Talen Horton-Tucker and Jordan Clarkson should be traded sooner rather than later
By Chad Porto
The Utah Jazz are a few more bad losses away from breaking this team apart and shipping off everyone over 26. This team was not supposed to be bad. They weren't supposed to be a lottery contender. They weren't supposed to compete for the first overall pick in the NBA Lottery.
They are in the bottom part of the league in so many categories and are tied for 7th among all teams with the worst record through 15 games. This team is in the same league as the Portland Trail Blazers and the San Antonio Spurs, but without the star rookie talent that the league is super excited about.
That's the company the Jazz are currently keeping and it's time to admit that some big changes need to happen. And we're not talking about big changes to the product with the idea of righting the ship for the playoffs. No, we're not that optimistic anymore. We're just talking in general. This is not the team that can win as is. If the Jazz isn't going to go for a home run swing to right things, then it's time to make moves.
Jordan Clarkson and Talen Horton-Tucker need to be moved while they have any value whatsoever. Clarkson isn't a terrible player but he's a good team's sixth or seventh best player. He's not the second-best option for a championship squad, as he's seemingly shoehorned his way into being. His desire to shoehorn as many shots into a single game is directly affecting the Jazz's ability to generate consistent, possession-to-possession, game-to-game offense.
As for Horton-Tucker, he may be good enough to be the ninth or tenth guy off the bench for a championship contender, but with as many holes and issues the Jazz have on defense and offense, Horton-Tucker is just holding the team back. The Jazz would be better getting reps to guys like Brice Sensabaugh as opposed to Hoton-Tucker.
We know what he is, we don't know the ceiling on Sensabaugh.