With Dante Exum recently taking over the starting Point Guard position, the Utah Jazz may be looking to trade Trey Burke. If Burke is to be traded, the Jazz will likely be looking for a 3-and-D asset in return. Shooting and perimeter defense are the teams biggest needs, as they are 19th in the league in three point shooting percentage. This need has been amplified by the season ending injury to Alec Burks, the injuries rookie Rodney Hood has been dealing with, and now Joe Ingles back injury.
Adding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope would be a good solution for the Jazz. KCP has not been the shooter he has billed as out of college. Part of the reason for this is the situation he has been in. When you are on a team with Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings, you never know when you will see the ball. This can lead to forced shots. Working in a pass happy system like Snyder’s, Caldwell-Pope would be a much better shooter. Quin has been able to get the Jazz players to play better defense as of late, and he would droll over the opportunity to have someone like KCP defending the wing. Spencer Dinwiddie is a good prospect and would be able to take over the back up point guard role for the Jazz.
With the career-damning injury to Brandon Jennings, Detroit’s future at point guard is now unclear. Should they look to add a point guard, hometown-hero Trey Burke would be a good option. Brandon Jennings had a good season before he went down. Burke would be able to step into the role he was playing. Burke has done a good job at getting good looks for Derrick Favors throughout the season and would be able to run an effective pick-and-roll with Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe. Ian Clark could be kept for some wing depth, or waived for cap room.
Dan Felman is the founder of Piston Powered and writes for NBC Sports Pro Basketball Talk and covers the Pistons. You can follow him on Twitter here. Of this trade he had the following to say:
"“Oh boy, you’ve unintentionally reignited a debate Pistons fans have waged with each other since the leadup to the 2013 draft and beyond. I was firmly in the Burke camp then — not because I was certain he’d be the better NBA player, but because was the better player and nearly the same age. It by no means would’ve surprised me if Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who’s more athletic, came out on top. Now? I don’t know. Burke was better last season. Caldwell-Pope is better this season. Point guards tend to have more value because they control the ball. But there’s an abundance of good point guards in the league and a shortage of quality wings, which boosts Caldwell-Pope’s value and diminishes Burke’s. The Pistons might already have one of those quality point guards in Brandon Jennings, though his season-ending injury could mean he never regains his form. They also have a decent, though older, replacement shooting guard in Jodie Meeks. Ultimately, I’d lean toward keeping Caldwell-Pope over Burke, though it’s a close call. That Detroit would have to give up Spencer Dinwiddie — a marginal prospect, but someone with a little upside — puts me more firmly on the side of rejecting this trade than I could get on the side of accepting it. But ask me again tomorrow. My answer might change.”"
Dan makes some good points. Detroit drafted KCP ahead of Trey Burke. They likely still value Caldwell-Pope more than Trey. Should the team decide that they are worried about Brandon Jennings torn ACL, this may be a realistic target. The Jazz may need to look to sweeten the deal though.
You can find this trade on ESPN’s trade machine here.
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