The Utah Jazz have accumulated young talent for the past few years, but said young talent has question marks.
Isaiah Collier can pass, but can he shoot? Kyle Filipowski is well-rounded offensively, but can he defend? Keyonte George can score, but can he be consistent? Brice Sensabaugh can shoot threes, but is that all? Cody Williams... Pass.
The Jazz haven't necessarily whiffed on their picks for the last two years, but it's fair to suggest that none of their youth from the last two years stand out as the next face of the franchise. Because of that, ESPN's Bobby Marks discussed why this upcoming draft is so important for them.
While talking about the Jazz's front office's top priority, Marks did not mince words.
"It starts with the draft. Out of the 15 players under contract, five (Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier, Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, and Brice Sensabaugh) were first-round picks selected by Utah the past two years," Marks wrote. "And while there are signs of individual growth, none of them are considered franchise players. This draft could change that."
Before getting to the draft part, it's not good to know that the Jazz don't really have that guy they can build around, and a lot of it is due to staying in no-man's land until it's too late. As a result, it's led to promising role players, but not exactly stars.
It is annoying that this offseason will mark the three-year anniversary of when the Jazz traded away Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, and don't exactly have their replacements waiting in the wings. If that doesn't get any better in the next year, the Jazz's future deserves to be heavily questioned.
Not picking a direction in the last two years hurt the Jazz's draft prospects when it didn't have to. While it's good that they finally picked one, it's hard to see where the team is headed long-term because of it. Luckily, the Jazz handled themselves right towards the end of this season.
Losing their regular-season finale and the Washington Wizards winning theirs sealed the deal for the Jazz regarding the lottery odds. Not only do they have the highest odds they could have gotten for Cooper Flagg, but the worst they'll end up with is the No. 5 pick.
This will be the first top-five pick the Jazz have had in their possession since 2014 when they had the fourth overall pick, which they used on Dante Exum. Though it's not his fault, Exum was a swing and a miss for Utah, plus the Jazz did just fine despite that.
However, with who the Jazz have in their youth movement right now, they must make this pick count. If they get Cooper Flagg, this won't even be a discussion for years. If they don't get him, and there's an 86% chance they won't, then this will be in question for some time, and the Jazz's future will depend a lot on who they would draft instead.
The Jazz still have a good start with their youth
It's not wrong to suggest that none of the five players mentioned here will be franchise players. However, they could be the players the Jazz want surrounding their next face of the franchise. Just because these players have some work to do in developing their games doesn't mean they aren't keepers.
There's a flip side to the notion that the Jazz lack that centerpiece. Even teams that have specifically that need its supporting cast, otherwise having a franchise player could lead to absolutely nothing in the long run.
Really all of this goes hand in hand. There is pressure on the Jazz's part to get their next franchise player, and if they don't get him, the supporting pieces they have now won't really amount to much without him.
However, the Jazz at least have one base covered.