Pistons make Avery Bradley available, have interest in Utah Jazz guard Rodney Hood

The Detroit Pistons have reportedly made Avery Bradley available and are also interested in Utah Jazz guard Rodney Hood. Could a mutually beneficial deal be struck?

As the NBA trade deadline quickly approaches, expect more and more rumors to continue surfacing with each passing day. This morning was no exception as ESPN’S Adrian Wojnarowski was quick to break some intriguing news, namely that the Detroit Pistons have made shooting guard Avery Bradley available in trade talks.

In his story, Woj references the fact that originally the Pistons had hopes to sign Bradley on long term after this season, but after undergoing an extremely rough stretch in wake of the loss of Reggie Jackson to injury and with fears that Bradley could depart to greener pastures during his impending free agency anyway, Detroit is looking to get something of value out of him rather than stand pat and get burned.

With that being the case, could adding a renowned wing defender in Bradley be a wise move for the Utah Jazz to pursue?

Although Bradley is having somewhat of an off year offensively (his 15 points per game are down from the past two years and his poor field goal shooting of 40.9 percent is near a career low) and has been dealing with a groin injury, he still brings some significant positives to the table.

Principally among those is his stellar wing defense. Ever since his days in Boston, Bradley has been heralded as a wing stopper and has often found himself matched up against some of the league’s toughest guards. Donovan Mitchell has the tools to become an elite defender, but a proven defensive menace like Bradley could help significantly bolster Utah’s putrid perimeter defense (29th in the league in opponent three-point shooting at 37.9 percent) while also serving as a excellent mentor to Mitchell.

Not only that, but despite some overall shooting woes this season, Bradley is still converting on 38.1 percent of his threes and shoots 36.8 percent for his career, both of which are decent marks. Not only that, but he’s only making $8.8 million to close out this season before hitting free agency, which is a pretty good bargain for someone of his talents.

However, while there are certainly some redeeming qualities about Bradley, I would be somewhat hesitant to pull the trigger if I were the Jazz. First and foremost, the Jazz would likely share the exact same concern that the Pistons reportedly have about Bradley – that he would up and leave in his impending unrestricted free agency. There’s no guarantee that he would be willing to stay in Utah, so it would be illogical for the Jazz to give up anything of significant value for essentially a two or three-month rental.

Even if Bradley did show interest in remaining with the Jazz, is he the kind of guy that Utah would want to fork out big dollars to this summer? His shooting numbers are similar to Rodney Hood’s on the surface and his defense is certainly better, but is that enough to move the needle? Not to mention, when looking at true shooting percentage, he ranks significantly lower than Hood and this season is even lower than Ricky Rubio. Considering Utah’s scoring woes, I don’t know that adding another questionable shooter is quite the route to go.

Not only that, but if Donovan Mitchell and Dante Exum are set to be the backcourt of the future for the Jazz, I’m not entirely sure how Bradley would fit moving forward. Also, unless Rubio were packaged in some sort of deal, a group of Mitchell, Exum, Rubio and Bradley seems like a major logjam that doesn’t quite line up with what the Jazz should be aiming to build.

A Bradley-Mitchell backcourt could have some merit, especially as a defensive juggernaut, but Mitchell has largely played the shooting guard spot and unless Utah is absolutely ready to slide him to the one with Bradley playing the two, I don’t know that it makes sense.

So considering all those elements, I would recommend that the Jazz take a pass on pursuing Avery Bradley. However, there is another wrinkle to all this. A recent report from The Ringer has indicated that the Pistons have interest in Jazzman Rodney Hood, so perhaps some sort of deal could be made involving a Bradley-Hood swap of sorts. Still, the Jazz could likely get something more beneficial out of a Hood trade than a brief rental of Avery Bradley, so that probably isn’t in the works either.

Nevertheless, if the Pistons want Hood and the Jazz are dead-set on parting ways with him in order to avoid simply losing him for nothing by not re-signing him in free agency, this could be a pairing to keep our eyes on. If the Pistons emerge as one of the few potential logical suitors for Hood, the Jazz could very well choose a trade package revolving around Avery Bradley over the alternative of letting Hood walk for nothing.

At the end of the day, the veteran Bradley could potentially help with a playoff push if integrated correctly, then even if he didn’t fit, he didn’t want to stay in Utah or the Jazz didn’t want to pay him next season, he would simply be a contract off the books that wouldn’t hamper them financially. Even so, I have a hard time seeing anything coming about here.

Bradley and anything else Detroit might offer likely wouldn’t exactly fit the needs the Jazz are looking to fill. While Avery Bradley certainly has some pros, his cons (especially his impending free agency) likely outweigh those to the point that he wouldn’t convince the Jazz to part with Hood for him unless there were other meaningful assets included in the deal in some way, shape or form.

Next: Utah Jazz 2017-18 Week 16 Outlook, Predictions

Just over a week remains until the trade deadline is upon us! With several Jazzmen likely to be on the move, expect the Utah Jazz to be mentioned several times in rumors during the coming days.