NBA Northwest Division Off-Season Grades
By Anonymous
Wed, 07/21/2010 - 4:11am
By Sam Littman
Denver Nuggets
Key additions: Al Harrington (5 years $34 million), Shelden Williams (1 year $916K)
Key departures: Johan Petro (Nets), Joey Graham, Linas Kleiza (Raptors)
Draft picks: None
Al Harrington
By signing former Knicks forward Al Harrington at (5 years/$34 million), the Nuggets shored up their need for another forward who can dependably score. Harrington, who turned 30 in February and has 12 seasons under his belt, averaged 17.7 points and 5.6 rebounds for the Knicks last year while starting just 15 games, showing no signs of slowing down. The Nuggets now have arguably the best bench in the league in Harrington, J.R. Smith, Ty Lawson and Chris Anderson. While Harrington will undoubtedly have a sizable impact, especially in lessening the pressure on Carmelo to score so much, the Nuggets were relatively inactive for the second year in a row.
With Carmelo set to become a free agent at the end of the season, the Nuggets should have at least considered trying to swing a major deal to try to change the team dynamic a bit with the juicy expiring contracts of Nene and Kenyon Martin.
They did not have George Karl to guide them in the playoffs, but even so they should have put up more of a fight against a Utah Jazz squad that was without its starting center and small forward. If that team couldn't get out of the first round of the playoffs, it's hard to imagine what this team's ceiling might be. Johan Petro and Joey Graham were effective in small doses off the bench, and while neither will be truly missed, they proved to be two of the team's best athletes. Harrington is not a superior physical specimen, and nobody on the Nuggets is getting any younger. Not having a single draft pick might end up hurting them in the long run.
If they can stay healthy and play with the same intensity that earned them a conference finals appearance in 2009, as they feel they can, Al Harrington might be just what they needed to get over the hump. He might not play up to his contract's value when he's 35 with 17 seasons worth of mileage on him, but while Carmelo is still in Denver and if Billups and K-Mart still have enough left in the tank for a potential championship run, he was a great pickup.
Grade: B+
Minnesota Timberwolves
Key additions: Michael Beasley, Luke Ridnour ( 4 year $16 million) , Martell Webster, Nikola Pekovic (3 years $13 million), Kosta Koufos, Darko Milicic (resigns 4 years $20 million)
Key departures: Al Jefferson (Jazz), Ryan Gomes (Clippers), Brian Cardinal, Oleksiy Pecherov (Europe), Damien Wilkins
Draft picks: Wesley Johnson (4), Lazar Hayward (30), Paulo Prestes (45), Hamady N'Diaye (56) (Traded to Washington Wizards)
David Kahn is well on his way to building one of the oddest teams in league history. His myriad failures as GM leading up this off-season are hard to recount, but rest assured, he's managed to top himself in the last few weeks. Between giving Darko Milicic $20 million (and calling him one of the best passing big men he's ever seen while comparing him to Chris Webber, who was partaking in the interview) and signing Luke Ridnour on top of a point guard rotation that already includes Jonny Flynn, Ramon Sessions and with Ricky Rubio (supposedly) on the way; Kahn has taken managerial incompetence to new and wildly entertaining heights.
While stockpiling point guards, Kahn has also rounded up a group of nearly identical small forwards who could potentially confuse themselves to one another and will doubtlessly mesh as well as Kevin Love and Al Jefferson did last year. After Corey Brewer put together his first decent season as a pro, Kahn used the fourth overall pick in the draft on Wesley Johnson, and traded for Martell Webster soon after. The Timberwolves now have three 6-7 swingmen who are either 23 or 24 years old and are all top ten picks (very useful side note: Martell Webster has been in the league for five years and is just seven months older than rookie Wesley Johnson). But Kahn didn't stop at dealing for Webster, using the last pick of the first round on Lazar Hayward. If the team's biggest off-season acquisition, Michael Beasley (who is actually 6-8, and not 6-9 or 6-10, as he's normally listed), is to be considered a small forward as well, 7 of the 11 players the Wolves have under contract next year are either point guards or small forwards.
