Utah Jazz: Houston Rockets snag potential diamond in rough from SLC Stars

The Utah Jazz may have lost a potential diamond in the rough as the Houston Rockets recently signed Salt Lake City Stars player William Howard.

The Utah Jazz have been busy this past week looking for ways to inject a jolt of life into what has been a dismal bench so far this season. First the team traded away Dante Exum, who after several bouts with injury had not been able to crack into the rotation, for a reputed bench scorer in Jordan Clarkson. Shortly thereafter, they waived veteran Jeff Green to make way for the signing of G-League standout Rayjon Tucker.

The Jazz are no strangers to finding and developing diamonds in the rough, be it through the draft, signing undrafted players or making unheralded trades. Currently, they have a dominant Salt Lake City Stars G-League squad headlined by players making significant waves like Jarrell Brantley, Juwan Morgan, Miye Oni and Justin Wright-Foreman.

Although all those guys are young, they are all putting themselves on a path to potentially contribute for the Jazz at a later point down the road as they continue to develop.

However, one member of the Stars squad that has been playing so well and that many believed had diamond-in-the-rough potential will no longer be a part of the Jazz organization, as it was announced on Friday that the Houston Rockets have signed Stars player William Howard.

Howard was a part of the Jazz’s preseason roster as he battled with Stanton Kidd for Utah’s final roster spot. Some were optimistic about his prospect as a contributor to the Jazz as a lengthy wing known for his ability to knock down the deep-ball. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t earn that final spot, and with Utah’s two-way contracts used up on Brantley and Wright-Foreman, Howard simply became a member of the Stars.

Meanwhile, the player who beat him out for a roster spot, Stanton Kidd, was eventually replaced by Juwan Morgan on Utah’s roster. Howard was probably the next guy up that the Jazz would have liked to keep under contract if they somehow could have after their 15 roster spots and two-way contracts, but unfortunately he fell just outside that mix.

And now he’ll get his NBA shot with a well-known Jazz rival, the Rockets. Houston may very well be able to make use of Howard’s three-point stroke as they’re known for bringing in as many deep-ball threats as possible to surround James Harden. This season in the G-League, Howard was averaging 12.8 points per game on electrifying shooting splits of 54.7 percent from the field and 43.2 percent from deep.

He isn’t exactly known as a plus-defender, which may have been the reason why the Jazz had him just on the outside looking in, but there’s no questioning that Howard is capable of helping a team. He’ll be on a two-way deal with the Rockets initially, so don’t expect him to be playing major minutes or anything right off the bat, but if he can continue to develop and make strides as he did with the Stars, the Rockets may have very well just poached a potential diamond in the rough from Utah.

I was a fan of Howard in the brief moments we got to see him play in a Jazz and Stars uniform, and I wish him the utmost individual success. Hopefully his signing away by the Houston Rockets won’t become a moment that Utah comes to regret should he blossom into an exceptional three-point threat.