playoffs last spring, only three – the Pistons, Magic, and Pacers – had postseason offensive ratings worse than Utah’s. With Donovan Mitchell struggling to score efficiently, the Jazz had few other play-makers to turn to as they tried to keep pace with James Harden and the Rockets.
It was a pressing issue that needed to be addressed for the franchise this offseason, and the Jazz did just that, pulling off a trade for point guard Mike Conley and signing sharpshooting forward Bojan Bogdanovic in free agency.
Neither Conley nor Bogdanovic has ever made an All-Star team, and neither is the type of volume scorer who will pour in 40 points on a given night (though each player has reached that mark once in his career). But they’re reliable veterans who can be counted on to make Utah’s offense a little more versatile, taking some of the shot-creating pressure off Mitchell and giving the team a couple more players who can share ball-handling duties.
Key offseason losses:
A handful of rotation players from last year’s Jazz squad had to be traded in order to secure Conley and Bogdanovic, including Derrick Favors, who had been Utah’s longest-tenured player. Acquired in 2011’s Deron Williams blockbuster, Favors spent eight-and-a-half years with the organization, appearing in 576 regular season contests and another 31 playoff games during that time.
Favors was never quite an ideal fit besides Gobert due to floor-spacing issues, but the Jazz managed to mostly make it work for several years with Favors playing at the four alongside Gobert and spelling him at the five. It’s a testament to his value that the Jazz were able to move Favors’ $17.65MM expiring contract to open up cap space for Bogdanovic and managed to get a pair of second-round picks in return, rather than having to attach an asset to dump him.
Jae Crowder, Kyle Korver, and Grayson Allen were attached to a pair of draft picks in the deal to land Conley.
At age 38, Korver is an increasingly one-dimensional shooter and may not have been retained anyway at his $7.5MM salary, since it was only partially guaranteed. However, Crowder was a valuable – and inexpensive – part of Utah’s lineup due to his three-and-D abilities and would’ve had a role on this team if he hadn’t had to be included in that trade. As for Allen, he appeared in just 38 games as a rookie, but still has the potential to develop into a more reliable performer.
Besides Favors, the Jazz’s most noteworthy loss was probably Ricky Rubio, who wasn’t technically part of the Conley trade, but whose departure was all but assured when that agreement with Memphis was reached. The former No. 5 overall pick was Utah’s starting point guard for the last two seasons, and while his jump shot was still inconsistent, he has always been elite at setting up teammates on offense and has more than held his own on defense. Conley will be an upgrade, but Rubio was a solid starter.
Raul Neto and Ekpe Udoh were third-stringers at their respective positions, so the Jazz won’t badly miss either player. Thabo Sefolosha can still be a useful contributor at age 35, but some nagging injuries limited his effectiveness in 2018/19.
Key offseason additions:
We’ve already discussed Conley and Bogdanovic at length, but it’s worth reiterating what they can bring to this Jazz team.
Conley averaged a career-high 21.1 PPG last season for the Grizzlies, averaging 6.4 APG while turning the ball over just 1.9 times per game. Despite the fact that Memphis finished the season with a 33-49 record, the team had a +0.7 net rating when Conley was on the court. The 32-year-old is an underrated play-maker who could be just the backcourt partner that Mitchell needs to make a big third-year leap.
Bogdanovic, meanwhile, was overextended as the Pacers’ primary play-maker after Victor Oladipo went down last season. But just the fact that he was the next man up in that role was a positive sign for how much he has expanded his game in recent years. Once considered more of a catch-and-shoot specialist, Bogdanovic showed major improvements as a ball-handler in 2018/19, even as he posted a career-high .425 3PT%.
The Jazz had reportedly set their sights on Nikola Mirotic before the Spaniard decided to return to his home country to play for Barcelona, but Bogdanovic is a more dynamic, versatile player who will help Utah create shots and spread the floor without being a liability on defense.
With Favors and Udoh gone, the Jazz needed to address the backup center spot behind Gobert, and did so by signing Ed Davis using the room exception. A quality defender and rebounder, Davis may struggle against some of the game’s biggest centers, but Gobert should get the brunt of those assignments anyway.
Jeff Green signed in Utah on a minimum-salary deal to play a role similar to the one occupied by Crowder. He’ll contribute a little on offense and play a part in trying to lock up the top wing scorers on opposing teams.
Finally, Emmanuel Mudiay replaces Neto on the point guard depth chart, giving the Jazz more of a score-first ball-handler off the bench.
Outlook for 2019/20:
This year’s Jazz roster looks like the most talented group the franchise has had since Gordon Hayward‘s departure in 2017. In fact, this team’s ceiling is likely higher than that of the Hayward-led squads, particularly with the Western Conference race looking more wide open this season.
Gobert isn’t a typical NBA superstar, Mitchell isn’t at that level (yet, at least), and Conley isn’t that player either. Put all the pieces together though, and Utah has the potential to be an extremely tough out in the playoffs. While I don’t necessarily expect the Jazz to represent the West in the NBA Finals or even to make the Conference Finals, it certainly won’t be a shock if the club wins multiple postseason series.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
