Our FO is above average. Draft picks really only hit about 30% of the time or thereabouts. We’ve gotten two high-end players later in the draft, taken Exum which was a semi no-brainer in that crap draft (and anyone right after him hasn’t been very good) and has been derailed due to injuries, and Hood who’s a good pro. Bradley was a dumb selection and Allen was also questionable. So we’ve done quite well there.
One concern is perhaps in how we’ve valued those picks. Trading a 1st for Hill for one year looks bad in hindsight but it honestly made sense at the time and he was great when here when healthy. Using another for Rubio was equally as questionable but we again needed to address the situation, especially with Hayward bolting as well as Hill and Joe Jesus.
A near decade in now and my biggest gripe is about how we handle contracts. Hayward’s first extension was botched. Plain and simple. We extended Joe two years early for no intelligent reason whatsoever. I’d guess going into that final year, it’ll feel really bad and his value will be at about 55-60% of that 14M. I didn’t think so at the time but looking more closely, I think we overpaid for Royce. There are a ton of solid, athletic defenders who can hit the 3 and make far less. In the latter two instances, my concern is that this stems from sort of inferiority complex from which the FO feels we need to overpay to be sure we retain the guys because, well, we’re Utah and it’s tougher to get guys here. I’m nearly positive Dennis, Locke, or Jones has alluded to this before. But that’s not a good reason. Do we really think Joe would have bolted at 34.7 years of age when his whole career’s been here and he’s developed strong relationships and ties here? Do we really think Royce would’ve wanted to test the market THAT badly that he wouldn’t have taken, I don’t know, 4/36? It’s like we overthink **** and preemptively make bad decisions to get out ahead of what’s coming, and do it poorly in some Trumpian sort of way.