Russ Isabella – USA Today Sports Images
The Utah Jazz just missed out on making the 2013 NBA Playoffs. In fact, they went into the 82nd game of the regular season still with a chance of making it to the postseason. Ultimately, though, the Jazz fell short and ended up on the outside looking in.
Now that they’re in the off-season, though, they are doing anything but rebuilding to try and make another run at the playoffs. With their two best players in Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap both becoming free-agents in signing elsewhere, the Jazz obviously were going to have to start from scratch. More so than people realize, the Jazz are doing just that.
The biggest sign that Utah is blowing things up is kind of a footnote on this off-season. While the Golden State Warriors were clearing cap-room to be able to sign Andre Iguodala and possibly sign Dwight Howard, the Jazz agreed to take on the enormous atrocities that are the contracts of Andris Biedrins and Richard Jefferson, as well as the oft-injured Brandon Rush.
Other than that, Utah has remained silent for the majority of the time. They haven’t been in real pursuit after any big free-agents and seem more-or-less content to go forward with their young players already in place in their first-round pick, point guard Trey Burke.
There’s no denying that big-men Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter have enormous potential as part of the Jazz and to be possible All-Stars in the future. Gordon Hayward is another young player on the Jazz’s roster that has a ton of talent, as is Burke. However, it’s hard to believe that a core of those players is going to do anything close to contending for a playoff spot. Likely, the Jazz are going to end up in the mid-to-high lottery for the 2014 NBA Draft.
In all actuality, that’s probably exactly what Utah wants to do. With the rich draft class projected to come out next summer, having a pick in that position puts your franchise in a situation to grab a franchise-altering player. With the youth and talent they already have on their roster, adding another talented young piece would make the Jazz a force in the future, which is probably why they’ve made the moves, or not made the moves, that they have this off-season.
Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20, add him on Google+ and like his Facebook page.
