Utah Jazz Rumors | Hoops Rumors

2018 Offseason In Review: Utah Jazz

October 13th, 2018 at 8:16pm CST by Arthur Hill

Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2018 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2018/19 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Utah Jazz.

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Derrick Favors: Two years, $33.8MM. Includes likely and unlikely incentives. Second year non-guaranteed. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Dante Exum: Three years, $28.8MM. Includes unlikely incentives. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Raul Neto: Two years, $4.3MM. Includes unlikely incentives. Second-year non-guaranteed. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Georges Niang: Three years, minimum salary. Second and third years non-guaranteed. Re-signed using Non-Bird rights.
Two-way contracts:
- Tyler Cavanaugh
- Naz Mitrou-Long
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Stephaun Branch: One year, minimum salary (waived).
- Isaiah Cousins: One year, minimum salary (waived).
- Isaac Haas: One year, minimum salary (waived).
- Jairus Lyles: One year, minimum salary (waived).
- Trey Lewis: One year, minimum salary (waived).

Trades:

Acquired cash ($1.5MM) from the Rockets in exchange for the draft rights to Vince Edwards (No. 52 pick).

Draft picks:

1-21: Grayson Allen — Signed to rookie contract.

Departing players:

Other offseason news:

Hired Fotis Katsikaris as assistant coach to replace Igor Kokoskov. Katsikaris is the NBA’s first-ever native Greek coach.

Salary cap situation:

Remained over the cap.
Carrying approximately $115.7MM in guaranteed salaries.
Full mid-level exception ($8.64MM) still available.
Full bi-annual exception ($3.38MM) still available.

Check out the Utah Jazz’s full roster and depth chart at RosterResource.com.

Story of the summer:

In a league where change is common, the Jazz were remarkably quiet during the offseason. First-round pick Grayson Allen is the only significant addition to the roster, while veteran forward Jonas Jerebko, who was waived in July and later signed with the Warriors, was the only significant loss.

That means last season’s surprise contender in the Western Conference will be back with virtually the same cast of characters that won 48 games and ousted the Thunder in the first round of the playoffs. The emergence of Donovan Mitchell, who finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting, helped to speed up the rebuilding process in Utah after Gordon Hayward left to sign with the Celtics.

The Jazz kept their rotation together by re-signing power forward Derrick Favors and reserve guard Dante Exum over the summer. Coach Quin Snyder should benefit from the continuity among a solid group that appears headed for a long string of postseason trips.

Key offseason losses:

Jerebko spent just one season in Utah and only played 15.3 minutes per night, but he was a valuable shooter who helped to stretch opposing defenses on the second unit. Jerebko sank a career-high 65 3-pointers last season and shot .414 from long distance.

The Jazz elected to waive Jerebko in July rather than guarantee his $4.2MM contract for the upcoming season. Golden State expressed interest in him right away and signed him as soon as he cleared waivers.

Key offseason additions:

Utah will be counting on Allen to replace some of that 3-point firepower off the bench. He was a sharpshooter from beyond the arc during his four years at Duke, hitting .370 as a senior and .380 for his college career. The early returns have been positive as Allen averaged 12.6 points per game during the preseason and ranked in the top 10 among rookie scorers. He shot 51% overall and 52% from 3-point range in five games.

Once the college season ended, Allen made a steady rise up the draft board, taken with the 21st pick after originally being projected as a second-rounder, recounts Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune. Allen had a standout performance in a Salt Lake City workout that featured prospects Aaron Holiday, Jalen Brunson and Khyri Thomas. He dominated that session, then had a repeat performance at the CAA Pro Day with scouts from all 30 teams watching.

Utah aced the draft last year by picking up Mitchell, and the front office is confident that Allen will also outplay his draft position.

Outlook for 2018/19:

The Jazz were an afterthought for the playoffs heading into last season, but Mitchell’s rise turned them into one of the best teams in the Western Conference. Rudy Gobert returned from a pair of injuries to provide an anchor in the middle and was rewarded with Defensive Player of the Year honors. Ricky Rubio is a dynamic leader of the offense whose presence was missed after an injury sidelined him in the second-round playoff series against Houston. Favors and Joe Ingles developed into an effective forward combination in their first year of starting together.

Utah opted to play it safe during the offseason, focusing its efforts on re-signing Favors and Exum, along with Raul Neto and Georges Niang, rather than trying to recruit free agents. With Rubio in a contract year, the Jazz will likely follow the same approach next summer. It seems to be working as the organization shrugged off the loss of Hayward and faces the future with a talented core in place and no bad long-term contracts.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Jazz Release Branch, Cousins, Lyles

October 13th, 2018 at 4:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Jazz got down to the NBA’s roster limit by waiving three players, the team announced on its website. The final cuts were guards Stephaun Branch, Isaiah Cousins and Jairus Lyles, who may all be ticketed for Utah’s G League affiliate in Salt Lake City if they clear waivers.

Branch was in the G League last season with the South Bay Lakers. He appeared in 50 games, starting seven, and averaged 10.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals per night. The West Georgia product was just signed by the Jazz earlier this afternoon.

Cousins also spent last season in the G League, playing 36 games for Salt Lake City. He posted a 13.1/ 3.6/4.4 line while averaging 1.3 steals per game.

