babyjax's offseason grade:
Utah Jazz transactions
Front office
EVP Dennis Lindsey moved to advisory role.
Part ownership sold to Dwyane Wade.
Draft
Drafted Jared Butler at pick #40 (acquired from Memphis).
Trades
Traded pick #30 to Memphis for pick #40 and two future 2nds.
Traded Derrick Favors and 2026 1st rounder to Oklahoma City for future 2nd and cash.
Traded protected future 2nd and TPE to Golden State for Eric Paschall.
Free agency
Waived Matt Thomas ($0 guaranteed).
Re-signed Mike Conley, 3/$68M.
Re-signed Jarrell Brantley to QO, 1/$1.67M. (later waived, signed in Europe)
Signed Rudy Gay, 2/$19M (TMLE).
Signed Hassan Whiteside, 1/min.
Offseason Thoughts
Utah had perhaps one of the most boring offseasons in the league, but I think what they did may be more consequential than it appears.
1. Front office/ownership: the promotion of Zanik isn’t something I can comment on too much. I know he was one of the major players in adding Conley, and that he disagreed with the selection of Udoka Azubuike. Ultimately Lindsey got us in a good place, and I don’t have reason to believe that things will get significantly better or worse in that regard. What is perhaps more consequential, is the addition of Wade to the ownership group. First, we’ve already seen it have an impact on free agency. Whiteside isn’t a super sexy get, but being able to find parts-bin price players who can absorb some minutes is a hallmark of contending teams. I also think he’s having a positive impact on player development. We see him talking to Mitchell all the time, and he also seems to have a good relationship with other players on the team, too.
2. Trades: I thought Favors would take two seconds to move, so I am a bit bummed that this was the cost (also sad to see him go, but the contract we gave him was out-of-line, perhaps another reason Lindsey is gone). HOWEVER, I really love the trade we made with Memphis to move back and grab the player I had second on my board of remaining guys at 30 (close between Dosunmu and Butler) and get two future seconds. The follow up for Paschall is also consequential because he is Mitchell’s childhood best friend. It may not pay off too much on the court, Eric is likely our 10th man so he will play when Conley/Ingles sit on back-to-backs or when players are hurt/etc. but another arrow in the quiver to retain Mitchell is critical to Utah’s long-term success as a team.
3. Free Agency: I mentioned this before, but I think having Wade helped with free agency. We also saw this with Mike Conley – there are certain guys in the league who are so respected that they can bring role players along with them (Ed Davis signed b/c of Conley, obviously didn’t work out; Jeff Green signed because of Conley, see Ed Davis; Rudy Gay played 5 seasons with Conley and that is likely why he is here; Wade likely had an influence on bringing in Whiteside). I like all these signings, however, I wish we had done more to address our perimeter defense. Rudy can ‘defend the court’ only if you have guys that can offer resistance on drives and quickly rotate when they get beat (that is what we saw in the Clippers series) otherwise you are going to give up tons of open threes + layups where Rudy can’t get there in time. I also want to briefly mention Matt Thomas – another dumb move from last season – we went over the luxury tax just to trade for him and now that move could send us into the repeater tax a year early. I suspect this was another reason why Lindsey is no longer in charge of the FO.
Grade
B-, it wasn’t sexy, but we are a better team. We had to make up for some mistakes last offseason, but I expect us to be right around where we have been (plus, we didn't get embarrassed this offseason by the Knicks flipping the 23rd pick for more than they traded for it: they traded 27 + 38 to us and received 25 + 33 from Minnesota)
[url]2022 Prediction[/url]
54-28, 2nd seed behind Phoenix
Offseason in gif form
Why am I waking up in Utah?
K_Chile22's offseason grade
Utah Jazz transactions
Front office
EVP Dennis Lindsey moved to advisory role.
Part ownership sold to Dwyane Wade.
Draft
Drafted Jared Butler at pick #40 (acquired from Memphis).
Trades
Traded pick #30 to Memphis for pick #40 and two future 2nds.
Traded Derrick Favors and 2026 1st rounder to Oklahoma City for future 2nd and cash.
