What's new

Obvious Moves the Jazz Should Make this Offseason

Ferguson_Mellochill

Well-Known Member
2019 Prediction Contest Winner
Here is a list of moves I think the Jazz should make this offseason, with rationale:

1) Mike Conley is too small to be much of a defensive presence. He's also too small to finish at the rim efficiently. If another team offers real value for him, then the Jazz should move him. The Jazz still have Mitchell, Clarkson and Butler who can play at the 1.

2) Bojan Bogdanovic is entering the final year of his deal. He's also 33 years-old and likely to decline in production. If another team offers real value for him, then the Jazz should move him to preserve the value of their talent portfolio. They should look to bring in another floor spacer at the wing.

3) Rudy Gobert is limited offensively. Yes, he's highly efficient at the rim and a force on the defensive end, but it's partly due to Rudy's offensive limitations that the Jazz have to run a system where he can be successful, and they overcompensate with offensive talent across the rest of their rotation. Rudy is an All NBA-level player and DPOY. If another team offers significant value for him (read: overreaches), the Jazz should move Rudy. Rudy's trade value will probably never be higher for a team that wants to add 8-10 wins and make the playoffs. Jazz should be looking for a top-10 pick plus a starting-level player, at a minimum, to move Rudy.

4) Royce O'Neale is limited offensively. The fact that he "doesn't use possessions" is not a compelling enough virtue for him to be in the starting lineup. Royce is rotational, he knows Quin's system and he moves the ball, but he should probably come off the bench if the Jazz want to improve their starting and closing lineup. If he can be included in trade package that brings back a solid return, he should not be untouchable.

5) Juan Hernangomez is on the books for $6M next season, with a guarantee date of June 30th (a week after the draft). Considering he beat out Rudy Gay and Eric Paschall in our playoff rotation, the Jazz should probably plan to keep him unless his salary factors into a sweet trade deal. His expiring contract can also be used as trade filler at the deadline if another deal comes up during the season.

6) Jordan Clarkson can play at the 1 and the 2. He can score with self-creation, plus he rebounds when he's properly motivated. He also provides energy, athleticism and attitude to a team that was otherwise pretty vanilla. Jazz should keep him, especially if they're going to trade Mike.

7) Donovan is improving as a lead guard with the ball in his hands, but I think it takes too much mental energy to have to run Quin's system. Not only does it tax Donovan's energy level and make it harder for him to invest on defense, it prevents him from playing instinctively. This is similar to the problem that Damian Lillard and James Harden had in the past when they're being asked to carry too much of a load. The solution is to bring in another high-level guard or wing who can play on the ball, take pressure off of Donovan, and let him keep his rhythm as a scorer. I think this was part of the rationale for pairing Donovan with Mike, but Mike cannot be depended upon to perform at a high enough level.

8) Quin may need to simplify some of his actions. If it's taking guys an entire year to acclimate to Quin's system, then maybe the system needs to be simplified. The playoffs often come down to exploiting matchups and physically overpowering opponents over a 7-game series. Guys can't be thinking hard. They need to be playing hard. Jazz need play with more balls and less brains.
 
The Jazz need to find out what the market is for all of their players, including Donovan. Then they need to determine if there is a probable scenario that would create a team that can compete for a top 4 seed next season (keeping in mind the likely improved competition next year). If the answer is no, then I think they need to blow it up, and start working towards our next window.

I think if they are honest with their evaluation then they will come to the conclusion it's time to blow it up.
 
The Jazz need to find out what the market is for all of their players, including Donovan. Then they need to determine if there is a probable scenario that would create a team that can compete for a top 4 seed next season (keeping in mind the likely improved competition next year). If the answer is no, then I think they need to blow it up, and start working towards our next window.

I think if they are honest with their evaluation then they will come to the conclusion it's time to blow it up.

I think there is a scenario where the Jazz don't compete for a top-4 seed next year, but they make judicious moves and compete for a top-4 seed the following year, with Donovan. There is no rush to move Donovan, even if he asks to be traded.
 
