What if the Utah Jazz had traded Millsap for Bledsoe?

The Utah Jazz were involved in a trade rumor years ago that would’ve swapped Paul Millsap for guard Eric Bledsoe. Looking back, would this deal have been worthwhile for the Utah Jazz?

In the NBA, there are a lot of transactions between players and teams that happen, and there is no way to immediately judge who won a particular acquisition. It takes several years to truly gauge how a trade, signing or draft pick impacted the parties involved.

Being an NBA executive is one of the hardest jobs to do perfectly, and every general manager in the league has made mistakes they wish they could undo. If unprecedented injuries happen, if personalities don’t gel on or off the court, or if player and team potential is otherwise unfulfilled, the blame all rests on the shoulders of the front office.

Today we will analyze a rumor that was hot at the time but never came to fruition. In the 2012-13 NBA season, the Utah Jazz were stuck on the treadmill of mediocrity. Their two best players, Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap, had led the team to their the ceiling; yet, they had young and exciting replacements waiting in the wings to take over, fondly nicknamed the “core four”.

What was Utah supposed to do? At the time Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter were considered to have all-star potential, but they didn’t ever receive starter minutes because Big Al and Millsap were in the heart of their prime years.

The team was pushing for a playoff berth rather than a top draft pick, and they wanted their young players to get a taste of a real playoff atmosphere, not just the four game smack-down they received from the San Antonio Spurs the year prior.

That’s something I respect of the Utah Jazz organization, that they always intend to build a winning culture no matter what their roster makeup is.

Furthermore, Jefferson and Millsap were on expiring contracts. So the choice was to either deal them for assets or run the risk of letting them walk away for nothing in return. As the trade deadline approached, rumors ran rampant that the Jazz would deal one, and possibly both of their starting frontcourt to get assets in return, as well as open up playing time for Derrick Favors. One of those rumors was a swap of Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe in return for Paul Millsap.

At the time, the Clippers were one of the more exciting up and coming teams in the league with former number one overall pick Blake Griffin. He and the point god Chris Paul had formed a magical connection on the alley-oop play, earning the team the nickname “Lob City”.

They had signed veteran Chauncey Billups on board so he could chase one last championship before retiring. And stuck behind both of those guards was the tantalizing prospect Eric Bledsoe. This situation wasn’t unfamiliar to Bledsoe, as he was forced to defer minutes and touches to his college teammate John Wall. Had Bledsoe chosen to play for a different school, he could’ve had a much more prolific individual college career.

The proposed trade would have opened up much deserved playing time for both Bledsoe and Favors on the Jazz. The Clippers would have had a mean 3-headed monster in their frontcourt between Griffin, Millsap, and DeAndre Jordan.

That year they missed the postseason by two games in what turned into an absolutely disappointing season that felt like a significant squandering of talent. The trade surely would have shaken up the Jazz’s chemistry on the court being led by a new point guard, and it’s hard to tell if they would’ve made the playoffs or not with Bledsoe.

On paper, a starting lineup of Bledsoe/Gordon Hayward/Marvin Williams/Favors/Jefferson with Mo Williams as the spark plug off the bench would have made a good team in my opinion. Big Al, known for being a notoriously poor defender, would’ve been surrounded by four players that could hold their own defensively, and the aging Mo Williams could have slid into a better-fitting role as the sixth man.

Additionally, the Clippers would have had to thrown in another player or two (most likely Caron Butler) to match salaries. The Jazz were already deep that year but more depth never hurts. Dennis Lindsey probably could have flipped Butler for a second round pick or something of that nature if he had to. It is the 2013-14 season that makes this trade more interesting.

Had Utah traded for Bledsoe, they probably wouldn’t have traded up to grab Trey Burke in the 2013 NBA draft, but let’s assume they brought back Al Jefferson and Mo Williams on short deals, and still snagged Rudy Gobert on draft night. They could’ve packaged their 14th and 21st picks with Marvin Williams to get a solid veteran such as JJ Redick or Luol Deng.

Their 2013-14 roster would’ve looked something like this:

C   Al Jefferson, Enes Kanter, Rudy Gobert

PF Derrick Favors, Jeremy Evans

SF Gordon Hayward

SG JJ Redick, Alec Burks,

PG Eric Bledsoe, Mo Williams

In reality, Bledsoe wound up being traded to the Suns ahead of that season, and exploded that year for 20 points a game. The Phoenix Suns surprised everyone, winning 48 games and nearly making the playoffs. Had he been able to perform like that for the Jazz, I think they would’ve been right around the same mark.

Meanwhile, the Clippers would have gotten an expiring contract in Paul Millsap, and rolled into the 2013 playoffs with this roster:

C  DeAndre Jordan, Ronny Turiaf

PF Blake Griffin, Paul Millsap

SF Matt Barnes, Grant Hill

SG Jamal Crawford, Willie Green

PG Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups

In real life, the Clippers lost to the Memphis Grizzlies that year in the first round of the playoffs. Griffin and Jordan were no match for Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. It isn’t unreasonable to think that Millsap in a Clippers uniform could have tilted that series in favor of Lob City.

The Grizzlies moved on to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games, but were ultimately swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. The Clippers were a more athletic bunch than the Grizzlies, and would’ve caused trouble against an aging Spurs squad.

Would that deep of a playoff run have been enough to convince Millsap to re-sign with the Clippers? Millsap possibly would have spurned the Clippers, leaving them with nothing. With three guys in Jordan, Millsap, and Griffin that all play power forward and center, that would only equate to 32 minutes per each player if all three of them took all of the bigs’ minutes. I’m guessing that wouldn’t have lasted, as all three, especially Griffin, deserved more than that.

In hindsight, it was a wise move of Dennis Lindsey to pass on the deal for acquiring Eric Bledsoe. The NBA was about to see a major shift in three-point attempts, particularly the necessity to have a point guard with a reliable jumper from beyond the arc. The Jazz would have had three non-shooters in their starting lineup, and struggled to keep up with the Western Conference. Now, if the Jazz could have kept Millsap and paired him with Favors, and acquired either Goran Dragic or Kyle Lowry, that would’ve been a different story.

The way the Utah Jazz took things clearly signaled a direction the franchise was headed. Dennis Lindsey let Millsap and Jefferson walk, he took on the Warriors’ salary dump, and gave the core four and Trey Burke a chance to really prove their worth in the league. That set the stage for Quin Snyder to be hired, Rudy Gobert to break out, and suffice it to say, the Jazz would not be as good as they are today had they attempted to extend their mediocre playoff run of the early 2010s.

*All stats are courtesy of basketball-reference.com