ESPN Grades Jazz's Controversial Offseason Maneuvers
The 2022 offseason for the Utah Jazz has been controversial. For many fans, this summer has been bittersweet as the Jazz said goodbye to one of the most legendary players to ever don the team's colors, trading All-Star center Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The trade netted Utah a whopping four first-round picks, plus a bevy of veteran players, and one 2022 rookie center with some upside, but what it truly cost the team remains to be seen. Gobert is one of the best centers of the modern NBA era, and his defensive prowess, in particular, is going to be impossible to replace in one fell swoop.
On the heels of Quin Snyder stepping down as head coach, and Will Hardy stepping in to replace him, Jazz executive Danny Ainge opted to roll the dice. Sometimes that pans out when the dice fall favorably. More often than not, though, gambling leads to loss — and sometimes, it's on a monumental scale.
Not long after the Gobert trade was consummated, rumors spiked of Ainge exploring the trade market for Donovan Mitchell. Even contemplating such a move hints at Ainge's mindset and outlook for the Jazz moving forward: it's a rebuild.
The question is, what magnitude of a rebuild is Ainge aiming for? A 'retool,' as it were, where a few roster pieces are tweaked in an effort to juice the team and spark some newfound momentum? Or a true-blue, old-school rebuild from the ground up, fueled partly by an organizational push to tank the season for a chance at the NBA draft lottery?
All will be known in due time but with a good chunk of the offseason now in the books, ESPN's Kevin Pelton graded how it's all shaken out for each NBA team. Suffice to say, Pelton likes what Ainge is cookin' up in Salt Lake City, giving Utah an 'A' grade for its offseason maneuvers thus far.
The end of Utah's run of contention, which has featured the longest consecutive streak of playoff appearances (six) in the West, is obviously disappointing. But the Jazz would have been hard-pressed to improve the roster with multiple first-round picks committed in past trades, little young talent and a salary sheet in the luxury tax. Moving Gobert for massive value positions Utah to start a rebuild at a pick surplus rather than a deficit.
There's still plenty of work for the Jazz. If they don't move Mitchell before the season, they'll need to reshape a transitory roster to fill needs at small forward and center and address a surplus of contributors in the backcourt. A Mitchell trade would push Utah into the race for ping-pong balls, and with even more future picks in tow.
The Jazz have acquired options at small forward and center, but we don't yet know how good those pieces could be in Utah. Walker Kessler was Minnesota's first-round pick, and while there's evidence to suggest that the 7-foot-1 former Auburn Tiger could help to mitigate the defensive loss of Gobert, he's not a one-for-one replacement.
Utah also dealt away Royce O'Neale before the Gobert trade, but gleaned veterans like Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Leandro Bolmaro, and the intriguing Jarred Vanderbilt in the deal with Minnesota. Combined with holdovers like Mitchell, a three-time All-Star, Clarkson, Bogdanovic, Mike Conley, and Jared Butler, there is a chance that a 'retool' could see the Jazz push for a seventh straight playoff appearance.
But in the wake of Gobert's loss, and the arrival of Hardy — the NBA's youngest head coach (34 years old) — such a playoff push would be fraught with obstacles, specifically, on the defensive side. This realization could be the strongest harbinger of how things will ultimately shake out with regard to the Mitchell trade rumors.
In some ways, Ainge tied his own hands by breaking up the Gobert/Mitchell ticket, creating momentum toward a full-blown Jazz rebuild. It's likely that Mitchell will be sporting different colors next season and that the Jazz are headed for tank mode and puncher's chance at the 2022 NBA lottery.
Depending on how that resolves, Jazz Nation might have a different grade for Ainge's offseason in the final analysis.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.
