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2017 Offseason In Review: Utah Jazz

October 9th, 2017 at 3:59pm CST by Austin Kent

Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2017 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 2017/18 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Utah Jazz.

Signings:Ingles vertical

Camp invitees:

Trades:

Draft picks:

  • 1-13: Donovan Mitchell — Signed to rookie contract.
  • 1-28: Tony Bradley — Signed to rookie contract.
  • 2-55: Nigel Williams-Goss — Stashed overseas.

Departing players:

Other offseason news:

  • Hired David Morway and Justin Zanik as assistant general managers.

Salary cap situation:

  • Used cap room; now operating over the cap, but under the tax. Carrying approximately $110MM in guaranteed salaries. Approximately $1.128MM of room exception still available. Otherwise, only minimum salary exception available.

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

Story of the summer:

There’s no denying that Utah’s biggest priority heading into the summer was to retain the services of Gordon Hayward, a free agent after seven seasons with the Jazz. Alas, the Butler product left the only NBA franchise he ever knew to reunite with former Butler head coach Brad Stevens as a Celtic.

While the Jazz may have been devastated by the move, they weren’t blindsided, and they ended up stringing together an offseason with upsides that ease the pain of their All-Star’s exit.

Hayward was an excellent asset for the Jazz, but Rudy Gobert and the system installed by coach Quin Snyder have been equally important to the franchise’s recent success. With a host of compelling young players eager to develop and take advantage of a newfound opportunity, 2017/18 may not be so bad after all.

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Jazz Sign Torian Graham

October 9th, 2017 at 3:46pm CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have signed Torian Graham to a contract, the team announced today in a press release. Details of the agreement weren’t released, but it figures to be a non-guaranteed deal.

Graham, a 6’4″ guard, spent last season at Arizona State. In 33 games, Graham averaged 18.6 PPG with 4.2 RPG, and was the team’s biggest threat from three-point range — he made outside shots at a 38.7% rate, pouring in 3.3 per game.

The Jazz had been carrying the maximum 20 players up until Saturday, when the club waived camp invitee Taylor Braun. That opened up one spot, which Utah has filled by signing Graham and getting back up to 20 players.

While the Jazz didn’t say as much in their announcement of the signing, they likely view Graham as a potential affiliate player for their G League squad, the Salt Lake City Stars.

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Jazz Waive Taylor Braun

October 7th, 2017 at 3:19pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Less than two weeks after signing Taylor Braun to a training camp deal, the Jazz have waived the swingman, according to the team’s website.

The North Dakota State product appeared in two games for Utah this preseason. He saw just four minutes of action, scoring a total of four points.

Utah’s roster now sits at 19 and the team has two more preseason games before it has to make further roster cuts.

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Dante Exum To Miss Significant Time With Shoulder Injury

October 7th, 2017 at 10:39am CST by marksuleymanov

Dante Exum left the Jazz‘s preseason game against the Suns on Friday with a shoulder injury that overshadowed the team’s eventual 112-101 victory. The non-televised game did not provide visuals of Exum’s injury but Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said it was serious.

“If you saw his shoulder it didn’t look good,” Snyder told reporters, including Jazz radio host David Locke (Twitter link).

Snyder’s initial prognosis was accurate as Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Exum separated his left shoulder and suffered ligament damage. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link) reports that Exum could miss the entire season but there is no current timetable for a recovery.
Season-shortening injuries are not unknown to the 22-year-old Exum as he missed the entire 2015/16 season due to a torn ACL. The Melbourne, Australia, native returned last season to play in 66 games (26 starts) where he averaged 6.2 PPG and 2.0 RPG in 18.6 minutes.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes that Exum’s injury puts the Jazz roster in a tough situation. Backup point guard Raul Neto would need Jazz to waive or trade one of its 15 guaranteed contracts to make room for him. However, the Jazz could also rely on rookie Donovan Mitchell if Neto does not make the team.
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Cavaliers Notes: Green, Shumpert, Lue, Patterson

October 4th, 2017 at 6:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

After 10 seasons in the NBA, Jeff Green couldn’t pass up an opportunity to play for a championship contender, relays Joe Gabriele of NBA.com. Green took a substantial pay cut to join the Cavaliers, dropping his salary from $15MM last season to the veterans minimum of $2.3MM. He is also relegated to a reserve role, with LeBron James cemented as the team’s starting small forward, but Green said the shot at a ring makes the sacrifices worthwhile.

