How Close To/Far Away from Contention are the Utah Jazz?

[playdream]

If Hayward is happy in Utah he will be in dreamland in Boston
Hayward's fan in Utah will follow him and he will double his fans

[gouki88]

Utah's title chances hinge heavily on whether Gobert can take another jump and what Hood's peak actually is.  If Gobert takes another jump and Hood has an all star type peak then with Hayward Utah can be a real legit title threat

This is very much the most important factor. If Hood can up his scoring to about 18ppg while maintaining the other aspects of his game, and if Gobert can take some strides on the offensive end then maybe they could be close to contention. But those are two very big ifs.

[tonydelk]

Utah is set up to be a good team for awhile but they are not in a position to beat that Warriors without Golden State having major season ending injuries.  To be honest and not because I'm a Boston homer.  The Celtics are the only team in the NBA that have the short term potential to be a Cleveland or a Golden State and the long term potential to become the next super team when those teams age.  Right now it's Cleveland versus Golden State for the next 3 years with a team like Boston closing the game each year with their top picks and development of young talent.  If Boston can sign Hayward and move two guards for a legit stretch PF that gap will close even quicker. 

[jpotter33]

I've read where a lot of NBA people believe this was this particular Jazz team's pinnacle and that there's not much room for improvement there. I have to agree.

Both Gobert and Hood will be 25 before next season, so I don't see any drastic improvement coming from either of them. Favors will improve a bit back to where he was prior to this year with injuries, but that's not going to move the needle very much at all. Hayward is in his prime and can't reasonably be expected to be better than this last year. They'll probably lose one or both of Hill or Ingles this summer, and they have both Favors and Exum coming up for major deals next summer that they're unlikely to be able to afford if they max Hayward and keep one of Ingles or Hill this summer, which is bad news considering Favors and Exum are the only two players on their roster that could significantly better their game in the coming years.

Honestly, outside of overall team defense, Utah being the "status quo," and them being able to offer the extra year, which I don't think will matter with Hayward anyways due to him probably opting out after 3, I think Boston has the advantage in every other area.

[Moranis]

I've read where a lot of NBA people believe this was this particular Jazz team's pinnacle and that there's not much room for improvement there. I have to agree.

Both Gobert and Hood will be 25 before next season, so I don't see any drastic improvement coming from either of them. Favors will improve a bit back to where he was prior to this year with injuries, but that's not going to move the needle very much at all. Hayward is in his prime and can't reasonably be expected to be better than this last year. They'll probably lose one or both of Hill or Ingles this summer, and they have both Favors and Exum coming up for major deals next summer that they're unlikely to be able to afford if they max Hayward and keep one of Ingles or Hill this summer, which is bad news considering Favors and Exum are the only two players on their roster that could significantly better their game in the coming years.

Honestly, outside of overall team defense, Utah being the "status quo," and them being able to offer the extra year, which I don't think will matter with Hayward anyways due to him probably opting out after 3, I think Boston has the advantage in every other area.

Gobert has gotten significantly better in each season his career.  At some point that will end but it may not be this season.  Hood is older but only 3 seasons in and was injured last year and regressed a bit.  He made a big jump between year 1 and year 2 though.  Maybe last year is his new norm but I would expect him to have a career best season next year.

[jaketwice]

I think they have some issues at the guard spots. I'm not sure Dante Exum is their PG of the future, and I don't think Hood is as great from 3 as a shooting guard on a winning team needs to be. ...so I guess they can improve; I think they are two pieces away. I know that Hill is the main guy at PG, but he won't be for too much longer, he's getting older.

Would Hayward want to be a part of the growth project? And where would those two pieces come from? If he stays with the team, they project to be out of the lottery for the foreseeable future. What kind of success has Utah had signing bona fide free agents?

Utah needs good shooting, I think. So they'll need to make some moves in order to do that.

[Phantom255x]

I think they have some issues at the guard spots. I'm not sure Dante Exum is their PG of the future, and I don't think Hood is as great from 3 as a shooting guard on a winning team needs to be. ...so I guess they can improve; I think they are two pieces away. I know that Hill is the main guy at PG, but he won't be for too much longer, he's getting older.

Would Hayward want to be a part of the growth project? And where would those two pieces come from? If he stays with the team, they project to be out of the lottery for the foreseeable future. What kind of success has Utah had signing bona fide free agents?

Utah needs good shooting, I think. So they'll need to make some moves in order to do that.

To be fair, we are two pieces away too, although with Hayward, we'd probably be 1 piece away, although if you trade Isaiah, it's back to being "two pieces away" because lets give Fultz some time to grow a bit into an elite scoring guard.

[Beat LA]

I don't think they can clear the space to sign Millsap and Hayward, let alone re-up Hill, etc.

Just going by the espn trade machine, Utah already has $13,644,807 million in cap space before the increase and if Hayward opts out, but even if he doesn't, between the room they already have and the expiring deals of Hill, Ingles, Mack, and Withey, they'd have $27,244,807 to use.  Admittedly, I'm not even close to Saltlover when it comes to knowing about the cap, but surely they could get Millsap with that much to use and then go over the cap, if necessary, to resign guys like Hayward, Hill, and Ingles, right, or am I wrong here?

It's not really how it works. Until you renounce a free agent's rights they count against your cap. You can't subtract Hayward's salary, sign Millsap with cap space, and then resign Hayward and other free agents.

TP for correcting me.  Thanks .  Having said all of that, though, could they not reasonably get Millsap for $13 million, or is that not enough?  I'm guessing that it's not enough.  The money now is beyond insane, to me.

[Ilikesports17]

I don't think they can clear the space to sign Millsap and Hayward, let alone re-up Hill, etc.

Just going by the espn trade machine, Utah already has $13,644,807 million in cap space before the increase and if Hayward opts out, but even if he doesn't, between the room they already have and the expiring deals of Hill, Ingles, Mack, and Withey, they'd have $27,244,807 to use.  Admittedly, I'm not even close to Saltlover when it comes to knowing about the cap, but surely they could get Millsap with that much to use and then go over the cap, if necessary, to resign guys like Hayward, Hill, and Ingles, right, or am I wrong here?

It's not really how it works. Until you renounce a free agent's rights they count against your cap. You can't subtract Hayward's salary, sign Millsap with cap space, and then resign Hayward and other free agents.

TP for correcting me.  Thanks .  Having said all of that, though, could they not reasonably get Millsap for $13 million, or is that not enough?  I'm guessing that it's not enough.  The money now is beyond insane, to me.

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