The Utah Jazz won't have to worry much about Lu Dort this season, as not only is he no longer associated with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he's with the Atlanta Hawks, meaning they'll only see him twice. Not only that, but Dort wasn't even on their radar, signaling how confident they are in their wings.
HoopsHype's Michael Scotto listed the other teams interested in Dort besides the Hawks, none of whom were the Jazz.
"Several teams expressed trade interest in acquiring Dort before he was traded to Atlanta, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, and Miami Heat, league sources told HoopsHype," Scotto wrote.
Now maybe there was some interest, but never really took it that far. Whether they had minimal interest or none at all, not going after Dort shows Utah is quite confident in their wing depth.
Before the offseason kicked into high gear, the NBA Champion was floated as a potential target because of his reputation as a defender. Utah's defense has been abysmal for the past few years, and while they have added some improvements on that front, an All-Defense wing would have been nice, but Utah clearly believes they are good on that front.
Their wing rotation has plenty of defensive potential
When taking a look at Utah's new depth chart, you'll see that defensively, it's not like they have exactly the top-notch wings in the league, but they have far from the worst. Lauri Markkanen will play a good share of his minutes at the 3, but now that he's projected to be on the best team he's ever played for, he'll be challenged to be better on that front.
After him though, the Jazz have two wings with fantastic potential as defenders, including Ace Bailey and Cody Williams. Bailey has all the makings of a two-way wing who will get better once he gets more reps in the league. Williams' NBA career started out as poorly as one could expect from a lottery pick, but started showing signs of life towards the end of last season.
Both are athletic young wings with the physical tools to be a force on that end. With the Jazz now trying to be good, they have the motivation to prove themselves on that front. Utah not jumping at Dort is a good sign that they believe in what those two could do.
There's also the Josh Okogie addition, a low-key quality signing that could pay off, knowing what he can do as a perimeter defender. While not on Dort's level, defense has always been Okogie's calling card. If his good year shooting from three was not a flash in the pan, even better.
Now, whether Utah is proven right on this front is a different story. There's a chance they may regret not getting Dort or another wing defender when they had the chance, but not even asking shows hwo comfortable they are with who they have now.
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