Lyles is a rookie out of UMBC who played for the Jazz during summer league. He averaged 20.2 PPG in college last season.

Jazz Waive Isaac Haas

October 13th, 2018 at 11:50am CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have made a minor roster move, announcing today in a press release that center Isaac Haas has been waived. The transactions leaves Utah with 19 players on its roster, so more cuts will be necessary before Monday.

Haas, an undrafted rookie out of Purdue, joined the Jazz for Summer League play in July, then inked a camp contract with the team in August. His non-guaranteed contract won’t count against the club’s salary cap.

Haas will be a candidate to join the Salt Lake City Stars, Utah’s G League affiliate, after he clears waivers, assuming another NBA team doesn’t claim him.

Utah still has 17 players on standard NBA contracts and must reduce that number to 15 by Monday. Jairus Lyles and Isaiah Cousins are the probable casualties of the roster crunch.

Raul Neto To Miss At Least Two More Weeks

October 11th, 2018 at 8:41pm CST by JD Shaw

Jazz guard Raul Neto is slated to miss at least two more weeks of action, the team announced this week. Neto is dealing with a right hamstring injury and will be sidelined to start the regular season.

Jazz Exercise Third-Year Options On Mitchell, Bradley

October 10th, 2018 at 8:23pm CST by clarkcrum

The Jazz announced today that they have exercised their third-year rookie scale team options for the 2019/20 season on guard Donovan Mitchell (link) and center Tony Bradley (link). The deadline to do so was October 31.

Mitchell, the 2017/18 runner-up for Rookie of the Year, joined David Robinson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Wilt Chamberlain as the only rookies to lead their team in scoring while also winning 45-or-more games. His option decision was the definition of a no-brainer, with his future looking as bright as any young player in the league.

Meanwhile, Bradley, who was acquired by the Jazz on draft night in 2017, only saw action in nine games for the club as a rookie, but started 24 games for the team’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars. He averaged 15.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.3 blocks in 29.6 minutes per contest.

Mitchell’s 2019/20 cap hit will cost the Jazz a team-friendly $3.6MM, while Bradley will earn just under $2MM that season. Both players also have a fourth-year rookie scale team option for the 2020/21 campaign.

Joe Ingles Believes He's One Of The NBA's Best Shooters

October 6th, 2018 at 9:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jazz forward Joe Ingles believes he’s among the league’s best shooters, relays Eric Woodyard of The Deseret News. He has the statistics to back up that statement, shooting 44% from 3-point range over the past two seasons. “The numbers I’ve shot, the percentages, they obviously are what they are and people are going to dissect everything,” Ingles said, “but, I honestly feel like they’re all going to go in when I shoot the ball.”

Jazz Sign Isaiah Cousins

October 3rd, 2018 at 3:16pm CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have re-filled their 20-man preseason roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed Isaiah Cousins to a contract. Cousins will replace Trey Lewis, who was waived by Utah earlier today.

A 6’4″ combo guard, Cousins was a second-round pick out of Oklahoma in 2016. Although the Kings drafted and signed Cousins, he didn’t stick with the club, instead spending the last two seasons in the G League and with French team Cholet Basket.

Last season, Cousins appeared in 36 games for Utah’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, recording 13.2 PPG, 4.2 APG, and 3.6 RPG with a .431/.408/.741 shooting line. The Jazz don’t project to have any openings on their 15-man NBA roster heading into the 2018/19 season, so they likely envision the 24-year-old as a G League piece once again.

Cousins was one of 32 veteran free agents who participated in a mini-camp with the Jazz back in June.

Jazz Release Trey Lewis

October 3rd, 2018 at 12:05pm CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have made their first roster cut of the preseason, announcing today in a press release that they’ve waived guard Trey Lewis. Lewis will clear waivers on Friday, assuming he goes unclaimed.

Lewis, who went undrafted out of Louisville in 2016, has played in Germany and France since beginning his professional career. He joined the Jazz for the Utah and Las Vegas Summer Leagues in July and made a strong enough impression that the club signed him in August, bringing him to training camp.

Although Lewis won’t crack Utah’s 15-man regular season roster, he looks like a candidate to land with the Salt Lake City Stars, the Jazz’s G League affiliate, assuming he opts to sign an NBAGL contract rather than heading back overseas.

The Jazz now have 19 players on their preseason roster, including 14 on fully guaranteed contracts and two on two-way deals.

Details On Incentives For Favors, Exum, Neto

October 2nd, 2018 at 10:37am CST by Luke Adams

Dante Exum, Raul Neto, and Derrick Favors all have incentives on their new deals with the Jazz, with a focus on games played — they all must appear in at least 67 games to start earning their bonuses. Favors, in particular, has plenty riding on his performance, as he can earn $2.8MM in incentives. Of those incentives, $900K are considered likely and already count against his cap charge.

[SOURCE LINK]

Allen Looks Sharp In Preseason Debut

October 1st, 2018 at 5:39pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jazz rookie guard Grayson Allen made a promising preseason debut, as Jordan Hicks of Basketball Insiders examines. Allen scored 19 points off the bench against Australia’s Perth Wildcats, making 7-of-14 shots overall while going 5-for-9 on 3-point tries. Bench scoring was an issue for Utah last season and the Duke rookie could prove to be a significant asset in another postseason run, Hicks points out.