Bleacher Report just released an article suggesting trade ideas for every contending team, so of course, they included the Utah Jazz. We’ve dabbled in trade proposals for the Jazz ourselves, but we’ve tended to lean towards trades that would result in incremental improvement. With the team as hot as they are, brokering a blockbuster exchange may not be advisable. Don’t tell that to the folks at Bleacher Report.
Should the Utah Jazz swing for the fences with this trade?
That’s the trade Bleacher Report is proposing for the Jazzmen. It is, as your grandfather might say, a doozy. If it was on the table, would the Utah Jazz consider it?
From a short-term perspective, the Jazz would effectively be swapping Bojan Bogdanovic for Jerami Grant. Jared Butler carries considerable potential, but as a rookie on a contending NBA team, he has not been a substantial part of Quin Snyder’s rotation in 2021-22.
Therefore, the question becomes, how significantly of an upgrade is Grant over Bogdanovic?
Utah Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic vs Detroit Pistons forward Jerami Grant
The premise of this proposal in Bleacher Report’s article is that Grant would provide the Jazz with a significant defensive upgrade over Bogdanovic. Without question, Grant is the superior defender between the two. The question is, is he enough of an upgrade on that end to justify parting with a promising rookie in addition to draft capital?
The advanced metrics suggest otherwise. This season, Grant is posting a -0.4 Defensive Box Plus Minus (DBPM), compared to Bogdanovic’s -1.3 by the same metric. That’s a meaningful upgrade, but it might not be worth the Jazz’s time to swap a bad defender for a stronger, but still ultimately negative defender if they’re giving up future assets in the process.
Not to mention the concession the Jazz would be making in floor spacing with this deal.
Utah Jazz gain defense, lose floor spacing
This season, Bojan Bogdanovic is shooting 42.2% from downtown on 6.1 attempts per contest. Meanwhile, Grant is shooting a pedestrian 33.1% on 5.3 attempts per game. If we expand our sample size, we still find that Bogey is a vastly superior shooter. He shoots 39.5% on 5.1 attempts per game throughout his career, while Grant shoots 34.6% on 2.9 attempts per game.
On this Utah Jazz team, that counts for far too much. The Jazz pace the entire NBA in three-point attempts per contest at 42.4 per night. As a direct result, they boast the best Offensive Rating in the NBA at 119.27.
It may be true that the Jazz could use another defensive minded wing, but they shouldn’t pursue one at the cost of compromising their floor spacing. That feels like two steps backward for a step forward. It’s an interesting proposal, but we’re just not interested.
Verdict: Sell
To be clear, this is not an outrageous proposal. Jerami Grant is a better player than Bojan Bogdanovic: he’s a better defender, a better playmaker and a more versatile shot creator. It’s just that none of those attributes profile as enough to replace what the Jazz would lose in this exchange: Bogdanovic’s elite floor spacing.