After Bench Rebuild, Jazz Have One More Move to Make

A December trade for Clarkson was part of an active week for Utah’s decision-makers. (Stephen Gosling via espn.com)

Last offseason, the Utah Jazz built a team centered on high-priced additions Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic, meaning that basketball executive Dennis Lindsey and his general manager Justin Zanik didn’t have a whole lot of cap space left to build the bench. The club used its mid-level exception on center Ed Davis and brought in Jeff Green and Emmanuel Mudiay at the veterans’ minimum to help secure the back end of the roster. The moves looked like smart bargains on paper, and even during the preseason the new additions looked good. But that bench unit became a bit of a disaster.

For the first two months of the season, Jazz fans watched as their starters would build a lead and then see the bench surrender it time and time again. The bench woes caused the Jazz to start the season with a record of 13-11. Quin Snyder and staff tried multiple rotation changes. Nothing worked.

On December 23, while the team was in Miami for a game, the Jazz front office said enough was enough. In a single evening, Lindsey and Zanik traded for Jordan Clarkson and let go of Jeff Green so they could move Georges Niang back to power forward.

The Clarkson acquisition ended up costing them Dante Exum and two second-round draft picks. Clarkson has come in and done exactly what this team needed him to do, which was provide a scoring spark off the bench. In 14 games with the Jazz, Clarkson has scored 14.4 points per outing.

The next move came after the Miami game. The Jazz waived Green and signed Rayjon Tucker, a standout of the G League’s Wisconsin Herd. They also did this move to make more time for Niang at his natural position. Replacing Green, a great athlete, with Niang who is anything but didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. But it has worked. His shooting ability has helped spread the floor for the Jazz and it has made an enormous difference. Against Orlando, Niang hit three three-pointers in the fourth quarter, helping the Jazz actually build a lead with their bench and blow out the Magic. It’s amazing what happens when the shots going to a 32 percent 3-point shooter instead go to a 45 percent shooter. (Note: since Green was waived, Niang is actually up closer to 48%.)

Lastly, Snyder benched Davis and gave all the backup center minutes to Tony Bradley. Snyder’s offense is built around having a center that can role to the rim, but this isn’t a strength of Davis’. Bradley is a better rim roller, who has a soft touch around the basket. Combine this with his strong rebounding ability (he is average per 36 minutes 13 boards a game) he has been a better fit than Davis. This has also worked wonders for Snyder’s team.

All these moves have helped stabilize the shaky bench. With Mike Conley back and looking to graduate soon from his minute limitation, the rotation will only get stronger. But will it be enough to withstand another injury and compete against the league’s best? The Jazz have one more piece to play and that is trading Davis.

Why would a team want to trade for a player who just got benched for an unproven guy, playing in an NBA rotation for the first time? His trade value definitely isn’t at its highest but he does have some value. First, Davis is a proven vet and a great locker room guy, and secondly, he is coming off the best year his career.

This is just the wrong team for Davis to be on. A team needing a fine backup center should be interested in him. Here are some teams who might be.

The Pistons and the Hawks are discussing a trade involving center Andre Drummond. The Jazz could make it a three-team deal and send either one of these teams their new backup center.

The Jazz could add someone like Alex Len or Jabari Parker from the Hawks. Len would provide the Jazz with some depth at center and one who, in theory, can spread the floor. Parker is someone many fans have wanted and does many things Clarkson already does: score. The knock on Parker is his defense but that was also a knock on Clarkson too. Parker signed a two-year $13 million deal with the Hawks, included with a player option. It is unclear what Parker will choose to do next summer but part of trading Davis is getting out of the $4.5 million he is owed next season. Having Parker opt in might ruin some plans the Jazz will have. Adding Parker would provide depth but don’t expect him to play in front of Niang. The Jazz like the floor spacing Niang brings. Parker has struggled behind the arc this season averaging just 27 percent. On the other hand, the Pistons don’t have a lot to offer but maybe Christian Wood, who is having a career year, might be interesting.

The Nuggets have two players that have fallen out of their rotation, Malik Beasley and Juan Hernangomez. Both of them will also be restricted free agents in the summer and will want a pay raise, something the Nuggets might not want to do. If they don’t trade them, they will risk losing them for nothing. The Nuggets already have a fine backup center in Mason Plumlee, but he becomes a free agent in the summer. Adding Davis, who will be a cheaper option and is under contract next season, might tempt Denver to make a trade. Beasley is a good developing wing, who showed plenty of promise last season when he got a chance to play. Hernangomez is a modern-day playmaking four, who has had to play out of position a lot in Denver at small forward. If Denver isn’t interested in Davis, maybe a third team could be added to make a trade work.

The Sacramento Kings signed Dwayne Dedmon to be their starting center, but he’s already lost his starting spot to Richaun Holmes and has fallen completely out the rotation. Dedmon wants out of Sacramento, but his contract has too many zeroes attached to it for the Jazz to acquire him. But with Dedmon not playing, the Kings have a hole at backup center. Harry Giles has been playing some there but his coach, Luke Walton, doesn’t appear to be a fan. The Jazz could send Davis for Giles and take a gamble on the former number one recruit coming out of high school. He tore his ACL during his senior year in high school, resulting in his NBA career getting off to a slow start. The Jazz have a top-notch developmental staff and taking a flyer on a talented center could pay huge dividends. The Kings also declined their team option on Giles for next season making him a free agent. They may want to get something for him.

The NBA trade deadline is about a month away, so look for Lindsey and Zanik to be very active in helping strengthen the back end of the bench.