2016- Yet another long off-season

[url]http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865656659/Utah-Jazz-Quality-and-depth-of-Jazz-bench-definitely-in-need-of-an-upgrade.html[/url]

[quote]Outside of Trey Lyles, who stepped up and performed well as a rookie forward last season, and perhaps injury-plagued shooting guard Alec Burks, the rest of Utah's reserves often proved to be less than stellar during the 2015-16 NBA campaign.[/quote]
Be nice if these guys even watched the games before they wrote stuff. Lyles was one of their worst players. He had his moments. :rolleyes:

Their bench wasn't that bad. They weren't the ones on the court when they were losing games late. I could see most of them being back in fact.

[quote]Locke attributes Utah's late-game struggles in close contests to a lack of quality depth, which allowed games to remain tight when a better bench might've been capable of building on what the starters had, well, started and extending a lead rather than falling behind or treading water and merely keeping the game close.[/quote]
Withey plays and there would gave been a lot less close games. Blame the coach not the bench.

[quote]"When you get into the analytics of lining up all the data, whenever we have our core guys on the floor together, we were fabulous," Locke said, speaking of Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Rudy Gobert, Rodney Hood and Lyles, with either Shelvin Mack or Raul Neto at point guard.[/quote]
Forget what the analytics say about Withey. Make the coach look bad.

[quote]One NBA insider said the Jazz simply didn't have much NBA-caliber talent on their bench.


"Look around the league, and guys like Trey Burke and Raul Neto probably wouldn't play for anybody else but the 76ers," he said, speaking under the condition of anonymity.
[/quote]
I can see all their players in the league for other teams. Burke is the biggest question mark for me if he can't hit the 3 but as a 3rd pg he'd be pretty good to have around.

Neto is certainly an NBA back-up caliber guard at least. He can hit the 3 and play d and run the pick and roll. What else do you want? :confusedshrug:

[QUOTE]Trey Burke, 6-1 point guard, three years NBA experience

[url]http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865656666/Morning-links-Athlon-ranks-Utah-FBS-coaches-conflicting-reports-on-Jazzs-Gordon-Hayward.html[/url]

[QUOTE]One popular rumor has been Gordon Hayward's departure for Boston in exchange for the No. 3 pick, but [URL="http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2016/story/_/id/16407161/boston-celtics-rebuffed-bid-swap-no-3-draft-pick-established-veteran"]ESPN[/URL] and [URL="http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/report-gordon-hayward-off-the-trade-table-for-utah-jazz/"]CBS Sports[/URL] reported that the Utah Jazz say that won't happen.


ESPN's report said that the Celtics are pursuing Chicago's Jimmy Butler, Jabari Parker and Khris Middleton of Milwaukee and Hayward.


The Hayward rumor has perhaps been further fueled by the fact that the Jazz swingman played at Butler for Boston head coach Brad Stevens.
A conflicting report to ESPN's has emerged, via tweets from Brian Geltzeiler of hoopscritic.com.


Jody Genessy of the Deseret News refuted Geltzeiler's claim.


The ensuing days should be interesting for Utah fans.
[/QUOTE]

The rumor to the Suns sounds better with Knight and their two picks. Might be hard to pass on that one.

[url]http://www.slcdunk.com/nba-draft/2016/6/21/11991958/nba-draft-2016-utah-jazz-strategy-gordon-hayward-derrick-favors-dante-exum-rudy-gobert[/url]

[QUOTE]If Utah loses him they admit that they failed in their development over the last few seasons before [URL="http://www.sbnation.com/nba/players/111859/quin-snyder"]Quin Snyder[/URL] was hired, and that the franchise, from their PR goons to their media mouthpieces, were just spinning their wheels going nowhere but trying to sell tickets.


