The Utah Jazz major offseason move is being credited as being underrated

The Utah Jazz are being named as a team who made an underrated move this offseason.

The Utah Jazz had a surprisingly active offseason. They drafted three new rookies in the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft, they sent Damion Jones to the Cavaliers for cash considerations, and they pulled off a trade for John Collins, a promising young forward that the Atlanta Hawks didn’t want anymore.

And the best part, the Jazz gave up nothing of consequence to get him either. Just an aging veteran in Rudy Gay and a second-round pick. That second-round pick will likely never materialize as a player nearly as good as Collins, so it was no a-brainer.

The move is being celebrated by all sorts of people in and around the Jazz. The most recent member of the NBA community to speak on the trade was that of Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report, who went on ESPN 700 this week to talk about the Jazz’s recent trade for Collins on the Bill Riley Show (via Sports Illustrated)

Riley went on to describe the acquisition of Collins as a great move, saying;

"I think that was a great move. I think that was one of the most underrated moves of the summer. I think a lot of people were upset or impatient about Utah, sitting on their hands in free agency. But if you think about John Collins, you can essentially say they signed John Collins to a three-year $75 million deal."

Collins’ involvement in the offense is going to be huge, as he has a similar skill set to that of star player Lauri Markkanen, which will allow the Jazz to maximize both men’s ability to create space on the court and get shots off.

The only concern anyone has about Collins’ fit with the Jazz revolves around his three-point shooting. He’s a career 35% shooter, but last year his average dipped to just 29%, but that was largely contributed to his right ring finger, which was injured in the prior season and didn’t truly heal at any point during the season, though it did improve.

According to KSLSports, Collins did shoot 37% from three over his last 20 games, a marketed improvement from the 25% he was shooting previously.