8) Quin may need to simplify some of his actions. If it's taking guys an entire year to acclimate to Quin's system, then maybe the system needs to be simplified. The playoffs often come down to exploiting matchups and physically overpowering opponents over a 7-game series. Guys can't be thinking hard. They need to be playing hard. Jazz need play with more balls and less brains.


I think this has already been done that. Locke often talks about how Quin changed the offense in the bubble and simplified it a lot, and it's stayed that way ever since. We now take a lot more 3's and take them a lot earlier in the shot clock, and we don't run as many complex sets.
 
I think there is a scenario where the Jazz don't compete for a top-4 seed next year, but they make judicious moves and compete for a top-4 seed the following year, with Donovan. There is no rush to move Donovan, even if he asks to be traded.
This seems pretty unlikely to me based on:
- The looming repeater tax
- The difficulty of building around Donovan
- The likely improving competition in the West
- The difficulty of improving talent without draft assets.
 
I think there is a scenario where the Jazz don't compete for a top-4 seed next year, but they make judicious moves and compete for a top-4 seed the following year, with Donovan. There is no rush to move Donovan, even if he asks to be traded.

As far as the team roster goes regardless of what we do with Rudy or Don or anything else we need to move Mike


Sent from my iPhone using JazzFanz
 
I think this has already been done that. Locke often talks about how Quin changed the offense in the bubble and simplified it a lot, and it's stayed that way ever since. We now take a lot more 3's and take them a lot earlier in the shot clock, and we don't run as many complex sets.
I think some of the players disagree with Locke about the offense's complexity. Some of the Stars players have said the same thing. You would think Owner DWade might have a talk with Quin about this.
 
As far as the team roster goes regardless of what we do with Rudy or Don or anything else we need to move Mike


Sent from my iPhone using JazzFanz
Probably right. I think there is a scenario where we move Don and keep Rudy where it could make sense to hold on to Mike. His on court production next year is likely greater than whatever we can get back in a trade.
 
I think the only obvious thing that needs to be done is to operate in the best interest of the franchise, and not in the best interest in Donovan. That starts with the Gobert decision. If Don wants Gobert out, I'm telling him we're not going to get anything better than Gobert and he is your best chance to win here in UTA. There's this idea that the Jazz are working to please Don and Gobert being traded is part of that. We shouldn't cave to those demands, and we should not fear the circumstance where Don himself demands out. Build the best team regardless of if it's Don preferred team or not. If he doesn't like it, proceed with the follow up trades to rebuild or double down with a Lillard type trade.

The best path forward for the Jazz, and for Don+Rudy individually, is to carry on that partnership and build a team around them that actually makes sense. There's been a lot of drama, but I do think that as the dusk settles there's a chance everyone comes to their senses and realizes that this is the best option.

The spare pieces of Bogey, Conley, Clarkson, and O'Neale should be put in the trade market no matter direction the Jazz are going. Those guys don't fit around any version of the Jazz, whether that includes one, both, or neither of Gobert and Donovan. This should have been obvious when we got blasted by the Clippers, hopefully this additional embarrassment will finally wake up the FO.
 
I think the only obvious thing that needs to be done is to operate in the best interest of the franchise, and not in the best interest in Donovan. That starts with the Gobert decision. If Don wants Gobert out, I'm telling him we're not going to get anything better than Gobert and he is your best chance to win here in UTA. There's this idea that the Jazz are working to please Don and Gobert being traded is part of that. We shouldn't cave to those demands, and we should not fear the circumstance where Don himself demands out. Build the best team regardless of if it's Don preferred team or not. If he doesn't like it, proceed with the follow up trades to rebuild or double down with a Lillard type trade.

The best path forward for the Jazz, and for Don+Rudy individually, is to carry on that partnership and build a team around them that actually makes sense. There's been a lot of drama, but I do think that as the dusk settles there's a chance everyone comes to their senses and realizes that this is the best option.