Even if Beasley is to be considered a power forward, he can just be filed under the awesome amount of combo big men Kahn has accrued over the past couple seasons. Franchise power forward Kevin Love is thought by some to be more of a center due to his width, while fellow big men Ryan Hollins, Darko Milicic (the most overpaid player in the league), Kosta Koufos, and Nikola Pekovic similarly blur the distinction between power forward and center. Trading Al Jefferson means the Wolves will in all likelihood start Love and Beasley out of position.
Nikola Pekovic, a 6-11 forward-center, who averaged 14.8 points in just 21.9 minutes playing at a very high level in Europe, might prove to be a very economical signing. Otherwise, the team is an absolute mess. Wesley Johnson might have been worthy of the fourth pick, however he is not a great fit for a team in the process of rebuilding, leading experts to predict that the Wolves will rue the day they passed on DeMarcus Cousins.
The Timberwolves will be about $10 million under the cap next year, but there isn't much to look forward to. One must assume that with a potential franchise point guard in Flynn, and a couple other good point guards in tow, the odds of Rubio coming to Minny are very slim (he didn't want them to draft him in the first place), while Beasley, a major ball-hog, might scare away free agents. Wesley Johnson and Corey Brewer are the only two players on the entire team who can play defense with some competence, and they both play the same position. They have no veteran leadership whatsoever and a logjam at every point guard and the forwards positions. It’s great to accumulate talent but eventually you have to start to build a team that can play together. When your highest-paid player is on his rookie contract and you have one guy older than 25, odds are David Kahn is your GM.
Grade: C-
Oklahoma City Thunder
Key additions: Morris Peterson, Daequan Cook, Royal Ivey
Key departures: Kevin Ollie (retirement)
Draft picks: Cole Aldrich (11), Tibor Pleiss (31)
Entering the off-season with a contender's mindset, the Thunder set out to add some solid outside shooting and post scoring. Whether or not they satisfactorily filled those needs is very much up for debate.
Oklahoma City finished 25th in the league in three-point makes, which led them to take on the final year of Morris Peterson's contract, which will pay him $6.6 million next season, and Daequan Cook, who is owed $2.2 million in the final year of his rookie deal. Together they should be an adequate antidote to the Thunder's shooting woes; Peterson averages 1.4 threes per game for his career, and Daequan Cook is a 3-point shootout champion. They might provide some short term help in the shooting department, but neither is a long-term solution, and they don't come cheap; $9 million is a lot to pay for two very one-dimensional players who combined to average 12 points per game last season, while neither played more than 46 games. They will also cut into the playing time of the team's brightest, more well-rounded prospects (James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Cole Aldrich, Eric Maynor and B.J. Mullens) who are currently in reserve roles. If they don't hit consistently from beyond the arc this year they will be viewed as major failures.
Until Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook gain some more playoff experience and realize their true potential (they still have a ton of room to grow), the Thunder will not be able to contend for a title without reliable post scoring. They addressed a need for another capable big man in the draft in taking a great (if undersized) defender in Aldrich and a potential-laden 7-footer in Pleiss, but neither will be of much immediate use in their quest for a title. Aldrich could very well be their starting center next year, and he'll form with Serge Ibaka an awesome shot-swatting tandem, but neither is a reliable scorer on the low block. They will hope 21-year old 7-footer Byron Mullens (the 24th overall pick in 2009), who has made major strides in the last year, can be that guy in the near future, but it appears that Durant will have to go another year without someone down low to take some pressure off of him on offense.
