All 3 of these free agents are names the Utah Jazz should stay away from
By Chad Porto
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The Utah Jazz needs upgrades at point guard, and really everywhere else. Sure, it's great to talk about potential and the potential that a guy like Keyonte George could have but I'm in the show-me business. Right now, George isn't showing us that he's a winning player. Now, we could be patient, and see if he develops but you usually have a good idea after a year of what they could be.
Look at Russell Westbrook. He only shot 39.8% as a rookie, and he never got better. He peaked at 47% in 2020, but he's a career 43% shooter from the floor and a career 30.4% shooter from three. Sometimes who they are is just who they are. So yes, the Jazz need help because relying on George to magically become a better shooter is a foolish way to develop a winner. Don't give up on him, but don't put the future of the franchise on the shoulders of a not-currently-very-good point guard right now.
So wanting a new point guard or two isn't the worst idea. Yet, Sports Illustrated just dropped three names the Utah Jazz need to stay away from; Tyus Jones, De'Anthony Melton, and Markelle Fultz.
For Jones, it's less about him not being a good fit for the Utah Jazz, and being not a good enough fit for the team. He's a good player, but he's essentially just Collin Sexton, but older and with less of a track record. Sexton should be the team's starting guard going forward and Jones doesn't give the Jazz anything different than they already have. if the Jazz had different players, sure, Jones would be a good get, but the Jazz are a team that already have enough guys who do what he can do.
As for Melton, he provides a nice defensive increase, but he's a terrible shooter. Adding him doesn't make a lot of sense when you could just re-sign Kris Dunn, who is a better scorer than Melton and is at least a bit better defensively. Now, Melton is on a really cheap contract, so we'd be right with that. Just not as a featured guy.
Defensively, Fultz is solid, but to paraphrase Mean Girls, "Stop trying to make Fultz happen. He isn't going to happen". He was a bad shooter coming out of college and the issues on his shoulders just continue that problem. He barely played with Orlando this year and they were exceptional without him. He's too injury-prone these days and doesn't provide any help in the areas of need that the Jazz have.
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