In May I asked a question: has this iteration of the Utah Jazz run its course? I made the argument that no they had not, in large part because I was not sure I had the stomach to trade 2 of the greatest players in franchise history (Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert) in the same offseason, even if a Mitchell trade felt inevitable down the road. New Alternate Governor and CEO Danny Ainge, the head of basketball operations in Utah, disagreed (which is not a surprise if you followed his career in Boston) and started the rebuild. Out went Utah’s 3 best players (Mitchell, Gobert, and Bojan Bogdanovic) for 7 first round picks, 3 pick swaps, and a plethora of players. The rebuild is on, so let’s look at the Jazz as they enter the 2022-23 season and beyond.
Utah’s roster is not as bad as many others in the NBA. They have a solid guard rotation, Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson return as they added Collin Sexton, Malik Beasley, and Talen Horton-Tucker via trade in the offseason. It is a crowded rotation and one that could be hard to crack for some of the younger players they have (Jared Butler is an example) and a spot that a trade could be considered during the regular season. On the wing, they do not have as many known NBA players but some good players. Simone Fontecchio is a free agent signing from Italy, who played well in the Euros and a player that many people in NBA circles are excited about, Lauri Markkanen played a lot of minutes at the 3 last season for the Cavaliers (even if he is more of a natural 4) and could be the starter at the position to start the season, Ochai Agbaji was just drafted in the lottery, and Rudy Gay and Stanley Johnson are also on the roster. The big man spot is thin at the top but also cluttered with a lot of interesting players. Kelly Olynyk should be the starting center (at least at the start of the season) with Jarred Vanderbilt at the 4. Let’s say Markkanen is at the 3, that leaves Udoka Azubuike, Walker Kessler, and Cody Zeller (if he makes the team which I do not think he will) as the backup bigs. The young guys need minutes, especially Kessler who was just drafted in June. So while Utah may not have the top end talent needed to compete for the playoffs or even the play-in, they have a lot of players who should be playing minutes in the NBA, which is going to lead to more wins than maybe some Jazz fans want, especially in a Western Conference with a lot of teams racing to the bottom.
The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are worse than the Jazz are, and I think the Houston Rockets may be as well. That is 3 teams in the conference Utah is better than, which is something Utah fans may not want, especially considering the talent at the very top of the draft, Scoot Henderson and Victor Wembanyama (who were both very impressive Tuesday night when they faced off). However, with the newish flattened lottery odds, winning games is not the worst thing in the world and is a lot more fun than losing all of your games. So while the Jazz may win too many games to have the best lottery odds in the NBA, it is not the worst thing in the world and Jazz fans should not panic if they win 30ish games this season.
Utah acquired a lot of picks in the Gobert and Mitchell trades. 7 first rounders, 6 of which were unprotected, and 3 swaps, from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves. Coupled with the fact that they own all but one of their own picks, they traded a protected 2024 first rounder to the Thunder to shed Derrick Favors’ salary in July 2021, Utah has a lot of ammo to make a trade in the future if they want to. They need to acquire top flight players, something that Danny Ainge has shown he can do in the past, like when he traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in 2008, drafted Jaylen Brown in 2016 and Jayson Tatum in 2017, and even traded for Kyrie Irving in 2017 (though that did not work out the way Boston hoped), there is proof that Danny Ainge is willing to go make a huge trade if he wants too, and can identify stars in the draft. Ainge has added enough assets to make a big trade to either move up in the draft, or go all-in on a star if he feels that the player he is acquiring can take the team to the next level either in the moment or in the future.
The Donovan Mitchell/Rudy Gobert Utah Jazz era ended in a lot of disappointment, we don’t have to talk about either of the Clippers or Mavericks series’. However, this is a new era of Utah Jazz basketball, new uniforms (that suck), new coach, and a lot of new players. Jazz fans should be excited to see what Danny Ainge and General Manger Justin Zanik build over the next couple of years because a fresh start is always exciting, especially when you consider what the Jazz future looked like without the trades they made. This teardown had been coming, whether it was this summer or not, and though I probably would have put it off, Jazz management knew it was necessary so they pulled the trigger and now a new era of basketball in Utah begins.
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