Unlike in previous years the Thunder appeared to be more willing in building their team by taking on some bad contracts to strengthen some of their weaknesses, swinging deals to acquire a couple shooters who should be able to assist in spreading the floor for Durant and in the process moving up in the draft to acquire Aldrich. They failed, however, to make use of the expiring contracts of Nick Collison ($6.8 million) and Nenad Kristic ($5.8 million), which is especially disappointing when you consider that at this point they are on hindering the development of the team's more talented young big men, and could have been used to acquire someone who could score down low. With their current assets and either Collison or Krsitic's contract they could have found a back-to-the-basket scorer to complement their core (Al Jefferson?). Presti might regret not pulling the trigger on acquiring that post up presence. But he must be commended for keeping the biggest player in the state of Oklahoma around. Kevin Durant’s 5 year $85 million extension was arguably the best signing of the off season. For that reason alone:
Grade: A
Portland TrailBlazers
Key additions: Wesley Matthews ( 5 yeaqr $32.5 million), Rich Cho (GM)
Key departures: Juwan Howard (Heat), Travis Diener, Martell Webster (Timberwolves) Kevin Prichard (GM),
Draft picks: Luke Babbitt (16), Elliot Williams (22), Armon Johnson (34)
When healthy, the Trailblazers might just be the best team in the West. That surely sounds ridiculous, but consider that last year star shooting guard Brandon Roy missed 17 games, starting center Greg Oden (who should have finished third in the league in blocks) missed 62 games, and budding star Nicolas Batum missed 45 games, and they still managed to win just 7 less games than the Lakers. Seeing as how nearly every key Blazer is young and constantly improving, it is hard to imagine that if they stayed healthy, they wouldn’t win at least 7 more games.
The Blazers made a major splash in free agency despite making just one relatively small move, signing former Utah Jazz swingman Wesley Matthews to a 5-year/$32.5 million contract. Matthews, who went undrafted in 2009, has become the highest-paid player in his draft class, and he will earn every penny. A team like Portland that expects to contend might have been better served acquiring someone with a little more experience, though Matthews could very easily be mistaken for a seasoned veteran. He is an elite man-to-man defender, has a great NBA frame and averaged 13 points and 1.8 steals in 37 minutes per game in the playoffs. He will be an excellent fit off the bench, potentially playing 25-30 minutes a night. The manner in which they acquired him might be deemed somewhat controversial, as they signed one of the Jazz’s best young talents to an unprecedented, front-loaded offer sheet ($9.2 million in first year which includes $4.6 in salary, $1.2 million up front and a $5.6 million signing bonus) for a second straight season (the Jazz matched for Paul Millsap last year). Which some believe was in an attempt to weaken their division rival.
Former GM Kevin Pritchard worked his magic in the draft yet again, trading expendable swingman Martell Webster to the Timberwolves in order to select Nevada forward Luke Babbitt, an incredibly skilled scorer who some believed to be a top-10 talent. Memphis combo guard Elliot Williams was a bargain late in the first round; he’s not only an exceptional scorer (17.9 points per game), but he was regarded as one of the absolute best defenders in his class. They then satisfied their need for a backup point guard in taking another Nevada product, Armon Johnson, with the 34th pick. Johnson tested as one of the best athletes at the combine and was a steal in the second round.
While they came away with another great haul in the draft, as was expected, and shored up their wing situation with the addition of Matthews, they made a grave error in judgment in firing GM Kevin Pritchard, the best GM in the league. It was Pritchard who turned the ‘Jailblazers’ into a perennial playoff team, playing an integral role in many of the greatest draft day trades of the decade while building an exceptionally deep team with a nice mix of potential-laden studs and proven veterans. Judging by the depth they added this off-season, the Blazers deserve top marks. By firing Pritchard, however, they indefensibly jeopardized the future of the franchise.
Grade: B
Utah Jazz
Al Jefferson
Key additions: Al Jefferson, Raja Bell
Key departures: Carlos Boozer (Bulls), Kyle Korver (Bulls), Wesley Matthews (Blazers)
Draft picks: Gordon Hayward (9), Jeremy Evans (55)
When Utah's season ended, it appeared that the best they could hope for in the off-season was to re-sign Wesley Matthews and Kyle Korver, with Carlos Boozer long gone the second they were eliminated by the Lakers. As the dust of free agency begins to settle, it appears that this might be the most committed Jazz team since the days of Stockton and Malone.
