Q&A: In Search of a Fourteenth Man

The Jazz have a main roster spot they have to fill by Wednesday. Could Brantley be a candidate? (Ashley Landis-Pool via espn.com)

With three key transaction dates approaching for the Utah Jazz, I asked Jazz Nation for questions, and Jazz Nation delivered. I received questions about all three transaction windows: the move the Jazz must make to add a player by March 10 per league-mandated roster rules; the March 25 trade deadline; and the buyout market, which doesn’t really have a deadline, except that players must be released by their current teams by April 9 in order to be eligible for the playoffs with any new team.

As I started answering those various questions, I got into the weeds on those related to the empty roster spot. Since that’s the most urgent deadline the Jazz face anyway, I’ll answer those questions today, plus a few general inquiries.

I’ll hang on to the questions about the trade deadline and buyout market for a week or two, when we’re closer to both. By then we may have some new rumors and a whole new set of questions coming out of All-Star Weekend.

When the Jazz waived Shaq Harrison on February 24, the roster was reduced to 13 players on NBA contracts, plus two on two-way contracts. Teams are required to carry 14 players, but can dip below that minimum for two weeks at a time, meaning the Jazz will have to acquire a player by some means by next Wednesday, March 10. That’s convenient, as that will be the exact day the team is expected to reassemble in Salt Lake City after the All-Star Break to resume the season.

So when the 15 current Jazzmen return to the ZBBC next Wednesday, expect a new face to join them. A few of the questions dealt with this roster spot:

In regards to the March 10 deadline, can the Jazz just sign a player to a 10-day contract? And if so, can they utilize multiple 10-days up to the buyout market in order to leave possible options open?

@HoboJTheJazzFan

In a word, yes.

The Jazz could choose to sign a player to a contract for the rest of the season, but at this stage of the season they will likely keep options open by signing a 10-day contract. This has everything to do with the perceived higher potential of the buyout market as well as a desire to reduce the impending luxury tax bill.

Barring some kind of tax-avoiding maneuver, any player the Jazz sign to any deal will cost them twice: once in actual player salary, and again in luxury tax. As far as actual salary, the recipient of a ten-day contract will be paid 10/146ths of that player’s minimum salary. For example, a rookie free agent would cost the Jazz about $62K in salary, and a second-year player would cost about $99K, and more experienced players would make around $111K.

That part is simple, but there’s a catch when calculating a team’s luxury tax bill.

Unless the player was acquired via draft rights¹, instead of using the actual salary to calculate the luxury tax, they use the salary figure of a more experienced player: $111K. So in addition to whatever the actual salary figure is the player receives, Utah will pay 1.5 times the $111K figure in tax. That’s the salary ($62K/99K/111K, depending on experience) plus $167K for the right to have a player in practice and on the bench for ten days.

Because of the overall cost, and because the Jazz may not see a large role for whatever player they sign next Wednesday, there’s a very good chance they sign a 10-day contract, then allow it to expire on March 20, when they could choose to leave the roster spot open again for another 14 calendar days. That would bring us to April 3, when they might know more about the buyout market².Injuries or trades or stellar play could change that plan, but at this stage, I expect the Jazz to sign a 10-day contract on March 10 and go from there.

Will the roster spot go to a two-way guy, or is there someone on the market you think they can pick up?

@iamzusuf

This brings up one of the easiest options the Jazz have available to them: promoting from within by converting either Jarrell Brantley or Trent Forrest’s two-way contract to full NBA deals. Either would be a nice way to reward guys who toil in relative obscurity and for about half the pay of a minimum NBA contract³.

But there are two catches.

First, if the Jazz convert either player’s contract to a standard deal, they will have to forego the flexibility that they would enjoy in the ten-day contract scenario just explained. Converting to a standard contract is a rest-of-season option only. No take backs.

Second, we are past the date when teams are able to sign two-way players, so converting either player would effectively cause the Jazz to lose a roster spot (EDIT: I thought this was the case based on January 15 being the last date to sign a two-way contract in a normal season, and March 3 being the translated version of that date this season. However, the Houston Rockets are signing a two-way deal on March 8, so apparently I was wrong, and converting Brantley or Forrest could be an option). To make matters worse, this would move the players into a position where their salaries count in the luxury tax calculation⁴.

Together, these two factors make it unlikely that the Jazz fill the roster spot via two-way conversion.

If any of this makes you feel bad for Brantley or Forrest, there’s a tiny consolation. The NBA Board of Governors is expected to approve new rules that will allow two-way players to be active for more than 50 games, as well as enable them to play in the postseason. To get the Players’ Association to agree to these rules, when two-way players surpass 50 active games, they will start to earn as if their two-way deals had been converted to a regular NBA deal. If they are active for all remaining Jazz games, Forrest will earn the higher NBA minimum salary for his last three games, while Brantley will get the boost for his final four.

