For the past few seasons, the Jazz has been competitive and slowly rising. Despite the road bump they hit when Gordon Hayward bailed for Boston, Dennis Lyndsay pulled a rabbit out of the NBA Draft hat by nabbing Donovan Mitchell with the 13th pick in 2017.
With perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate Rudy Gobert and coaching savant Quin Snyder Utah had a sturdy foundation in play. Attempts were made to bring on players who could raise the team’s value. Ricky Rubio seemed like a good fit but that experiment failed. Joe Ingles is a great glue guy and 3-point specialist, however, he’s not a secondary scoring option.
After a second straight oust by the Rockets it became clear if the Jazz wanted to take steps they needed to fill specific roster inefficiencies with more talented assets.
Cut to this offseason when Lyndsay boldly targeted particular players to augment the roster. Clearly, the goal is to capitalize on the cornerstone talents Utah has within a certain window.
The key addition was Mike Conley who removes the pressure laid on Mitchell. He’s capable of taking on the primary scoring role when necessary or splitting the responsibilities. Bojan Bogdanovic (42.5 percent) provides additional perimeter sharp shooting while Jeff Green and Ed Davis provide frontcourt depth and rebounding assistance.
Although Derrick Favors, Jae Crowder, and Thabo Sefolosha are gone this new iteration has better balance.
Players Added:
Free Agency:
G: Trevon Bluiett
G: Emmanuel Mudiay
G: Nigel Williams-Goss (2017 draft pick)
F: Bojan Bogdanovic
F: Jeff Green
F: William Howard
F: Stanton Kidd
F: Juwan Morgan
C: Ed Davis
Trade:
G: Mike Conley (trade with Grizzlies)
Rookies:
F: Jarrell Brantley (No. 50, via trade from Pacers)**
G: Miye Oni (No. 58, via trade from Warriors)
G: Justin Wright-Foreman (No. 53)**
Departing Players:
Free Agents:
G: Naz Mitrou-Long (signed with Pacers)
G: Raul Neto (signed with Sixers)
G: Ricky Rubio (signed with Suns)
F: Thabo Sefolosha (signed with Rockets)
F: Tyler Cavanaugh (unrestricted)
F/C: Ekpe Udoh (unrestricted)
Trade:
Kyle Korver (traded to Grizzlies)
Derrick Favors (traded to Pelicans)