Using the $14.5 million trade exception they acquired in dealing Boozer to the Bulls, the Jazz traded two future first round picks for Al Jefferson in the summer's greatest coup. Jefferson is younger, bigger, and stronger than Boozer, and he happens to be a superior player in the Jazz methodical system. Jefferson averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds over three seasons in Minnesota, the only player in the entire league to achieve that plateau in that span. He can play either power forward or center, and he is a much better defender than the former Jazz power forward; Jefferson has twice as many blocks as Boozer for his career despite entering the league two years later. The only concern with Jefferson is the health of his knee as for the first time in his career his production went down last season. Having missed the playoffs five years in a row playing on terrible teams while incurring double teams night in and night out, Jefferson will be hungrier than ever with a real shot at winning.
Utah's spirits were again lifted when Raja Bell spurned Kobe and the Lakers for Jerry Sloan and the Jazz, returning to the team that launched his career back in 2003. Some have speculated that Utah was a good wing defender away from making the Finals in 2007, and Bell who may be slowing down with age is still considered one of the best man-to-man defenders in the league, which is why Kobe wanted him so badly. Not only is he a good defender, but he hits two three-pointers a game and should be a great mentor to young wings C.J. Miles and Gordon Hayward.
Much of Utah's success may well on hinge on the play of rookie swingman Gordon Hayward, who the Jazz were lambasted for taking ninth overall. Many suspected that the Jazz would draft a big man in a big man-heavy draft with the expectation that Boozer would leave, but the addition of Jefferson helps make the pick more understandable. The Jazz would have been much better off drafting a more NBA-ready prospect, but Hayward's versatility and well-rounded offensive game now look a bit more appealing; he shouldn't have been the ninth pick, but if he can average 10-14 points a night and shoot like he did his freshman year at Butler, the Jazz won't look so naive. After all, they now have a perfect blend of shooters (Williams, Bell, Okur, Miles, Hayward), post scorers (Jefferson, Millsap), versatile defenders (Kirilenko, Jefferson, Bell, Millsap) and veteran leaders (Bell, Williams, Okur), with a superstar in Deron Williams guiding them. Do not sleep on this Jazz squad.
Grade: A-
NBA Central Division Off-Season Grades
2010 Free Agent-Signing Tracker
Denver Nuggets
Key additions: Al Harrington (5 years $34 million), Shelden Williams (1 year $916K)
Key departures: Johan Petro (Nets), Joey Graham, Linas Kleiza (Raptors)
Draft picks: None
Al HarringtonBy signing former Knicks forward Al Harrington at (5 years/$34 million), the Nuggets shored up their need for another forward who can dependably score. Harrington, who turned 30 in February and has 12 seasons under his belt, averaged 17.7 points and 5.6 rebounds for the Knicks last year while starting just 15 games, showing no signs of slowing down. The Nuggets now have arguably the best bench in the league in Harrington, J.R. Smith, Ty Lawson and Chris Anderson. While Harrington will undoubtedly have a sizable impact, especially in lessening the pressure on Carmelo to score so much, the Nuggets were relatively inactive for the second year in a row.
With Carmelo set to become a free agent at the end of the season, the Nuggets should have at least considered trying to swing a major deal to try to change the team dynamic a bit with the juicy expiring contracts of Nene and Kenyon Martin.
They did not have George Karl to guide them in the playoffs, but even so they should have put up more of a fight against a Utah Jazz squad that was without its starting center and small forward. If that team couldn't get out of the first round of the playoffs, it's hard to imagine what this team's ceiling might be. Johan Petro and Joey Graham were effective in small doses off the bench, and while neither will be truly missed, they proved to be two of the team's best athletes. Harrington is not a superior physical specimen, and nobody on the Nuggets is getting any younger. Not having a single draft pick might end up hurting them in the long run.
If they can stay healthy and play with the same intensity that earned them a conference finals appearance in 2009, as they feel they can, Al Harrington might be just what they needed to get over the hump. He might not play up to his contract's value when he's 35 with 17 seasons worth of mileage on him, but while Carmelo is still in Denver and if Billups and K-Mart still have enough left in the tank for a potential championship run, he was a great pickup.
