2016- Yet another long off-season

[url]http://saltcityhoops.com/jazz-in-rio-tracking-utah-players-olympic-summers/[/url]

[QUOTE]I have more of less stopped tracking Jazz draftee Ante Tomic ever since he signed a new multi-year deal with Barcelona. The skilled big guy

[url]http://www.sltrib.com/sports/4118915-155/utah-jazz-have-the-talent-now[/url]

[QUOTE]. His roster is going from too little depth to almost too much depth.[/QUOTE]

Almost? It looks like at least two of their young guys who a year ago they didn't want to block will be blocked.

[QUOTE]The good thing is, the players are committed to winning."[/QUOTE]

Are you though? You playing Lyles over Withey cost you the playoffs. Stop making excuses.

[QUOTE]Next year, there's a good chance Mack will be the third point guard and Neto may spend a good chunk of the year in the D-League with the D-League Stars.[/QUOTE]

A good chance? No one has showed they can run the team better than Mack. Until they do chances are he's a starter. Hard to imagine Neto in the D-league after being a solid starter and role player. That's why this all should have started a year ago when sending Neto to the D-league would have made sense. Now you have to block young guys that have shown they can play and I don't necessarily think you can just trade them now. Might need them next year. :confusedshrug:

[QUOTE]Alec Burks was the primary sixth man before he got hurt in December. Now, he's probably the fourth wing.[/QUOTE]

I'd put him behind Maxi G and Hill. Certainly arguable after that. He's a proven 6th man unlike anyone else on the roster.
[QUOTE]
Now, their 11th and 12th men could very well be Mack and Joe Ingles, guys who have both proved to be rotational talents in the NBA.[/QUOTE]

Ingles has looked like a rotation player at the end of the past two seasons but unless he can do it all year he's just a nice guy to have on the bench. Exum is behind everyone until he proves otherwise as far as I'm concerned.

[QUOTE]"I prefer not to look at it as younger versus older," Snyder said. "We look at it as a more typical roster than we've had in the past. We have some veterans, we still have a lot of youth. We're going to benefit from having veteran guys and young guys. We're going to look at it as a good thing."[/QUOTE]

Vets are a good thing now? :facepalm

[QUOTE]Ingles simply said "All I want to do is win." Star small forward Gordon Hayward has intimated the same thing in past conversations and interviews.[/QUOTE]

If it wasn't for Hayward being a free agent none of this would be happening. They would have kept their lottery pick and continued their tanking ways. :banghead:

[QUOTE]But outside of the Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs, how many teams in the West do the Jazz reasonably take a back seat to? On paper at least, the answer would appear to be not many.[/QUOTE]

Which after finishing 6th to end the 2015 season should have been what they were thinking going into last off-season. :rant

[QUOTE]The Jazz are deeper than a typical NBA team.[/QUOTE]

Not sure about that. Deeper than the teams tanking anyway.

[url]http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865658177/Rodney-Hood-embraces-opportunity-to-put-USA-on-his-chest.html[/url]

[QUOTE]An injury forced Hood to withdraw from the squad[/QUOTE]

Still think he may have more injury problems ahead of him. I'm afraid last year was a fluke

[QUOTE]

[url]http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865658178/Buckle-up-Jazz-picked-as-NBAs-4th-best-team-by-Bleacher-Report.html[/url]

[QUOTE]Let's hear it for your 2016-17 NBA Northwest Division champions, the Utah Jazz![/QUOTE]

Yay! Now that winning the division really means nothing. :rolleyes:

[QUOTE]In fact, going into next season, Hughes has Utah ranked as the fourth-best team in the entire NBA. No, not just the fourth-best team in the Western Conference

[url]http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865658183/Trey-Lyles-grows-thanks-to-summer-growth-opportunity.html[/url]

[QUOTE]There is an SLC Stars roster to fill, so it helped to get a look at potential D-League players.[/QUOTE]

I think that's mostly what they'll get from this year. Have 3 spots to fill for camp. Probably be looking at guys that will play for the Stars. I'd say they need 1 to 2 big men out of that to replace Pleiss and Withey. Make Johnson and Ingles earn their roster spots.

[url]http://www.slcdunk.com/the-downbeat/2016/7/15/12200580/nba-summer-league-2016-las-vegas-utah-jazz-trey-lyles-tibor-pleiss-downbeat-1954[/url]

[QUOTE]Where did the offense go? Will they ever at least equal where the defense is today? [/QUOTE]

If they want to get to 4th in the NBA that's probably what has to happen.