Traded protected future 2nd and TPE to Golden State for Eric Paschall.
Free agency
Waived Matt Thomas ($0 guaranteed).
Re-signed Mike Conley, 3/$68M.
Re-signed Jarrell Brantley to QO, 1/$1.67M.
Signed Rudy Gay, 2/$12M (TMLE).
Signed Hassan Whiteside, 1/min.
Offseason Thoughts
Did really well on the Mike Conley deal, which is the biggest thing here. Yeah, unfortunate they had to use a first to dump salary, but really don't think they got any worse between getting Gay and Whiteside (don't care for whiteside much, but I'm low on Favors at this point in his career) so not too bad there. I don't like Paschall near as much as others, but at that price, he's a solid get for a regular season guy.
Grade
A-. Conley contract mattered more than anything and they nailed it
2022 Prediction
Top 3 in the west
Offseason in gif form
Mamba4goat's offseason grade:
Utah Jazz transactions
Front office
EVP Dennis Lindsey moved to advisory role.
Part ownership sold to Dwyane Wade.
Draft
Drafted Jared Butler at pick #40 (acquired from Memphis).
Trades
Traded pick #30 to Memphis for pick #40 and two future 2nds.
Traded Derrick Favors and 2026 1st rounder to Oklahoma City for future 2nd and cash.
Traded protected future 2nd and TPE to Golden State for Eric Paschall.
Free agency
Waived Matt Thomas ($0 guaranteed).
Re-signed Mike Conley, 3/$68M.
Re-signed Jarrell Brantley to QO, 1/$1.67M.
Signed Rudy Gay, 2/$19M (TMLE).
Signed Hassan Whiteside, 1/min.
Offseason Thoughts
Man...I loved this offseason. Butler is a great potential "break glass in case of emergency" third string PG, Gay is perfect for them, Whiteside is even a really solid option as a backup center. Also, the Paschall deal was robbery.
Grade
A+
A very underrated offseason with what seems like a potential make-or-break season for the Mitchell/Gobert marriage.
2022 Prediction
Top 4 seed in the west
Offseason in gif form
bondom34's offseason grade:
Utah Jazz transactions
Front office
EVP Dennis Lindsey moved to advisory role.
Part ownership sold to Dwyane Wade.
Draft
Drafted Jared Butler at pick #40 (acquired from Memphis).
Trades
Traded pick #30 to Memphis for pick #40 and two future 2nds.
Traded Derrick Favors and 2026 1st rounder to Oklahoma City for future 2nd and cash.
Traded protected future 2nd and TPE to Golden State for Eric Paschall.
Free agency
Waived Matt Thomas ($0 guaranteed).
Re-signed Mike Conley, 3/$68M.
Re-signed Jarrell Brantley to QO, 1/$1.67M.
Signed Rudy Gay, 2/$19M (TMLE).
Signed Hassan Whiteside, 1/min.
Offseason Thoughts
For the first seed, after a somewhat disappointing exit the Jazz didn't sit still and ended up with one of the better offseasons. Starting from the top of the list, the front office stuff seems OK, no real input there. Butler was a good get at 40 (I'm assuming he fell due to health stuff?) and could be a steal I think.
So the trades ended up being trading back for future 2nds and still getting a solid player, moving Favors for fine value to save some cash and getting Paschall for essentially nothing. I don't know if Paschall gives them anything useful at all but he probably has a better shot at it than a late 2nd, so that seemed like a reasonably solid move too.
Free agency wise if Conley keeps up anywhere near his production this was a fantastic contract, and Rudy Gay fits the mold of a guy who can fit into small ball lineups pretty well and even if he's not "perfect" for it, he's pretty darn good and they can likely run some lineups with no true centers now. To add, I know Whiteside has his issues as well, and don't think he's amazing, but for the minimum he's one of a handful of guys who can pretend to be a version of diet Rudy Gobert. And I don't know enough about Brantley to even say anything. Overall pretty much everything they did was a win. Just a smart offseason.
Grade
A
2022 Prediction
Top 3 in the west
Offseason in gif form