The spare pieces of Bogey, Conley, Clarkson, and O'Neale should be put in the trade market no matter direction the Jazz are going. Those guys don't fit around any version of the Jazz, whether that includes one, both, or neither of Gobert and Donovan. This should have been obvious when we got blasted by the Clippers, hopefully this additional embarrassment will finally wake up the FO.
I like your first statement and I agree that we must do what's best for the franchise.

Then you pretty much say that only way to go is to keep Rudy Gobert.

Keeping Rudy might not be what's best for the franchise.





Sent from my SM-A516U using JazzFanz mobile app
 
I like your first statement and I agree that we must do what's best for the franchise.

Then you pretty much say that only way to go is to keep Rudy Gobert.

Keeping Rudy might not be what's best for the franchise.





Sent from my SM-A516U using JazzFanz mobile app

If the only reason we're trading Rudy is to please Don, that's a terrible reason because he will leave anyways.

If we're thinking we can trade Gobert to make the team better, we're making a mistake because that trade does not exist. You will get 75 cents on the dollar for him on the trade market.
 
I like your first statement and I agree that we must do what's best for the franchise.

Then you pretty much say that only way to go is to keep Rudy Gobert.

Keeping Rudy might not be what's best for the franchise.





Sent from my SM-A516U using JazzFanz mobile app
If you’re wanting to compete next year, you can keep Rudy and Donovan together. You could move Donovan for more “win now” pieces and try to compete. What you can’t do is keep Donovan, move Rudy, and expect anything more than a .500 team next year, if that.
 
If the only reason we're trading Rudy is to please Don, that's a terrible reason because he will leave anyways.

If we're thinking we can trade Gobert to make the team better, we're making a mistake because that trade does not exist. You will get 75 cents on the dollar for him on the trade market.
I agree. We should not trade Rudy to appease Don.

The value we get back now has to be considered with regards to Rudy and the life of his contract. Rudy isn't carrying us anywhere right now, but his contract could destroy us down the road.

85 cents now might be better than enduring a painful few years of a $40+ million contract.

Sent from my SM-A516U using JazzFanz mobile app
 
If you’re wanting to compete next year, you can keep Rudy and Donovan together. You could move Donovan for more “win now” pieces and try to compete. What you can’t do is keep Donovan, move Rudy, and expect anything more than a .500 team next year, if that.

Define "compete".

And you don't know for sure if we can or can't win with Don without Rudy. Everybody around here thinks they know that, but nobody does.

Sent from my SM-A516U using JazzFanz mobile app
 
If the only reason we're trading Rudy is to please Don, that's a terrible reason because he will leave anyways.

If we're thinking we can trade Gobert to make the team better, we're making a mistake because that trade does not exist. You will get 75 cents on the dollar for him on the trade market.

I would consider trading Rudy because he has significant trade value that will probably never be higher, and because the Jazz probably need to reset their timeline with one or two impact who are several years younger. The goal would be to open a 3+ year window of contention that starts a year or two from now.
 
I agree. We should not trade Rudy to appease Don.

The value we get back now has to be considered with regards to Rudy and the life of his contract. Rudy isn't carrying us anywhere right now, but his contract could destroy us down the road.

85 cents now might be better than enduring a painful few years of a $40+ million contract.

Sent from my SM-A516U using JazzFanz mobile app

Rudy's contract is not painful, not when compared to the alternative. You don't get to have $40+ million if you don't have Rudy, and that's the pain point. You don't have Rudy. This team would be lucky to make the play in's without him. That's where he's getting us. If you don't have him you're not competitive and it's very difficult to become competitive again. The chances of you getting two $20M players, or however you want to fit the pieces together, that win you more games than Rudy.
 
I would consider trading Rudy because he has significant trade value that will probably never be higher, and because the Jazz probably need to reset their timeline with one or two impact who are several years younger. The goal would be to open a 3+ year window of contention that starts a year or two from now.

Chances of you winning more without Rudy are slim. Even in the trade packages that I "like" for Rudy, my median outcomes for that team are around .500 even if Don is still around. With Rudy and Don, the expectation should be 55 wins. Less than that should be considered a failure, as this past season was. Keep the cornerstones, rearrange the pieces.
 
Top