Tobias Harris, Bobby Portis interested in joining Utah Jazz – should they pursue?

Two free agent power forwards – Tobias Harris and Bobby Portis – are interested in joining the Utah Jazz. What, if anything, should the Jazz do in response?

Now that the NBA Draft has come and gone, all attention of NBA fans will turn towards one highly crucial date – June 30th at 6:00 PM Eastern Time, the start of free agency. This summer’s free agent pool is stacked with unbelievable talent. Names like Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler and Kemba Walker all come to mind as among those available.

Unfortunately, while it’s nearly unthinkable that the Jazz would be able to woo any of those guys into their midst (ignoring their current financial status even – we’ll get into that in a bit), in somewhat surprising fashion, it appears one big name apparently does have strong interest in joining up with the Jazz band. The player I speak of is one who has purportedly been on Utah’s radar for a while – none other than stretch-four Tobias Harris.

Harris may not quite be in the exact same tier as those other guys that I mentioned, but he’s still pretty dang close. Tobias put up 20 points per game this past season while converting on just over 39 percent of his 3-point attempts. He shot over 40 percent from deep his entire time with the LA Clippers and has been a prolific scorer and shot-creator throughout his career.

The report that he’d be interested in suiting up for the Jazz came from the ever-reliable Tony Jones of The Athletic. In a tweet on Friday, he had the following to say:

Wait a second… A high-profile free agent has strong interest in the Jazz??!! That’s not a phrase you hear every day.

That in and of itself is exciting. Factor in that Tobias’ stretch-four ability and his play-making skills would make him a dream fit in Utah’s offense, and it’s not hard to see why it would make sense for all sides. Adding Harris to the Jazz would certainly elevate them to an entirely different level and could very well be the most productive location for Harris of his career due to an exceptional supporting cast and the brilliant schemes of head coach Quin Snyder.

Unfortunately, after trading for Mike Conley, the Utah Jazz are extremely limited in cap space, having little more than just a Room exception valued at $4.8 million and the option to sign their draft picks and veteran’s minimum players. Obviously, that’s not nearly enough for a player that could make in the ballpark of $30 million per year to remain with the Philadelphia 76ers.

There are a few scenarios where the Jazz could add him, but every one of them that’s feasible (though still not very realistic) would involve letting go of Derrick Favors and Dante Exum. Some of you out there may be thinking, well, if getting rid of those two is all it would take to add a near-star like Tobias, then what the heck are we waiting for? Unfortunately, it’s not anywhere close to that easy.

Salt City Hoops’ Dan Clayton did an incredible job of summing up those options and I highly recommend you check out his piece via the tweet below to dive into it:

Essentially, outside of getting Harris to take a massive discount to sign with the Jazz, which isn’t likely even with cap space cleared by parting ways with Favors and Exum, they’d have to get multiple parties to cooperate to have any chance of landing Tobias. In a sign-and-trade scenario with Philly, they’d have to involve another team and get them, the Sixers and Tobias to agree to the terms. That feels like the longest of shots.

There is a path where they renounce all their free agents, waive Derrick Favors and Raul Neto, then slightly modify the Mike Conley trade to involve another team and deal Dante Exum as well, but once again you’d be looking for a lot of external cooperation from teams who may have no motivation to do so and who owe the Jazz no favors (no pun intended).

In other words, even the so-called ‘feasible’ options are far from plausible or realistic. As much as it stings to say it, it’s not worth Jazz fans getting too giddy about Harris coming to Utah. It’s probably not happening as nice as it might be to dream.

Even if there was a way to get all the stars to align in terms of clearing the appropriate space and making the right trades, while Harris has a strong interest in joining the Jazz, Tony Jones also made it clear that such doesn’t mean they’re necessarily his first choice. Harris reportedly would prefer to join the Brooklyn Nets, but if they hone in on and land two other stars – for example Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving – then he’d be forced to look elsewhere. Elsewhere could then be Salt Lake City, but that’s impossible to determine at this point if that’s even his number two choice.

Even if Harris did want that, and the other requirements could fall into place, the Jazz might feel iffy about parting ways with a lot of their current depth for him. Though Tobias is the ‘sexy’ choice over Derrick Favors and the other role players that the Jazz would have to give up, Derrick’s impact is far too often overlooked and he’s far superior on defense and on the boards.

That said, I’m nearly certain that the Jazz will at least pursue the various paths available to them to acquire Tobias Harris. He’d be a dynamic fit in Utah’s offense and a starting lineup of Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, Tobias Harris and Rudy Gobert would be a sight to behold.

If the choice were up to me to either add Harris or keep Favors and Exum, as hard as it would be to part ways with Favors and all he brings (and, quite frankly, the many things he does better than Harris including defensively), I’d go with adding Harris. A playmaker of his caliber would be invaluable for the Jazz. And he’d provide a fourth star-caliber player on Utah’s roster.

Lastly on the Tobias side of things – for those of you out there that wish the Jazz had foregone trading for Conley and added Harris instead, I’ll remind you that Conley was Utah’s top choice and they got him for a very clear reason. He’s an even better fit than Tobias, especially next to Donovan, and trading for him made him a sure thing. Adding Harris in free agency is and never was a guarantee. Not only that, but upgrading Ricky Rubio‘s position and keeping Favors was a better option than upgrading Favors’ position and keeping Rubio.

However, while Harris is unlikely to land in Utah despite an interest, another impending free agent power forward has expressed significant interest in joining the Jazz as well – Bobby Portis.

Of course, Portis is nowhere near as big of a name as Tobias Harris, but he still could be serviceable for the Jazz and is certainly more realistic from a financial standpoint. He put up 14.2 points per game in 26 minutes of action while shooting just shy of 40 percent from deep this past season. He did so while making just $2.5 million this past season, which makes adding him feel much more reasonable for the cash-strapped Jazz.

The trouble is that Portis is a restricted free agent that could very well receive better offers, or, so long as the Washington Wizards don’t surprisingly renounce him, could very well find any offer thrown his way matched. Unless the Jazz strike out in all other avenues of free agency, it’s hard to see them tying up precious cap space in an offer sheet to Portis.

His deep-ball shooting and length definitely make him an intriguing target as a potential Jae Crowder replacement providing stretch minutes with Favors on the bench. However, there are questions about his defensive focus and quality as a teammate due to the infamous incident where he punched former teammate Nikola Mirotic in the face during practice as a member of the Chicago Bulls.

There are some things I really like about Portis – principally his shooting but I also think he has the potential to be a high-energy player whose length could work wonders on the defensive end with some coaching and furthered discipline. He’s also just 24 years old meaning he has plenty of room to improve and develop significantly. However, due to the aforementioned questions about him and his restricted free agent status, I’m not counting on him being added.

Regardless of if the Jazz are unable or unwilling to add either Tobias Harris or Bobby Portis in free agency, the fact that both players have expressed interest in joining up with the Utah squad should excite Jazz fans to no end. The Salt Lake City team has long been classified as an undesirable free agent destination and luring in talent has been an immense struggle.

However, as the Jazz have showcased their incredible culture, chemistry and work ethic, it’s clear that perception of the organization is changing. As players become more and more concerned about basketball fit and opportunities to compete in ideal situations, the Jazz could very well become a more desirable team in free agency. Ideally, this interest from the likes of Harris and Portis will signal a dramatic change in how teams view the Utah Jazz in free agency moving forward.

They could very well be two of the first major dominoes in finally destroying Utah’s stigma of being unable to attract free agents. Even if neither joins the team this upcoming summer, their desire to be here is an encouraging sign of things to come.