“That was what I was looking for and that’s what came to my sight – that there was an opportunity here,” said Green, who is with his sixth NBA team. “So I was thankful for it and I couldn’t pass it up; the opportunity was there and I jumped on it. It wasn’t a matter of timing or when it happened. It was just when I got the call and thought about it. And I didn’t have to think long. I wrote down the pros and cons of what I wanted. And this situation fit every ‘pro’ on that list.”

There’s more news out of Cleveland:

  • Coach Tyronn Lue reassured Iman Shumpert about his future with the team following an offseason filled with trade rumors, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The Cavaliers came close to shipping Shumpert to Houston in early July, but the Rockets pulled out of the deal after signing P.J. Tucker. Cleveland continued to search for a trade, but the right partner never emerged. Shumpert was frustrated by the reports and shared that sentiment with Lue in a pre-camp meeting. He was also upset about the way his role diminished late in the season and into the playoffs. Shumpert has a player option on his $11MM salary for next season and could become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
  • Shumpert needs to become more reliable on offense before the Cavs will trust him against the Warriors, according to Jason Lloyd of The Athletic. Shumpert was a non-factor as Cleveland’s season ended in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, getting off the bench for less than four minutes. He has vowed to contribute more on the offensive end of the court, but with a turnover rate of 19% in transition, Lloyd cautions that might not be best for the team.
  • Andrae Patterson, formerly with Utah’s front office, will join the Cavaliers as director of basketball administration, relays Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. The 41-year-old had a brief NBA career with the Timberwolves and played nine seasons in Europe.
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Mitchell Impresses With Defensive Prowess

October 2nd, 2017 at 7:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • First-round selection Donovan Mitchell has impressed Jazz coach Quin Snyder with his defensive tenacity, Mike Sorensen of the Deseret News writes. The No. 13 overall pick enjoys playing defense, as he told Sorensen, and his head coach has noticed. “Donovan’s defense — if you’re on the wing and trying to get open, you better be ready, because he’s going to make it hard for you to catch the ball,” he said. The shooting guard will battle Alec Burks and Rodney Hood for playing time.
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Alec Burks Says He's 100 Percent

September 30th, 2017 at 4:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Russell Westbrook‘s decision to sign an extension with the Thunder is making it easier for Paul George to decide whether to stay put when he becomes a free agent next summer, as he told ESPN’s Royce Young and other media members (Twitter link). George is impressed by the commitment between the reigning Most Valuable Player and the franchise, as Westbrook decided this week to sign a five-year, $205MM extension. George’s overt desire to leave the Pacers after this season, specifically for the Lakers, led Indiana to trade him to Oklahoma City. It appears George is now seriously interested in re-signing. “Not only in us pairing together but just knowing what type of dude Russ is and his values and his beliefs and him being committed to this organization says a lot,” George said. “And I’m one person that’s enjoying it here, so I think when that time comes the decision will be easier to make for myself.”

