OKC Thunder, Northwest teams NBA Free Agency Primer: Toughest West Division

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Jevon Carter, Mike Conley, OKC Thunder NBA Free Agency Series(Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Utah Jazz

Situation Entering Offseason:

A season removed from overachieving the Jazz weren’t quite as fortunate this past campaign finishing fifth and getting unceremoniously bounced in five games to the Houston Rockets.

That didn’t sit well with Utah who made aggressive moves entering the draft to trade for an upgrade at the point in Mike Conley. With the career long Grizzly, the Jazz can now boast one of the most impressive backcourts with Conley and Donovan Mitchell. And, based on reports they aren’t finished tinkering.

With Conley, the Jazz can check off two of their “need to improve” boxes including perimeter shooting and playmaking. This move also, perhaps more than any other signaled teams weren’t taking the Warriors injuries for granted and decided to make their move toward fast tracking the team’s ascendence.

One question mark is Derrick Favors who isn’t a free agent but based on how the Jazz is approaching the offseason and desire to add floor spacing via shooters Favors is addressing this offseason as if he is a free agent. Utah has until July 6th to guarantee his 2019-20 contract (as per Shams Charania’s paid for subscription The Athletic Article). What Utah does will be telling and the fact they haven’t done so already can only be perceived as them keeping their options open.

While Favors is a solid contributor who can produce in either big man position the main issue is his inability to stretch the floor. That one issue is probably why his return to Utah is up in the air, especially because playing him beside Rudy Gobert is a difficult task given his lack of perimeter prowess. Granted, Favors playing the five in small ball would be a great option for teams looking to fill that role, so his marketability is higher when paired with a floor spacing big man partner.

Salary:

Cap Space: $ (36,723,620.00)
Floor Space: $ 11,430,910.00
Max Space: $ 18,944,335.00
Projected Space: $ (36,723,620.00)

*as per Keith Smith of Real GM

Key free agents to re-sign:

More from Thunderous Intentions

None of the Jazz 2019 free agents are priority re-signs. Instead, aside from the trade by the Lakers to finally land Anthony Davis the Jazz made arguably the second biggest move just prior to the draft to announce HELLO – we are going all in this year.

So, the next move by the team who still has plenty of depth and role players on the squad will be to find stretch power forward to ensure Gobert’s defense remains a calling card while opening the floor to its full potential.

Could that man be Al Horford? The Celtics big man has played both frontcourt positions but prefers the four so he’d be an interesting add (although I suspect David Griffin might sneak in and surprise everyone by landing Horford). But, there are other stretch fours who the Jazz can target and it’s likely that’s where their main focus will be.

The OKC Thunder know all too well how scary the Jazz can be and if they keep adding talent to pair with what will now be a stellar starting frontcourt they could potentially push aside the Nuggets and Blazers to be considered not only the favorites to win the Northwest but potentially the West!

2019 Roster Depth:

Tony Bradley
Mike Conley Jr. (received in trade from Memphis)
Dante Exum
Derrick Favors
Rudy Gobert
Joe Ingles
Donovan Mitchell
Raul Neto
Georges Niang
Royce O’Neale

Draft Picks:

Jarrell Brantley
Justin Wright-Foreman
Miye Oni

Trades:

Jae Crowder (traded for Conley to Memphis)
Kyle Korver (traded for Conley to Memphis)

2019 free agents

Ricky Rubio
Thabo Sefolosha
Ekpe Udoh
Naz Mitrou-Long (Restricted)
Tyler Cavanaugh (Restricted)

2020 free agents

Derrick Favors
Raul Neto
Royce O’Neale (Restricted)

Northwest, OKC Thunder NBA FA Primer: Masters of the West

By Tamberlyn Richardson | Jun 30, 2019