Utah Jazz: Remember Daniel Diez?

Most Utah Jazz fans likely either don’t know or forgot that the team drafted Spanish forward Daniel Diez with the 54th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.

Drafting and stashing is always a fun tactic for general managers in the NBA. It’s likewise also a fun process for fans to track the stashed player’s progress. That’s what Portland Trail Blazers fans are doing right now with Daniel Diez.

The Utah Jazz drafted Diez with the 54th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. His time as a Jazzman was short lived, as he was traded to the Blazers on draft night in exchange for cash considerations. Diez hasn’t made the jump to the NBA yet, and unfortunately, he may never.

Outlook as an NBA Player

Before we get into Diez’s history, here’s a little summary of his play-style and NBA upside. The NBA is filled with players with freakish arm length, like Rudy Gobert and Mo Bamba. Diez has a negative wingspan, which means his arms are shorter than his listed height. He is listed at 6-feet 8-inches, with a wingspan of 6-feet-6 inches.

So, right off the bat, his lack of length won’t help his NBA chances, which is a bummer. I don’t think length should play such a determining role, but it’s a part of the game.

As far as play-style, Diez is an intriguing player. He’s an under-sized power forward who can probably play three different positions at the NBA level. He wouldn’t be good defensively, though, due to his lack of speed. Despite that, Diez would have been very intriguing for the Jazz, given how they’ve developed international players like Rudy Gobert, Dante Exum and Joe Ingles. I would have kept Diez for that reason alone.

Diez’s biggest strength is his ability to shoot the ball. That’s another thing Utah has wanted over the last few years, a big man that can shoot threes. They had it in Jonas Jerebko last season, who is now in Golden State. They may have it in Derrick Favors moving forward, if he keeps improving his shot.

Then

Prior to the 2015 NBA Draft, Diez had quite a résumé for an international prospect. He enjoyed a rock solid 2014-2015 season with Delteco GBC of the ACB Spanish League. It was perfect timing, since he was entering the 2015 draft. Diez averaged about 12 points and seven rebounds per game that season, while shooting over 41 percent on 3-pointers.

Here’s the most impressive part of his season: Diez was nominated as the best young player in the ACB Spanish League. Would you like to know who else played in that league? Current New York Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis. His teammate, Mario Hezonja, also played in the same league. Porzingis and Hezonja were drafted 4th and 5th overall in the 2015 draft, respectively.

That really good year led to Diez getting drafted. Everything was looking up for him, despite being stashed. If he could have kept up that momentum, he could have been NBA bound within a year. Unfortunately, Diez did not keep up that momentum.

Now

It’s been three years, and Diez has yet to join the Blazers. After his breakout 2014-2015 campaign, Diez switched teams and signed with Unicaja Malaga, another club that plays in the ACB. He’s been with that same club since 2015, which is cool, but the problem is that Diez hasn’t gotten a big enough role to warrant NBA consideration.

Over the last three years, Diez has seen his playing time dip each season. He averaged 18.3 minutes per game in 2015-2016, 17.9 in 2016-2017 and 14.5 in 2017-2018. His level of play has dropped, too, as he isn’t putting up encouraging shooting numbers like he did prior to being drafted.

Diez is still under contract with Unicaja Malaga, and their season begins later this month. He’ll be playing with a few former NBA players in Brian Roberts and Kyle Wiltjer. I’ve liked Diez since the moment the Jazz drafted him, so I’m wishing him the best for the upcoming season. Hopefully he can make some noise and eventually get to the NBA.