The Utah Jazz will be picking 19th in the June 26 NBA draft. With the
retirement of John Stockton, a good point guard now becomes a
necessity. The Jazz should have the opportunity to fill this hole in free agency
as Andre Miller and Gilbert Arenas will be both available. The fact
that the Jazz will be $18-19 million under the salary cap this summer makes
landing Miller or Arenas a real possibility.
Utah also has Raul Lopez and Carlos Arroyo at the point guard position.
Both are young players who could be groomed behind Miller or Arenas.
Arroyo was the third-string point guard for Utah this past season. He
showed promise and potential when he was able to get into the
games.
The Jazz also have other needs. A good young power forward or center, playing alongside Karl Malone (or replacing him if he leaves as af ree agent) is necessary. The team right now is building around Matt Harpring and Andrei Kirilenko. A superstar at any position, but hopefully not shooting guard or small forward, which those guys play, would be ideal. The team has no special young prospects at the big positions. Greg Ostertag isn't the future, and neither are any of the guys behind him.
An outside bomber is needed as well, to help spread the floor once the team's next low-post scorer is found.
Quite frankly, Stockton has been the best perimeter shooter Utah has
had since Hornacek. And with his retirement, that need just got a heck
of lot bigger.
Finding some Stockton wanna-be players in the draft is certainly possible. When it's Utah's turn to pick, if a good true point guard is available, they should grab him. But if a potentially dominant low-post presense is available, that's just as tempting.
