Utah Jazz: 15 realistic free agency options post-Conley trade
By Ryan Aston
Jared Dudley
During the summer of 2016, three players were linked to the Jazz as stretch fours to team with Gordon Hayward, Rudy Gobert and George Hill. Namely, Luol Deng, Joe Johnson and Jared Dudley. In the end, the Jazz went with Iso Joe, who essentially won a playoff series for the team, so they definitely made the right play.
Three years later, Jazz brass could revisit the Dudley idea. And we’ll forgive him for getting into it with Ricky Rubio last season.
One of the older players on this list, Dudley still provides hard-nosed D and shooting from distance even as his 34th birthday approaches. He was a nice part of the Brooklyn Nets’ postseason push as a bench guy, putting up five points per game and hitting 35 percent of his threes. The fact that he’s not afraid to mix it up with opponents is a positive, too.
On the flipside, he looked worn down in the playoffs and hasn’t played more than 64 games in a season since 2015-16.
Still, in 2019, you’re not looking to him to start a ton of games or play 30 minutes a night. You want him to bring the fire in spot duty and hit some triples along the way, both of which he can still do.