Grade: B+
Minnesota Timberwolves
Key additions: Michael Beasley, Luke Ridnour ( 4 year $16 million) , Martell Webster, Nikola Pekovic (3 years $13 million), Kosta Koufos, Darko Milicic (resigns 4 years $20 million)
Key departures: Al Jefferson (Jazz), Ryan Gomes (Clippers), Brian Cardinal, Oleksiy Pecherov (Europe), Damien Wilkins
Draft picks: Wesley Johnson (4), Lazar Hayward (30), Paulo Prestes (45), Hamady N'Diaye (56) (Traded to Washington Wizards)
David Kahn is well on his way to building one of the oddest teams in league history. His myriad failures as GM leading up this off-season are hard to recount, but rest assured, he's managed to top himself in the last few weeks. Between giving Darko Milicic $20 million (and calling him one of the best passing big men he's ever seen while comparing him to Chris Webber, who was partaking in the interview) and signing Luke Ridnour on top of a point guard rotation that already includes Jonny Flynn, Ramon Sessions and with Ricky Rubio (supposedly) on the way; Kahn has taken managerial incompetence to new and wildly entertaining heights.
While stockpiling point guards, Kahn has also rounded up a group of nearly identical small forwards who could potentially confuse themselves to one another and will doubtlessly mesh as well as Kevin Love and Al Jefferson did last year. After Corey Brewer put together his first decent season as a pro, Kahn used the fourth overall pick in the draft on Wesley Johnson, and traded for Martell Webster soon after. The Timberwolves now have three 6-7 swingmen who are either 23 or 24 years old and are all top ten picks (very useful side note: Martell Webster has been in the league for five years and is just seven months older than rookie Wesley Johnson). But Kahn didn't stop at dealing for Webster, using the last pick of the first round on Lazar Hayward. If the team's biggest off-season acquisition, Michael Beasley (who is actually 6-8, and not 6-9 or 6-10, as he's normally listed), is to be considered a small forward as well, 7 of the 11 players the Wolves have under contract next year are either point guards or small forwards.
Even if Beasley is to be considered a power forward, he can just be filed under the awesome amount of combo big men Kahn has accrued over the past couple seasons. Franchise power forward Kevin Love is thought by some to be more of a center due to his width, while fellow big men Ryan Hollins, Darko Milicic (the most overpaid player in the league), Kosta Koufos, and Nikola Pekovic similarly blur the distinction between power forward and center. Trading Al Jefferson means the Wolves will in all likelihood start Love and Beasley out of position.
Nikola Pekovic, a 6-11 forward-center, who averaged 14.8 points in just 21.9 minutes playing at a very high level in Europe, might prove to be a very economical signing. Otherwise, the team is an absolute mess. Wesley Johnson might have been worthy of the fourth pick, however he is not a great fit for a team in the process of rebuilding, leading experts to predict that the Wolves will rue the day they passed on DeMarcus Cousins.
The Timberwolves will be about $10 million under the cap next year, but there isn't much to look forward to. One must assume that with a potential franchise point guard in Flynn, and a couple other good point guards in tow, the odds of Rubio coming to Minny are very slim (he didn't want them to draft him in the first place), while Beasley, a major ball-hog, might scare away free agents. Wesley Johnson and Corey Brewer are the only two players on the entire team who can play defense with some competence, and they both play the same position. They have no veteran leadership whatsoever and a logjam at every point guard and the forwards positions. It’s great to accumulate talent but eventually you have to start to build a team that can play together. When your highest-paid player is on his rookie contract and you have one guy older than 25, odds are David Kahn is your GM.
Grade: C-
Oklahoma City Thunder
Key additions: Morris Peterson, Daequan Cook, Royal Ivey
Key departures: Kevin Ollie (retirement)
Draft picks: Cole Aldrich (11), Tibor Pleiss (31)
Entering the off-season with a contender's mindset, the Thunder set out to add some solid outside shooting and post scoring. Whether or not they satisfactorily filled those needs is very much up for debate.
