The Utah Jazz are clearly in the market for a defensive wing. That writing has been on the wall for too long to be ignored. With clear championship aspirations, this club has no choice but to push all of its chips into the middle.
Unfortunately, the Jazz may not be flush with chips. This team retains precious few first round picks. There are interesting young players on the roster, but most of them have had little opportunity to demonstrate value. That’s life for a prospect on an NBA contender.
Nonetheless, the Jazz appear likely to do whatever they can to secure a ready-made contributor. Danny Ainge doesn’t have a reputation for sitting on his thumbs. This team’s title window is now. A deep playoff run could be the difference between Donovan Mitchell’s loyalty, or a long rebuild in the immediate future.
A 3-and-D wing seems to be the most regularly prescribed remedy for the Jazz’s ailments. A recent article from Fastbreak named four targets the Jazz are apparently interested in.
One of those targets was Robert Covington. He’s a name we’ve advocated for the Jazz to pursue on a couple of occasions at the J-Notes. Unfortunately, he’s no longer available, having been traded to the Los Angeles Clippers on February 4.
Here’s our ranking of the remaining options from that list.
Utah Jazz Trade Target #3: Josh Okogie
Honestly, it’s hard to know where to even begin in discussing the problems with the Utah Jazz targeting Josh Okogie.
We don’t mean to be rude. Okogie is a 23-year-old with good potential. He’s a high motor player with sound defensive instincts and good athletic gifts. He’s also averaging 12.7 minutes per game for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
What are we doing here?
The Jazz need an immediate difference maker. It makes little sense for them to target a still-developing player who is struggling to crack the rotation of a team below them in the standings. They’d be better off developing the young players they already have on the roster.
It’s easy to see why the Wolves don’t trust Okogie yet. He’s canning 29.4% of 1.1 three point attempts per contest this season. In the Jazz’s three-point dominant attack, that simply won’t fly.
A look at Okogie’s young career doesn’t inspire much hope, either. He’s a career 27.4% shooter from long range, and he’s yet to crack the 30% threshold in four seasons.
His 0.5 Defensive Box Plus/Minus (DBPM) is solid, but it’s not remarkable enough to compensate for that lack of three-point efficiency. Okogie is a solid defender, but if the Jazz are going to acquire a non-spacer, he’ll need to be an elite one.
As we said, Okogie has every opportunity to develop into a starting caliber NBA player. The Jazz should let him do that somewhere else.
They don’t have time to spend on development.
Utah Jazz Trade Target #2: Josh Richardson
Here, we’ll transition from a player who makes no sense for the Utah Jazz, to one that makes barely enough sense.
Josh Richardson is an extremely solid NBA contributor. He’s just not the kind of needle mover that Jazz fans are probably hoping to acquire. Having said that, he ticks several of the boxes the team should need in order to target a player.
Richardson’s three-point accuracy has been inconsistent throughout his NBA career. Fortunately for the Jazz, it’s trending in the right direction in 2021-22. Richardson is canning 40.0% of his 3.6 three-point attempts per contest.
As a career 36.2% three-point shooter, this is the second time Richardson has surpassed the elite 40% mark. He’s also never dipped below 30%.
He certainly fits the three-point shooting requirement. He’s also a solid defender, as demonstrated by his 0.9 DBPM this season. So, why isn’t he a perfect fit for the Utah Jazz?
Well, the team would probably prefer a bigger wing. Richardson is listed as a shooting guard whose secondary position is small forward. The ideal prototype for the Jazz is probably a small forward whose secondary position is power forward.
At 6’5, Richardson is the same height as Royce O’Neale. An ideal target for the Jazzmen would probably be a larger wing who can alleviate O’Neale’s responsibility of guarding the league’s larger wings. That will remain his job if Richardson joins the club.
Josh Richardson is a solid NBA player. He’d be a solid addition to the Utah Jazz. The next target on Fastbreak’s list would just be a comfortably better one.
Utah Jazz Target #1: Harrison Barnes
If you’re taking the chances of the Jazz actually landing the player into account, Robert Covington was probably the ideal target. He’s off the board, so it’s a moot point.
Josh Okogie feels distinctly like aiming too low. Josh Richardson is closer to hitting the mark, but he’s not a perfect fit. Harrison Barnes feels like a case of pie-in-the-sky optimism.
Unlike the other two players on this list, Barnes can actually create his own offense. He’s averaging 16.8 points per game this season. Three-point efficiency is no concern: he’s knocking down 40.6% of his 5.0 three-pointers per contest.
His -1.5 DBPM is somewhat concerning, but defensive metrics can be misleading. Sacramento’s 27th ranked 115.46 Defensive Rating surely isn’t helping his cause.
Barnes has a reputation as a solid defender, and more significantly, he’s got the physical tools the Jazz should covet. At 6’8 and 225 pounds, he’ll do more to help this team limit the Kevin Durant’s of the NBA than Josh Richardson will be able to.
He’d be the perfect fit for this Utah Jazz team. Sadly, it’s hard to envision even Danny Ainge cobbling together enough capital to land him.
Who knows what the Utah Jazz will do as we approach the NBA’s February 10 trade deadline. Hopefully, they can acquire a more impactful player than Josh Okogie, but fans hoping for a Harrison Barnes caliber player may end up disappointed.