J
James Hansen
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Danny Ainge had a lot to say about where the Utah Jazz are going and what they plan to do this offseason
With the Utah Jazz season coming to a close Danny Ainge had a lot to talk about with reporters about the upcoming offseason and he had a lot to say. When you get a chance, you should watch the full presser here, but here are some of the biggest quotes from Ainge.
When asked what type of players the Jazz are looking for this offseason
It’s a pretty obvious quote from Ainge, but it does show a desire to improve. Interestingly, Ainge makes more comments later in the interview that give more thoughts on how much better he wants to be than the 23rd team.
What are your thoughts on the draft both just at the top and the overall depth of it?
As all the draft experts have said, this draft is lacking a star at the top or a franchise-altering player like Ainge mentions, but that doesn’t mean the Jazz can’t find good players. Some players have some really interesting upside, and, in a draft like this, you never know which player becomes that star no one expected. Having the 8-pick gives the Jazz a better shot at finding that player than if they were in the late lottery around the trade deadline.
With multiple draft picks and a lot of cap space, what optionality do you have this offseason?
This quote is the epitome of this entire interview. Ainge lets us know that the most important thing for the Jazz is their flexibility. He mentions that the plan is not to bring in mostly rookies into training camp, but he also says that’s a possibility.
Basically, anything could happen this offseason. Your guess is as good as anybody’s. And that’s probably the way Ainge likes it. You don’t come out into these press conferences and just let everyone know what you’re going to do, who you’re going to draft etc. because things can change instantly.
(Justin Zanik) said one of his goals is to trade for a significant player as part of this rebuild, if not this summer, then next. What kind of star would you be looking for in such a trade and how do you see that trade landscape kind of panning out over the course of this particular offseason?
This is fascinating for various reasons. Let’s look at them.
- First, Boston's plan was Kevin Durant when Boston was the second-worst team in the league in 2007. This tells me that Ainge is willing to take that route and could possibly do so next year for a franchise-altering player like Cooper Flagg. Obviously, the Celtics were jumped by three teams and ended up fifth, which would have been incredibly disappointing.
- Boston's plan flipped, and they pivoted quickly to make a big trade that Ainge mentioned wasn’t available then. That ended up working out well for them in an incredible way. They were able to trade for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, which obviously led to a title and the eventual Brooklyn Nets trade.
- Regarding a trade for a star player, the name of the game is flexibility. Ainge has talked about looking for good players, and they won’t make a move that changes them from the 23rd-best team to the 18th-best team. This tells me that the Jazz will use their collection of assets to get a franchise-altering player, but they aren’t using those unless they get that type of player. This feels like the inverse of the Boston plan in 2007. If they can make a big trade, they will. If a trade doesn’t happen this summer, they may adjust to a plan that means Cooper Flagg.
- Finally, longevity is mentioned as important. You can infer what you want from that, but Utah is probably not interested in a 1-year rental type of trade.
With the number of young players coming into the league now, ... when ... do you guys start tracking these players these young players coming into the league?
Ainge says they have scouts that look at high school players even younger than that.
We also found out Danny Ainge was at Hoop Summit, which gave him a chance to see Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, and Khaman Maluach, among others. We also know that Ainge was at the Las Vegas Showcase to see some of these same players. You can read between the lines here, but Ainge is interested in personally seeing the top players in next year’s draft. Could this be similar to the Boston plan in 2007, when the Celtics planned to draft Kevin Durant?
You’ve made the mid-season trades with veterans, which has taken you to a .500 start, 26 and 26, and ended 5-25. In your mind why was that the way to go instead of making those trades earlier at the start of the season and then having a better draft pick later?
This was the quote of the presser and pretty much lays out what the Jazz say they will do this offseason. Ainge says the Jazz are going big game hunting for great players, which is something they haven’t done in the last two years, but he says it’s not championship or bust. I interpret that as Ainge will go for a big-time player who will be on the Jazz for a long time (if he’s telling the truth about longevity being important). The reason they feel comfortable with that is having Lauri Markkanen.
But like we’ve talked about, if they can’t get that big-time player, the “direction could change at that moment,” and they’ll “wait till next time that we can try to build a roster.” Now, what does next time mean? Is that the following offseason? It certainly feels like this offseason is a huge crossroads for the team, and the Jazz will go hard for a big player. If getting those big time players doesn’t pan out, it certainly seems like anything could happen at that point. His following quote went even further with this...
So did you want to have a team in place in case you made a move that you could win right then? Is that what you’re saying? You want to have the veterans to put around somebody if you acquired somebody say in January?
It certainly seems like dropping to 5th in that 2007 draft hurt Ainge because you can see some of that in what he’s done with the Jazz. They didn’t go for the worst record for Wembanyama, as they traded a good amount of veterans. They also worked to keep their flexibility this year with Markkanen on the roster. He ends by saying they explored big trades last summer, which kind of contradicts what he said when he said this offseason would be the first time they really go big game hunting. Either way, as Ainge puts it, the plan is to go for a Kevin Garnett/Ray Allen-level trade to pair with Lauri Markkanen. But if that doesn’t happen, “getting rid of all of our good players ... and then try to build it that way, that’s a possibility.”
Get ready for a big summer, Jazz fans. A lot seems to depend on the Jazz's ability to make a huge trade.
Are you interested in extending Lauri Markkanen or do you want to let that play out?
This is an interesting quote. Ainge could have said they’re going to try to re-sign him. He could have said they’ll let it play out. Instead he merely mentions that he’s a good player and they love him. Sure, this could be nothing, and the Jazz could figure out a long-term deal with Markkanen. Or, this could also be a part of showing leverage. Don’t forget, we heard a lot of quotes like this about Donovan Mitchell once upon a time. What we’ve learned from these quotes is that anything is possible this summer. We’ll just have to see.
There were a few final notes here that were interesting, and I’ll just list them here. You should definitely listen to the interview, though, to get your own assumptions.
- The rookies will all be going to summer league, including Walker Kessler.
- Keyonte George was asked to do a lot having NBA defenses single him out and he felt like that was good for George to go through tough stretches.
- The Jazz feel Keyonte George is ahead of Taylor Hendricks in terms of development.
- Taylor Hendricks brought a defensive presence and improved his shooting at the season went on, improving the arc of his shot.
- Keyonte George was asked to be a point guard for the first time in his life and that was obviously difficult. He had enough good experiences to feel good, but enough bad experiences to have a fire in him this offseason to get better.
- Danny Ainge says he’s an NBA point guard. He said he’s still not sure he’s a franchise point guard, but he can play point guard and play off of another playing point guard, which is something he’s probably more comfortable doing now. Learning to play point guard was a “big step” for him and provides the Jazz with versatility going forward.
- They ran some of Lauri Markkanen’s plays for Tayle Hendricks in the last game and he made some nice passes. “There’s a lot of good signs for Taylor moving forward.”
- They have a plan for each rookie this offseason.
- Collin Sexton has an incredible work ethic.
We could do more, but you’ll have to listen for yourself. But what I take from this is that anything is possible this offseason, and we’ll be here to talk about all of it.
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