Oklahoma City finished 25th in the league in three-point makes, which led them to take on the final year of Morris Peterson's contract, which will pay him $6.6 million next season, and Daequan Cook, who is owed $2.2 million in the final year of his rookie deal. Together they should be an adequate antidote to the Thunder's shooting woes; Peterson averages 1.4 threes per game for his career, and Daequan Cook is a 3-point shootout champion. They might provide some short term help in the shooting department, but neither is a long-term solution, and they don't come cheap; $9 million is a lot to pay for two very one-dimensional players who combined to average 12 points per game last season, while neither played more than 46 games. They will also cut into the playing time of the team's brightest, more well-rounded prospects (James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Cole Aldrich, Eric Maynor and B.J. Mullens) who are currently in reserve roles. If they don't hit consistently from beyond the arc this year they will be viewed as major failures.
Until Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook gain some more playoff experience and realize their true potential (they still have a ton of room to grow), the Thunder will not be able to contend for a title without reliable post scoring. They addressed a need for another capable big man in the draft in taking a great (if undersized) defender in Aldrich and a potential-laden 7-footer in Pleiss, but neither will be of much immediate use in their quest for a title. Aldrich could very well be their starting center next year, and he'll form with Serge Ibaka an awesome shot-swatting tandem, but neither is a reliable scorer on the low block. They will hope 21-year old 7-footer Byron Mullens (the 24th overall pick in 2009), who has made major strides in the last year, can be that guy in the near future, but it appears that Durant will have to go another year without someone down low to take some pressure off of him on offense.
Unlike in previous years the Thunder appeared to be more willing in building their team by taking on some bad contracts to strengthen some of their weaknesses, swinging deals to acquire a couple shooters who should be able to assist in spreading the floor for Durant and in the process moving up in the draft to acquire Aldrich. They failed, however, to make use of the expiring contracts of Nick Collison ($6.8 million) and Nenad Kristic ($5.8 million), which is especially disappointing when you consider that at this point they are on hindering the development of the team's more talented young big men, and could have been used to acquire someone who could score down low. With their current assets and either Collison or Krsitic's contract they could have found a back-to-the-basket scorer to complement their core (Al Jefferson?). Presti might regret not pulling the trigger on acquiring that post up presence. But he must be commended for keeping the biggest player in the state of Oklahoma around. Kevin Durant’s 5 year $85 million extension was arguably the best signing of the off season. For that reason alone:
Grade: A
Portland TrailBlazers
Key additions: Wesley Matthews ( 5 yeaqr $32.5 million), Rich Cho (GM)
Key departures: Juwan Howard (Heat), Travis Diener, Martell Webster (Timberwolves) Kevin Prichard (GM),
Draft picks: Luke Babbitt (16), Elliot Williams (22), Armon Johnson (34)
When healthy, the Trailblazers might just be the best team in the West. That surely sounds ridiculous, but consider that last year star shooting guard Brandon Roy missed 17 games, starting center Greg Oden (who should have finished third in the league in blocks) missed 62 games, and budding star Nicolas Batum missed 45 games, and they still managed to win just 7 less games than the Lakers. Seeing as how nearly every key Blazer is young and constantly improving, it is hard to imagine that if they stayed healthy, they wouldn’t win at least 7 more games.
The Blazers made a major splash in free agency despite making just one relatively small move, signing former Utah Jazz swingman Wesley Matthews to a 5-year/$32.5 million contract. Matthews, who went undrafted in 2009, has become the highest-paid player in his draft class, and he will earn every penny. A team like Portland that expects to contend might have been better served acquiring someone with a little more experience, though Matthews could very easily be mistaken for a seasoned veteran. He is an elite man-to-man defender, has a great NBA frame and averaged 13 points and 1.8 steals in 37 minutes per game in the playoffs. He will be an excellent fit off the bench, potentially playing 25-30 minutes a night. The manner in which they acquired him might be deemed somewhat controversial, as they signed one of the Jazz’s best young talents to an unprecedented, front-loaded offer sheet ($9.2 million in first year which includes $4.6 in salary, $1.2 million up front and a $5.6 million signing bonus) for a second straight season (the Jazz matched for Paul Millsap last year). Which some believe was in an attempt to weaken their division rival.
