Utah
Jazz draft prep gets into full swing with NBA combine
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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Jazz general manager Justin Zanik knows the uncertainty and the challenge that faces the franchise over the next six weeks.
Utah holds three first-round picks in next month’s draft — three opportunities to make what could be a team-changing selection.
“There’s always good players in the draft,” Zanik said. “So it’ll be an exciting time. We’ll be able to get quite a few people in — combine, interviews, watching them. I’m excited to get to know these guys and see which ones will fit our culture and our timeline going forward.”
Those good players can be found all throughout the draft. Denver’s Nikola Jokic was a second-round selection and Miami’s Jimmy Butler was a late first-round pick. Those two players have led their team to conference finals appearances this season; and those type of examples seem to be growing year by year.
Part of that is there’s more and more talent coming into the NBA. The other part is it’s more difficult to evaluate players in the one-and-done era. With limited data, teams are often forced to make projections on how a player will do versus making just a straight evaluation.
“You’ve got 18 or 19 year olds. I mean, we can all go around the room thinking about what we were going to be at 19 versus what we were,” Zanik said. “So when you have young players that grow, develop, work, no matter where they start the draft, there’s always going to be good players in the draft all through it — good players that end up being undrafted, good players that end up needing a few years, some of them start really fast early and then drop off.
“So it’s just trying to get to know these guys as much as we can. You’re projecting human performance at 18 or 19, 20 years old, so they’re all going to move in different timelines.”
As many as 10 Jazz representatives have descended on Chicago this week for the league’s combine in an effort to attempt to figure out which young players will pop and which ones won’t. Over the next week, players will run through drills, play some live-action games against each other, get measured and have a lot of team interviews.
The combine is a major step in the draft process for the Jazz, who currently own a lottery pick, along with the No. 16 and No. 28 selections, giving the team a chance to get a firsthand look at just about every top prospect in this year’s draft.
“We’ll spend a lot more time watching them collectively, with groups, and evaluating them. And we’ll have a lot of time at the combine and in draft workouts to get to know them up close and personal,” Jazz CEO of basketball Danny Ainge said.
The “up close and personal” part is especially important, Ainge said, since the college and NBA games are so different. He mentioned the lack of spacing and how the defenses are so much better than that of the offenses in the college game as evaluation challenges.
Utah’s draft collective will include coach Will Hardy, who gained a reputation in his first year as an NBA head coach as one of the bright up-and-comers in the league. But he’s quick to downplay his voice on draft matters.
“I’m involved in conversations with Danny and Justin,” Hardy said. “I’ll start studying some of these guys in the draft, but fully aware of the fact that the work that they’ve done all year studying these players, there’s no way that I could catch up before the draft. So I’ll be giving input and, obviously, continue to stay in conversation with them, but they know these players in a way that I don’t. So I’ll, obviously, follow their lead and try to give input along the way.”
The way will include numerous workouts in Salt Lake City with players projected to go all over the draft. The Jazz have decided to keep things close to the chest this draft season, opting not to announce who they are bringing in. While most will be kept hush-hush, make no mistake, it will be a busy time at the Zion’s Bank Basketball Campus.
“A lot of draft workouts, with the ability to get more people in with multiple picks,” Ainge said.
Then he paused for a beat and smiled.
“Bring people in that we’re looking at for the 28th pick since we can tell them that we’re looking at him for the ninth pick. Just kidding, all you agents listening.”