Utah Jazz: 3 crazy lineups that could stun the world

Crazy Utah Jazz lineup: Old-timers

• PG: Mike Conley
• SG: Joe Ingles
• SF: Bojan Bogdanovic
• PF: Rudy Gay
• C: Hassan Whiteside

All five of these presumptive 2021-22 Utah Jazz players have shined somewhere at one time or another in recent seasons. Three have been crucial components in Salt Lake City for multiple years. Add in the fact that Mike Conley and Rudy Gay became successful Memphis Grizzlies teammates across five and a half campaigns together around the beginning of their careers.

Sure, one could argue that every member of this proposed Jazz quintet is officially past their prime. After all, each of these NBA “senior citizens” is at least 32 years old. And the average age will be 33 plus some change once the season gets underway.

Naptime is calling.

On the other hand, if only in brief spurts before tapping out with exhaustion, the been-there-done-that veterans here could together rediscover the prowess of their youth.

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Just take a gander at the career-high season averages and percentages from major categories across their lengthy professional tenures:

• Conley: 21.1 points, 6.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds, 2.2 steals, 41.2 percent from three
• Ingles: 12.1 points, 5.7 assists, 4.2 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 45.1 percent from three
• Bogdanovic: 20.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 42.5 percent from three, 90.3 percent from the foul line
• Gay: 21.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.7 steals, 1.1 blocks, 40.2 percent from three
• Whiteside: 17.0 points, 14.1 rebounds, 3.7 blocks, 62.8 percent from the field

Granted, any lineup without either of Utah’s active two-time All-Stars — 24-year-old guard Donovan Mitchell and 29-year-old center Rudy Gobert — is unlikely to stay on the floor too long.

Still, this load of old-timers might be the most reliably productive option whenever injuries or foul trouble leave Quin Snyder with no choice but to give those two franchise pieces a simultaneous breather.