In other developments around the Northwest Division:

  • Anthony Morrow has apparently taken an early lead in the fight for the Blazers’ 15th roster spot, Joe Freeman of The Oregonian reports. Morrow received a one-year, non-guaranteed contract prior to training camp and is battling Archie Goodwin and Isaiah Briscoe for a spot on the opening-night roster, Freeman continues. After four days of training camp, he’s already impressed coaches and teammates with his shooting, leadership and positive attitude, Freeman adds.
  • Center Mason Plumlee will be Nikola Jokic‘s backup but he’ll have a big role with the Nuggets, coach Michael Malone told Gina Mizell of The Denver Post. Plumlee was re-signed by Denver to a three-year, $41MM deal this summer after being acquired from the Blazers in February. “He brings us a physicality and presence that, really, none of the other guys really have,” Malone said. “He is a lob threat on offense and he’s a rim protector on defense. On top of that, he’s a very skilled and capable playmaker.”
  • Jazz guard Alec Burks believes he’s finally fully recovered from the broken leg he suffered in December 2015, according to Mike Sorensen of The Deseret News. Burks is looking for a bounce-back season, even though coach Quin Snyder isn’t sure what role Burks will have this season, Sorensen adds. “This summer I felt like I was before I got hurt on that December day two years ago,” Burks told Sorensen. “I felt more explosive, more like myself. As you could tell, last year I wasn’t myself athletically, I wasn’t at all.”
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Jazz Sign Taylor Braun

September 26th, 2017 at 1:59pm CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have filled the final spot on their 20-man training camp roster by signing free agent swingman Taylor Braun, the team announced today in a press release.

Braun, who went undrafted out of North Dakota State in 2014, has caught on with a couple NBA teams for Summer League action since then, but has mostly spent his time playing overseas. Braun played in Belgium during his first professional season, and has spent the last couple years in Germany.

In his final college season back in 2013/14, Braun averaged 17.6 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 3.8 APG, and 1.5 SPG, making 41.4% of his three-point attempts. He was named the Summit League Player of the Year and helped North Dakota State pull off an upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Having signed Braun, the Jazz now have 20 players under contract, including 15 on guaranteed deals and two on two-way contracts. Braun figures to be one of the three players in Utah camp on non-guaranteed contracts, along with Naz Mitrou-Long and Raul Neto.

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Derrick Favors Looks For Bounce-Back Season

September 25th, 2017 at 2:27pm CST by Arthur Hill
  • Jazz forward Derrick Favors has a chance to rebuild his reputation before heading into free agency next summer, relays the Associated Press. Favors says he has overcome the knee and back injuries that plagued him over the past two seasons and dropped 15 to 20 pounds during the summer. Utah needs to replace about 40 points per game with the loss of free agents Gordon Hayward and George Hill, and Favors is a prime candidate to increase his production. Favors will be an unrestricted free agent in July after making $12MM this season.
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Poll: Utah Jazz’s 2017/18 Win Total

September 22nd, 2017 at 3:16pm CST by Luke Adams

After steadily increasing their win total for a few years, the Jazz broke through in a big way in 2016/17, winning the Northwest division with a 51-31 record. However, the club’s hopes of taking yet another step forward this season likely dissipated around the time that Gordon Hayward published his Players’ Tribune piece on July 4.

The Jazz are still a talented team, but Hayward was the club’s top scorer and its only All-Star. With both Hayward and George Hill gone, Utah may struggle to put the ball in the net — the team’s other best player, Rudy Gobert, is more of a force on the defensive end than on offense, and new point guard Ricky Rubio is very much a pass-first player.

Besides Hayward, Gobert, and Hill, the only other Jazz player to average double-digit points last season was Rodney Hood, and he’ll have to improve significantly on his 12.7 PPG to help fill the gap left by Hayward’s departure. Joe Ingles, Derrick Favors, and Alec Burks may be asked to do more on offense too, with newcomers like Thabo Sefolosha and rookie Donovan Mitchell also chipping in.

The Jazz still look like a playoff contender, but they’re no longer a lock for the postseason, and oddsmakers’ projections for the team reflect that. Offshore betting site Bovada currently has Utah’s over/under for 2017/18 at 41 wins. Since we prefer to avoid whole numbers in these polls, and action on the over has been heavy so far on Bovada, we’ll bump that number to 41.5.

What do you think? Does this Jazz roster still have enough talent to finish above .500, or is a dip of 10 games or more in the cards without Hayward or Hill around anymore? Vote below and jump into the comment section to share your thoughts!

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