Utah doesn't want to admit that. So it's all in this off-season for vets.
[/QUOTE]

I'd say it depends on if they get something for him. [URL="http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=zymv6ps"]http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=zymv6ps[/URL]

[url]http://www.slcdunk.com/2016/6/22/12003162/nba-summer-league-2016-utah-jazz-schedule-las-vegas-salt-lake-dante-exum[/url]

[QUOTE]But really, no one cares about that. We care about seeing [B][URL="http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/exumda01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.basketball-reference.com"]Dante Exum[/URL][/B]. He's not playing for Team Australia in the Rio 2016 Olympics this year. And we haven't seen him SINCE the SLCSL. He has missed a lot of game time. He should be playing, after all, he's already in town. We may see [B][URL="http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/lylestr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.basketball-reference.com"]Trey Lyles[/URL][/B], and we will not be seeing [B][URL="http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/n/netora01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.basketball-reference.com"]Raul Neto[/URL][/B] (he is in Brazil).
[B][URL="http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/pleisti01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.basketball-reference.com"]Tibor Pleiss[/URL][/B] has nothing better to do right now either.
[/QUOTE]

Exum isn't playing. I'd guess Lyles if he isn't busy with Canada's team. Neto can't come back from Brazil?

George Hill! I like it. I thought he'd be good for them last year. Could start with Dante. I'd think they'll look to trade Mack now or maybe not pick up his option.

[QUOTE=Xiao Yao You]George Hill! I like it. I thought he'd be good for them last year. Could start with Dante. I'd think they'll look to trade Mack now or maybe not pick up his option.[/QUOTE]
I love it! The Jazz now have Hill, Exum, Mack, Neto, and Burke to work with. I think we finally solved the PG situation in Salt Lake.
Also what is up with those BS Hayward trade reports? Those came out of nowhere

The Knight deal I'd probably do. I wouldn't expect much else from the Jazz this off-season with this move though.

Look for an upgrade with your bigs not that any of them will be as good as Withey. Someone that might not play every night but can play when called upon. Sign Favors to an extension if you can. Sign Gobert if he wants to take a cheaper deal now. Trade Mack, Burke, Withey and maybe Pleiss. Maybe re-sign Booker for a non rotation role. Might sign some fringe rotation guys and fringe NBA guys to make camp as competitive as possible. With Withey and Johnson on non guaranteed deals and the other end of the bench guys on cheap expiring deals there's no reason everyone shouldn't earn their spot this year.

The draft just got less interesting. Wonder what they'll do for an encore tomorrow?

[QUOTE]David

[url]http://www.sltrib.com/sports/4034700-155/kragthorpe-trading-gordon-hayward-is-not[/url]

[QUOTE]Olivier Hanlan, last summer's second-rounder, didn't even make it to training camp in October.

Hanlan's joining a Lithuanian pro team had something to do with the somewhat unexpected arrival from Spain of Raul Neto, who eventually became the Jazz's starting point guard. Yet not even Dante Exum's absence due to a knee injury was enough to create any opening for Hanlan with the Jazz as the 42nd choice in the draft

[url]http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865656682/Report-Utah-Jazz-to-acquire-Indiana-Pacers-PG-George-Hill-for-the-No-12-pick-in-this-years-draft.html[/url]

[QUOTE]Indiana will receive point guard Jeff Teague in the three-way swap, which won

[url]http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865656664/Upstill-What-should-the-Jazz-do-in-the-draft.html[/url]

[QUOTE]A shooting center or a three-and-D wing are some other trending player traits the Jazz could look. Having a wing player who can take some of the burden off Gordon Hayward by guarding the opposing team's best offensive wing would be huge. A shooting five man would supply the coaching staff with more flexibility in regards to matchups.[/QUOTE]

They might already have these guys in Exum and Lyles. I see them going small with Lyles at the 5 and Hayward or maybe Hood at the 4.

According to IndyStar sources, [URL="http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nba/pacers/2016/06/22/pacers-acquire-jeff-teague-trade-george-hill/86250624/"]Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey was eager to acquire Hill, whom the Spurs drafted when Lindsey was San Antonio

[URL="http://www.sltrib.com/sports/4036340-155/utah-jazz-to-acquire-pacers-guard"]When Bill Neff, George Hill

At the very least it means there's no inmediate need to rush Exum back for big minutes with Hill, Mack and Neto able to take most of the minutes early. Hopefully having a guy like Hill, who is experienced and can hit the 3, will be able to help in those close games where we lost the majority of them last year.