From 5 Seed to Contenders
Like Detroit, Salt Lake City is not high on the list of cities where NBA players want to live, so it wasn’t a surprise when neither team was in the talks for any of the offeason’s marquee free agents.
Utah still managed to add quality depth to their roster with moves that should make them players in the competitive Western Conference. The Jazz traded a trio of players and two picks to Memphis for Mike Conley Jr. a player long rumored in trade talks surrounding the Pistons. This could be another case where Detroit looks at Utah and wonders what could have been if they had pulled the trigger on a trade for Conley Jr. last season.
Conley Jr. should allow Mitchell to play off the ball more and to rest in spells. Mitchell had the 7th highest usage rate in the NBA last year among qualified players, so the Jazz hope the acquisition of Conley Jr. will take some of the pressure off of their young superstar and allow him to focus more on scoring instead of facilitating the offense.
The Jazz drafted Jarrell Brantley, Justin Wright-Foreman and Miye Oni in the second round. Utah then added quality depth to their roster with free agents Bojan Bogdanovic, Ed Davis, Emmanuel Mudiay and journeyman Jeff Green. Bogdanovic is the real get here and gives Utah a legit second or third scoring option and is a huge upgrade over Kyle Korver.
The Jazz are deep, and they are good. If Conley Jr. can stay healthy the Jazz should once again be in the hunt for one of the top four seeds and home court advantage in the playoffs.