With Walker Kessler gone, the Utah Jazz will likely depend on Jusuf Nurkic, Kyle Filipowski, and Jaxson Hayes to fill in for him at the five. For now, there's no pressure on Utah to replace Kessler immediately, but given how good a player he is, that's an elephant in the room that they can't ignore for long.
And it appears they won't, though it remains unclear when they will confront it. ESPN's Tim MacMahon revealed that they are aware of the problem, but they may not solve it ASAP.
"Finding a long-term solution at center will be a priority for the front office, but it will probably require some patience. The Jazz will keep an eye on the trade market, and at some point, they'll likely use some of the draft capital acquired in the Kessler sign-and-trade to target his replacement," MacMahon wrote.
MacMahon didn't elaborate further on exactly who they had in mind, but this is confirmation that Utah will let things play out as they are before making any moves that could change the team's schemes.
Kessler may not fit the profile of a star, but he is a rare archetype of a player. Plenty of players can protect the rim and plenty of players rebound, but not many do both and not many do it as well as Kessler does. It's why LA had no qualms paying the price they did to get him.
Utah was completely justified to make that deal, but it's still something they must resolve, but we'll see when they do it.
None of their current options are long-term solutions
Nurkic proved he was a keeper for Utah last season, but Utah knows just as well as everyone else does that he's limited in what he can still do. He was quite good for what Utah asked for, but now that the bar is higher, they will ask for more from him.
More importantly, as he continues to age into his 30s, his impact will shrink with each passing game. Outside of him, Hayes brings something different to the table, but his athleticism also doesn't off-set the void by Kessler.
Filipowski is interesting, but his style contrasts more from Kessler than Nurkic and Hayes. Utah will get to see what their center-by-committee approach will do to fill in for Kessler, but it's good to see that even they are aware that such a strategy is the best approach if they are serious about winning a title down the line.
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