Meet
Improving through free agency, draft or both?
Posted by: Kory Woodland on March 2nd, 2013
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Mo Williams, Randy Foye, Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll are Jazz type guys, therefore I wouldn’t be surprised if most if not all 4 FA were re signed this offseason. Al Jefferson is a great guy and nice piece on offense but his huge contract and defensive skills hinder us from taking it to the next level.
If Millsap isn’t wiling to come off the bench and we decide not to re up on Al, I would target Jarrett Jack, David West and JJ Hickson in free agency to backup Mo, Favs and Kanter.
Assuming West and Hickson aren’t interested in becoming 2nd unit guys I would target Trey Burke (PG), Tony Mitchell (PF), and Dewayne Dedmon (C) in the upcoming draft.
I think taking the free agency path provides more of a win now environment whereas landing the mentioned talent in the draft allows us the flexibility to provide pay raises to our current youngsters while developing talent for the future. With a young talented core, we might be able to land a legitimate All Star caliber player in 2-4 yrs if Hayward, Favors or Kanter fail to meet that level of expectation.
Ideally I would do a mixture of the 2. I would pick up Jarrett Jack in FA and draft Burke. If Foye was unhappy letting Mo walk, I would re sign Korver to backup Burks. at SF I would stay put with Hayward and Carroll. David West is playing better than Millsap and Favors this season but at 31 might be willing to follow Favors off the bench more than Millsap is willing to? If not, I pick up Tony Mitchell or Alex Poythress. and finally at Center I would test the waters with JJ Hickson. He would be a steal at 6-8 Mil. If he warrants a higher pay raise or fails to buy in on the idea of backing up Kanter I would then draft DeWayne Dedmon as a 7 footer out of USC to develop behind Kanter.
Jack / T Burke
Burks / Foye or Korver / Murphy
Hayward / Carroll / Marvin
Favors / West (or Mitchell) / Evans
Kanter / Hickson (or Dedmon)
Replies: 2
Views: 385
2 Responses
Kory, was just working on a very similar post. So instead os something new, I hope you dont mind me adding to yours. First I was going to start off rating the players. Here is a silly chart to rate them with.
All Star – The superstar
Solid Starter – Starters who have value, and most teams would be happy with.
Young Starter – inexperienced starter who in time should become much more.
Solid Bench Depth – can step in a starters roll for short periods without causing major damage
Bench Depth – Happy to have him off the bench, does well each time he is on the floor.
Pine rider – someone who fills a roster spot, can show sparks, but isn’t who you want on the floor. (CJ Miles)
Stay Home – Raja Bell.
Many teams play lesser players in higher rolls. But lets rate our players.
Al Jefferson Solid starter
Paul Millsap Solid starter
Mo Williams Solid starter
Marvin Williams Bench Depth (a lesser Millsap)
Derrick Favors Young Starter/ possible eventual All Star
Enes Kanter young Starter/ possible eventual All Star
Gordon Hayward Solid starter (needing consistency)/ possible eventual All Star
Randy Foye Solid Bench depth
Earl Watson 3rd pg. He can lead a team and distribute, but if people don’t guard you, whats that worth?
Alec Burks Solid bench depth/young starter
Jeremy Evans Bench depth
Jamal Tinsley 3rd PG. He can lead a team and distribute, but if people don’t guard you, whats that worth?
Demarre Caroll Solid bench depth/ possible starter
Kevin Murphy Shouldn’t be eating up a bench spot
Free Agents to target:
PGs
Chris Paul, max contract All Star
Brandon Jennings 8 mil 3 yrs Solid Starter
Jeff Tegue 8 mil 3 yrs Solid Starter
Jose Colderon 7 mil 2 yrs Solid Starter
SGs
Randy Foye 3 mil 3 yrs Solid Bench Depth
A deep position, shouldn’t need more than Foye, and not much better available.
SF
Demarre Caroll 2.5 mil 3 yrs Maybe more, there isn’t much out there. Solid Bench Depth
PF
Paul Millsap 4 yrs 38 mill loaded front heavy Solid Starter
JJ Hickson 3 yrs 7 mil Solid Starter
Byron Mullins 3 yrs 5 mil Solid Bench depth
Austin Daye ? Unknown.
Centers
Al Jefferson 10 mil 3 yrs
Tiago Splitter 6 mil 3 yrs
Id Make Caroll and Foye my main focus giving them offers ASAP to try and get them off the market as soon as I could. I would attempt to keep Millsap, even at a 4 yr 38 mil contract, he would be a deal, just front load it. He is a player who does what he is told and the bench thing wouldnt be an issue in a 3 man rotation. Mo, I think you feel out the market and then decide on him.
Draft, I like Trey Burke, Otto Porter, and Anthony Bennett although I doubt you could get all 3 or even a combination of the 2. I like Mike Mascala as a C/PF combination in the second round, as a backup.
Nice post.
Hoopsworld rates Sap, Al as 4-5 best free agents. CP3, Dwignt, Smith ahead of them..