What is the team’s priority? A stretch four or a 3&D? Perhaps both?

@PowerTaijiCoach

For this round, because I expect the Jazz will be looking for a 10-day candidate who won’t likely play much, I think they will look for defense and shooting in the G-League, regardless of position. Ideally I think they will seek someone in the 6’6” to 6’8” range, but I’ll remind you again: the chances that this player ever becomes a rotation player are slim to none, so position won’t matter so much.

Last season, the Jazz reached into their own system to sign Juwan Morgan, then looked elsewhere to bring Rayjon Tucker to the team. That’s the type of name I expect to hear (translation: somebody I don’t know) between now and March 9, when word of the impending signing will leak, although I assume the signing won’t happen until it’s required to happen on March 10.

Later, when the team is considering options at the trade deadline and in the buyout market, I think they would target more length that could play if needed against the longer teams they might meet in the playoffs, like the Lakers, but I think that process will look very different from the current one.

For all the hubbub about trying to find another good defender, why isn’t Miye Oni being mentioned as that guy?

@Rossjc4

That’s honestly a very good question.

With a solid eight-player rotation, and lighter ninth-man minutes from Georges Niang, the Jazz would probably like to add another wing defender, but don’t really have much of a role to promise. The Athletic’s Tony Jones made this point Wednesday night when he mentioned that the Jazz need someone in that role for 10 minutes per game:

I do think the Jazz need one more wing defender to go with Royce that Quin Snyder can trust for 10 min a night. But if that isn’t Miye Oni, idk if that person is on the market. It’s a tough line to walk. You may need someone but you don’t want to upset chemistry

— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) March 4, 2021

Given everything we’ve heard about the club’s perception of Oni, and most of what we’ve seen on the floor, it seems strange to me that Quin Snyder hasn’t given him that 10 minutes more regularly, but he hasn’t.

If it hasn’t happened by game 36, it’s probably unlikely to happen as the stakes get higher down the stretch or in the playoffs, barring an urgent need like an injury to a rotation player.

What are your thoughts on Rondae Hollis Jefferson being signed as one of the last roster spots?

@CleverlyJacob

What is the possibility of getting Glenn Robinson Jr as a 3&D?

@PowerTaijiCoach

I included these two examples of players whom I don’t think the Jazz will be signing next week. In general, five- and seven-year veterans would want a rest-of-season contract, and as I’ve explained, I don’t think that’s where the Jazz will be focused on March 10.

In addition, they’re examples of names that people recognize, but we can easily see that teams aren’t exactly enamored of these guys. Hollis-Jefferson was signed by Minnesota in early December, but released before the season started. He has been available to NBA teams for the last 11 weeks, with no takers, probably largely because despite his defensive abilities, he can’t shoot. At all.

Robinson was signed by Sacramento on December 22, literally the day before the Kings’ season started, then released last week. Again, he wasn’t high on teams’ lists prior to the season, and hasn’t been picked up yet. In his case, while he’s a decent three point shooter, I question the 3&D label because I don’t think he’s much of a defender.

Finally, there were a few general questions in the bunch:

Who does the fan base hate more: Nuggets, Sixers, or Lakers?

@CleverlyJacob

Jazz fans hate the Sixers a couple times a year.

They hate the Nuggets a bit right now, primarily because of the still fresh playoff defeat.

But Laker hate is eternal.

Do we know anything about next year’s jerseys since the gold are due to go?

@iamzusuf

I expected the current Statement Edition uniforms to disappear before the 2020-21 season, given the fact that the team seemed to bury them down the stretch last year. Four times the Jazz were scheduled to wear the yellow jerseys and switched to something else, then they didn’t even bother to take them to the bubble.

My guess is that the team wanted to move on, but perhaps didn’t request a change on time to change this season’s jersey lineup. I imagine we’ll see something new next season, after four seasons of making a particularly golden Statement.

Before we even get to next season, don’t forget the NBA still hasn’t officially released this season’s Earned Edition uniforms, although they have been leaked. I assume they will be released very soon, as only half a season remains. Nobody wants a new uniform released when it can only be worn five times⁵.

Do you think the Jazz come out with their patented better second half of the season?

@iamzusuf

Improving on a 27-9 record (61.5 win pace in an 82-game season) is a tough ask, but the Jazz do have a softer schedule for much of the second half, so anything it’s possible.

Hopefully they return from the break rested and relaxed before they play one home game, take a five game road trip, then face the Brooklyn Nets back in Utah. After that, the schedule lightens up a bit, but they will still have some tough tests with two games in Los Angeles and another pair in Phoenix.

I wrote about the second half schedule in more detail last week.

Thanks to everybody for the questions, and like I said, I’ll plan to do this again soon to cover the trade deadline and buyout timeframe, since those were only addressed tangentially this time.