Options For The Utah Jazz With Dante Exum Out

Mar 28, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz guard Trey Burke (3) dribbles the

ball as Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kyle Singler (5) defends during the second half at EnergySolutions Arena. The Jazz

won 94-89. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Standing Pat

While the Jazz are losing a starting point guard, they don’t lack guards. They currently have point guards Trey Burke, Raul Neto and Bryce Cotton all under contract. Utah could stand pat and start Burke, with Neto and Cotton splitting time as backups.

Some fans cringe at the idea, but it may not be the worst thing in the world. Burke getting more reps can only help his development. In the aforementioned Pelton article, Kevin talks about how the Burke hate has gone too far. He mentions that Trey is still 23 and that point guards take much longer to develop than other positions.

Pelton’s statistical models say he should have an improved year, and even compare him to Brandon Knight. If you recall, Knight also took a while to develop, but was very good last year.

Last year, Exum essentially brought the ball up the court, passed it to Gordon Hayward, and went and stood in the corner. Burke could provide a more dynamic attack and help the Jazz offense, especially if he can learn to play off the ball better.

The concern with Burke starting would not be on offense, but rather on defense. Even if Burke takes a leap on the offensive side of things, it is highly unlikely that he will ever be able to play defense like Exum. The fact of the matter is that Burke is a smaller guard and has nowhere near the six-foot-ten wingspan that Exum does.

However, David Locke took to Twitter to prove that Burke’s defense was not as bad as his reputation tells us. It is plausible that Burke is a decent defender, but couldn’t defend the pick-and-roll when he was playing with Kanter because Enes would make mistakes. If Burke can make an improvement on defense and hit some open shots in training camp, he’ll be the starter in October.

The Utah Jazz also have Raul Neto. This Brazilian point guard is six-foot-four and plays like a throwback ‘pass-first’ point guard. He has decent athleticism and defense. He can push the pace and should run a nice pick-and-roll with Favors and Gobert.

The biggest hole in his game is his shooting. Last year in 34 games in Spain, Neto only hit 15 of his 73 (20.3 percent) three-pointers. This was not a fluke, as he is shooting 28.5 percent in his 171 career games. Neto also shot just 71.3 percent from the free throw line in that same period, so he is not likely to ever be a great shooter.

However, there is an argument that Neto fits better with the starters than Burke. In fact, Amin Elhassan from ESPN says he expects the Brazilian to be the starter by the end of the year.

The logic is that he is not going to be taking shots away from the other scoring options with the starters. Neto would help set Favors, Hayward, Burks and Hood up for open looks. His size allows him to play defense similar to Exum with the team switching more on pick-and-rolls.

Neto starting would also allow Burke to be a scoring punch off the bench, which is something Snyder seems to like. So, the argument is that Neto could play the same role that Exum did.

Bryce Cotton is also an intriguing option. I wrote about how much I love him in a previous article. Cotton will now be fighting for the second point guard spot. Bryce brings a tenacity that everyone loves to see. Because of his speed, he can push the pace better than any other PG on the roster now.

Having Cotton under contract is really nice in this situation, as he can play as little or as many minutes as you need.

Next: Making a Trade