The Utah Jazz have found themselves at the center of the NBA offseason and all the news that comes with it. Trading Rudy Gobert, allowing Eric Paschall to walk in free agency, and trading Royce O’Neale are all big moves, even if the main narrative surrounds Gobert and the pick haul the team got.
Which teams took a step forward over the past month? And which ones lost ground in the league hierarchy?
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) July 28, 2022
The Athletic recently graded every team on their offseason moves (subscription required) and the Jazz were one of many teams listed as “incomplete.” No team got a coveted A+, although there is still a long way to go in the offseason.
So far, the Utah Jazz have earned a solid B-
I think the Gobert trade and Royce O’Neale trades were home runs. The Jazz got a much larger than expected package for Gobert, getting five picks and a swap. The Jazz also got a decent cast of role players. Some will and can be flipped for more picks, and others fit the rebuilding timeline the Jazz seem to be heading towards.
The Jazz were also able to flip Royce O’Neale for a first-round pick via Philadelphia, Houston, or Brooklyn. The pick will be the least favorable of the three, so it should fall out of the lottery, but it was still a decent return for O’Neale, who is ultimately a role player.
Letting Eric Paschall sign with the Timberwolves is puzzling to me. He is 25 years old, which is a bit older than where the Jazz would like their players to be, but he has shown that he can perform, and be productive as a starter or as a bench piece. Plus, his salary was under $2 million, so Utah could have made him a lower deal to keep playing alongside his childhood friend Donovan Mitchell.
That leads us to the final offseason question for the Jazz. What will they do with Mitchell? No one knows if he will stay or go, although there are plenty of suitors. Letting Paschall go seems to indicate that Mitchell is next, but he hasn’t even requested a trade.
I think the Mitchell situation is a win-win. If they don’t trade him now, maybe he’ll be worth more at the deadline. If they do move on from him, he will certainly bring in a haul of picks and young players. The O’Neale and Gobert moves were fantastic, the only reason the Jazz remain at a B- grade so far is because they do not have a starting center and they entered the 2022 NBA Draft with no picks at all, and only came away with undrafted free agents Johnny Juzang and Kofi Cockburn, which was a little disappointing, all in all.
When it’s all said and done, the framework for a rebuild is there, which is better than some teams can say. I think the next season will be a little rough around the edges, but with a vision moving forward, fans should be excited.