In recent times, professional basketball in Utah hasn’t exactly set the world of professional sports on fire.
Yet with the NBA trade deadline set to expire within the next 24 or so hours, the Utah Jazz has an excellent opportunity to make some significant headlines.
Not since the late 90s, when Karl Malone and John Stockton roared through the West and helped the Jazz to back to back Finals appearances, has the NBA world given too much thought about goings-on in Salt Lake City.
While many focus their attention on the more colourful destinations of the NBA, the Jazz have quietly and consistently chugged along.
They’ve missed the playoffs just four times over the past 29 seasons, while in more recent times building a quality squad achieved through a combination of shrewd front office decisions and clever drafting.
With the NBA trade deadline set to expire on Friday morning Australian time, the Jazz have become the subject of speculation regarding a move which would potentially land Utah explosive Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe in exchange for the always consistent, embodiment of all things Utah, Paul Millsap.
The Jazz are in a strong position as the deadline approaches having gone 15-7 over their last 22 games, in the process solidifying yet another likely playoff appearance with their eyes now on a four or five seed.
But a close look at their squad complexion reveals a significant imbalance between their impressive front court and an aging, makeshift collection of guards.
For instance 35-year-old journeyman Jamaal Tinsley is currently running the point for the Jazz and while he’s submitting a decent five assists per night, he’s contributing very little where scoring is concerned.
Surely Tinsley isn’t anything more than just another stop-gap solution Utah have tried since trading Deron Williams to the Nets.
While Eric Bledsoe doesn’t exactly fit the mould of a copy-book point guard he does represent a significant back-court upgrade for the Jazz as well as the explosive presence they’ve been sorely lacking.
Bledsoe’s numbers are difficult to put in context as his minutes have been limited, owing to playing understudy to the NBA’s pre-eminent point guard Chris Paul in LA.
Yet his per-36 minute numbers are highly impressive and have contributed greatly to the former Kentucky player being the subject of various trade rumours.
Bledsoe is one of just a handful of players averaging 15 points, five assists and five boards per 36 minutes, while he’s also improved exponentially as a three-point shooter, jumping from 20 percent to 43 percent from long range this season.
While there’s no evidence yet that Bledsoe will develop into the traditional point guard the Jazz likely still crave, many have suggested he could develop into a player like Russell Westbrook.
While Westbrook does not fit the traditional point guard description he is providing Oklahoma City with the kind of schizophrenic output opposition teams struggle mightily to counter.
Thankfully for the Jazz they’re not embroiled in the kind of desperate situation some teams find themselves in at this time of the season.
They can pursue an upgrade at their own pace and needn’t be forced into anything too risky, while one could contend that should they land Bledsoe before the clock strikes midnight, expectations of what could be achieved this season would rise greatly.
Terry Goldfain
Guest
With both Millsap and Jefferson injured today, the Jazz showed how much talent they have at the Center and Power Forward positions. Kanter had a huge game (23 points 22 rebounds) and both Kanter and Derrick Favors played defence their previously mentioned, more experienced colleagues, could only dream of. I'd love to see what Kanter and Favors could do with more minutes, and they are certainly ready to take the step up. A potential trade I haven't seen spoken of, but that makes a ton of sense to me, is with Minnesota. Four of the ten players that took the court for the T Wolves today were Point Guards, and with Kevin Love injured indefinitely, and seemingly unhappy in Minnesota, this would have worked for both teams. Even a Shooting guard for Point Guard trade could have worked between these two teams, as backing up Randy Foye, Utah has the constantly improving Hayward, and a potential future star in Alec Burks.
Blendo
Guest
The Jazz should've pushed harder for this one. I think in a year or two they'll really regret not being able to pull it off and pick up Bledsoe. Thought it would've been a much bigger 'get' for them vs. the upgrade of Millsap.
mushi
Roar Guru
I’d be selling now on Bledsoe because it seems like the way he is referred to that many teams might pay full price for his potential. Millsap though – I’m not sure how he fits with the team. I like it on offence but on D it will be a bit of a disaster paring him with T Rex. Then there is the finances... Millsap is off contract and almost certainly will get an offer of 10m plus from someone given you’ve got a slew of teams with cap space and not everyone is going to have Dallas or Houston like restraint. If the clippers get him at 10m, Paul at Circa 20, Jordan at 11, blake at 13.5? you’ve got a mid 50 millions team with 4 guys and one of them has to ride the pine. Matching the DeAndre Jordan deal haunts them
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
If the finances work, that would be a great trade for both teams. The Clippers need some front court depth, and whilst Millsap isn't a centre, his inside/outside game may work well with Blake Giriffin. He's also a solid free throw shooter, something Griffin and DeAndre Jordan certainly aren't, which hurt LA's crunch time line-ups. I think he's be a great addition to the Clippers line-up. It would hurt losing Bledsloe, but they can't keep him on the roster anyway, from a minutes and salary point of view, because both will need to go up significantly next year. If they're confident on keeping Chris Paul then they should trade Bledsloe to fix one of their other issues. Meanwhile the Jazz could certainly use Bledsloe's explosiveness in the backcourt. It could be one of those rare trades that truly helps both teams.