[QUOTE]We also get a look at the [URL="http://www.sbnation.com/nba-summer-league"]Vegas Summer League[/URL], an recap of the last game, and what's did we learn so far? Beyond "[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] is an NBA player," not a lot else.[/QUOTE]

I got a lot more than that out of it. If their draft picks improve as much as Hanlan did overseas they could have some decent players on cheap rookie contracts in the next couple years which they are going to need if they have 3 max guys.

[QUOTE][B][URL="http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/craftaa01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.basketball-reference.com"]Aaron Craft[/URL][/B] and Spencer Butterfield looked nice, but I don't think they are NBA level defenders just yet. [/QUOTE]

Craft is known for his D.

[QUOTE]Clearly ready to take the next step from a bench player to a rotation player.[/QUOTE]

When wasn't he a rotation player? :wtf:

[QUOTE]Hopefully this year the addition of an [URL="http://www.sbnation.com/nba-playoffs"]NBA Playoffs[/URL] starting level caliber point guard ([B][URL="http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/hillge01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.basketball-reference.com"]George Hill[/URL][/B])[/QUOTE]

or sg

[url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fancy-stats/wp/2016/07/15/man-the-2013-nba-draft-was-truly-awful-actually-it-was-the-worst-ever/[/url]

[QUOTE]9. Jeff Withey (No. 39)[/QUOTE]

And he hasn't even played! :confusedshrug:

Rudy is the man! :bowdown:

[url]http://purpleandblues.com/2016/07/16/utah-jazz-in-lyles-absence-joel-bolomboy-finds-his-groove/[/url]

[QUOTE]with an expanded opportunity in Lyles

[url]http://purpleandblues.com/2016/07/15/utah-jazz-sit-nba-power-rankings-free-agency/3/[/url]

[QUOTE]Utah will put up defensive numbers nobody has seen in decades with Exum coming back and the best rim protector in the NBA, [B][URL="http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/goberru01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-purpleandblues.com"]Rudy Gobert[/URL][/B], patrolling the paint. [/QUOTE]

We'll see. The starting line-up should be tough. The bench might struggle on that end some with or without Exum in the mix. Hopefully they can out score their opponents with all the firepower the bench will bring though.

[url]http://www.sltrib.com/sports/4123545-155/utah-jazz-young-players-show-improvement[/url]

[QUOTE]With that, the Jazz wanted to focus on Trey Lyles, the rising second-year power forward, second-year center Tibor Pleiss and the play of their three second-round picks, Joel Bolomboy, Marcus Paige and Tyrone Wallace.[/QUOTE]

and Ford who is actually signed unlike their picks

[QUOTE]Because the regular roster had limited spots, how were the free agents going to react? For the most part, the answer was very well.[/QUOTE]

Those guys they will at to help fill their D-league roster.

[url]http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865658193/Lindseys-no-fool-and-Jazz-arent-standing-still.html[/url]

[QUOTE]

[url]http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865658213/QA-Coach-Quin-Snyder-gives-his-thoughts-on-Jazz-moves-expectations.html[/url]

[QUOTE]I think I would just say we

[URL="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865658213/QA-Coach-Quin-Snyder-gives-his-thoughts-on-Jazz-moves-expectations.html?pg=all"][QUOTE][/URL][URL="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865658213/QA-Coach-Quin-Snyder-gives-his-thoughts-on-Jazz-moves-expectations.html?pg=all"]We don

[URL="http://www.sltrib.com/sports/4103368-155/utah-jazz-after-free-agency-frenzy"]http://www.sltrib.com/sports/4103368-155/utah-jazz-after-free-agency-frenzy[/URL]

[quote]But if the Jazz want to retain Hayward and Favors, they will certainly have to pay top dollar. And Hood, Dante Exum and Trey Lyles aren't that far behind. [/quote]
Hopefully they can get Hayward and Favors to take less than full max. Jazz can still give them more than they'd get leaving.

Dante has to show he can play in the league before he gets paid.

[url]http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865658238/Utah-Jazz-pick-Joel-Bolomboy-showed-night-and-day-improvement-at-summer-league.html[/url]

[QUOTE]a long-shot to make the Jazz