As Thursday’s 1 p.m. MT trade deadline approaches, the Utah Jazz are the Western Conference’s No. 4 seed, with a 33-21 record. So far, the regular season has shown that the Jazz aren’t reliably playing above the level that they did last season, when they lost in the second round to the Los Angeles Clippers.
So what are the biggest issues the Jazz need to address at the deadline? And how will they address them? Here are the three biggest storylines to watch as the deadline period unfolds.
Can the Jazz find a taker for Joe Ingles’ contract, and can they get value back?
When long-time forward Joe Ingles tore his ACL last week, it hurt the Jazz in two ways. First, he no longer was able to help them with his playmaking and shooting on the court; second, he became a less valuable trade asset to use at the deadline. Now, Ingles’ trade value is all about the $13 million he’s owed over the whole of this year, and how that plays on teams’ cap sheets.
But there aren’t many teams that are going to be willing or able to take on Ingles’ salary this season onto their books, even if they were able to receive a pick in return. Oklahoma City still needs to reach the salary floor, so they’re included, obviously. Portland, Orlando, Houston, and Indiana are teams that we’re sure are okay with continuing to lose this season.
That’s really it, though. For a team like Boston still fighting for playoff positioning, it’s a hard sell to turn a useful player (like Josh Richardson) into one that’s not useful, even if it nets a first-round pick. That could happen, but it could well be a hard sell, especially with other teams also potentially offering first-round picks and playable players in return. And so the question becomes: can you find a player that helps the Jazz that’s on a team that’s willing to lose?
On those teams, there are some possible names. Josh Hart, now on Portland, makes some sense. Orlando’s Terrence Ross does too, especially if the Jazz also move Jordan Clarkson. Houston’s Eric Gordon at his best can shoot and defend, though he’s aging. OKC’s Kenrich Williams only makes $2 million, and can be a talented shooter and defender.
So it’s not as if there are no options, but the Jazz have to compete against other good teams in order to win one of those players. The value will have to be draft capital on the Jazz’s side, meaning pick protections would likely be less favorable to the Jazz than you would hope.
How much of an impact player — especially defensively — can you get back?
The Jazz are being aggressive in this trade market, trying to find defensive upgrades. Frankly, they could use a defensive upgrade nearly everywhere on the positional spectrum.
First, and probably most importantly, is an on-ball defender capable of keeping guards in front. The lack of this player killed the Jazz against Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets two years ago, and it killed them last year against Reggie Jackson and the Los Angeles Clippers. It has, at numerous times, killed them in this regular season.
Among the names available, Williams, Gordon, Richardson, and Hart would likely make the Jazz better in this respect. All are above-average guard defenders, though all fall short of truly being stoppers — the Jazz might need a Marcus Smart to get to that level.
They could also use more size at the wing, someone who is capable of rotating to help in the paint and help Rudy Gobert grab defensive rebound. This is where you see more expensive names like Jerami Grant or Harrison Barnes potentially being helpful, along with the recently-traded Robert Covington.
The tricky part is that, at both positions, you do want to get a good enough player that they can finish games if they need to; so they can defend the opponents’ best players when it matters most. They’ll ideally be at least a better option than Royce O’Neale on both ends of the floor (though bench upgrades would certainly help too).
Finally, the last month has revealed that the backup center position is weaker than first believed: after a good first month, Hassan Whiteside has been extremely inconsistent. Do you trust Udoka Azubuike in the playoffs? How about Whiteside? If not, getting an upgrade there in the trade market or the buyout market makes a lot of sense.
What are the Jazz willing to do financially?
And here’s perhaps the least-considered aspect of the deadline among fans: money. Frankly, what is Ryan Smith willing to pay in salaries, for this year and years to come?
Smith has paid more in salaries this year and last than the Miller family ever did. The Jazz were a luxury tax team last season, and figure to be this season. You’ve never been able to do say that before.
And yet, it’s worth wondering whether or not the Jazz can be in the luxury tax forever. If they use Ingles’ contract to get a player that has a contract that extends in to next season, they’ll likely have to pay the luxury tax next year, too. Furthermore, because that would be their third year in a row in the tax, the Jazz would pay “repeater” tax penalties, which generally add on an extra dollar of penalty for every dollar the Jazz are over the tax line — above the normal tax penalties. HoopsRumors.com has a good description of how that works.
Are the Jazz willing to do that? Again, Smith has paid a higher level of salary than ever before — but the Jazz did just spend picks to dump the Derrick Favors and Miye Oni contracts to save on tax. If they’re not willing to do that, then they probably can’t trade Ingles’ expiring contract for a longer one.
Heck, there’s even a current season tax question that the Jazz could address. As pointed out by Jazz radio play by play man David Locke, the Jazz have to move about $15 million to get under the luxury tax this season — it’d essentially mean moving at least Joe Ingles and Udoka Azubuike for nothing in return. Obviously, that does nothing to help the team, sends the wrong message to Donovan Mitchell and Gobert, and so on... but it does save Smith a significant amount of money.
That move would surprise me: I think this ownership group still intends to be all-in for at least this season. But it’s not unimaginable.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/NejMJs3
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