Former GM Kevin Pritchard worked his magic in the draft yet again, trading expendable swingman Martell Webster to the Timberwolves in order to select Nevada forward Luke Babbitt, an incredibly skilled scorer who some believed to be a top-10 talent. Memphis combo guard Elliot Williams was a bargain late in the first round; he’s not only an exceptional scorer (17.9 points per game), but he was regarded as one of the absolute best defenders in his class. They then satisfied their need for a backup point guard in taking another Nevada product, Armon Johnson, with the 34th pick. Johnson tested as one of the best athletes at the combine and was a steal in the second round.
While they came away with another great haul in the draft, as was expected, and shored up their wing situation with the addition of Matthews, they made a grave error in judgment in firing GM Kevin Pritchard, the best GM in the league. It was Pritchard who turned the ‘Jailblazers’ into a perennial playoff team, playing an integral role in many of the greatest draft day trades of the decade while building an exceptionally deep team with a nice mix of potential-laden studs and proven veterans. Judging by the depth they added this off-season, the Blazers deserve top marks. By firing Pritchard, however, they indefensibly jeopardized the future of the franchise.
Grade: B
Utah Jazz
Al JeffersonKey additions: Al Jefferson, Raja Bell
Key departures: Carlos Boozer (Bulls), Kyle Korver (Bulls), Wesley Matthews (Blazers)
Draft picks: Gordon Hayward (9), Jeremy Evans (55)
When Utah's season ended, it appeared that the best they could hope for in the off-season was to re-sign Wesley Matthews and Kyle Korver, with Carlos Boozer long gone the second they were eliminated by the Lakers. As the dust of free agency begins to settle, it appears that this might be the most committed Jazz team since the days of Stockton and Malone.
Using the $14.5 million trade exception they acquired in dealing Boozer to the Bulls, the Jazz traded two future first round picks for Al Jefferson in the summer's greatest coup. Jefferson is younger, bigger, and stronger than Boozer, and he happens to be a superior player in the Jazz methodical system. Jefferson averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds over three seasons in Minnesota, the only player in the entire league to achieve that plateau in that span. He can play either power forward or center, and he is a much better defender than the former Jazz power forward; Jefferson has twice as many blocks as Boozer for his career despite entering the league two years later. The only concern with Jefferson is the health of his knee as for the first time in his career his production went down last season. Having missed the playoffs five years in a row playing on terrible teams while incurring double teams night in and night out, Jefferson will be hungrier than ever with a real shot at winning.
Utah's spirits were again lifted when Raja Bell spurned Kobe and the Lakers for Jerry Sloan and the Jazz, returning to the team that launched his career back in 2003. Some have speculated that Utah was a good wing defender away from making the Finals in 2007, and Bell who may be slowing down with age is still considered one of the best man-to-man defenders in the league, which is why Kobe wanted him so badly. Not only is he a good defender, but he hits two three-pointers a game and should be a great mentor to young wings C.J. Miles and Gordon Hayward.
Much of Utah's success may well on hinge on the play of rookie swingman Gordon Hayward, who the Jazz were lambasted for taking ninth overall. Many suspected that the Jazz would draft a big man in a big man-heavy draft with the expectation that Boozer would leave, but the addition of Jefferson helps make the pick more understandable. The Jazz would have been much better off drafting a more NBA-ready prospect, but Hayward's versatility and well-rounded offensive game now look a bit more appealing; he shouldn't have been the ninth pick, but if he can average 10-14 points a night and shoot like he did his freshman year at Butler, the Jazz won't look so naive. After all, they now have a perfect blend of shooters (Williams, Bell, Okur, Miles, Hayward), post scorers (Jefferson, Millsap), versatile defenders (Kirilenko, Jefferson, Bell, Millsap) and veteran leaders (Bell, Williams, Okur), with a superstar in Deron Williams guiding them. Do not sleep on this Jazz squad.
Grade: A-
NBA Central Division Off-Season Grades
2010 Free Agent-Signing Tracker
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