Utah Jazz
Team Outlook-
For the past couple of seasons, the Utah Jazz have been on the bubble of cracking the playoffs and missed the playoffs by a single game to the Houston Rockets finishing the season with a 40-42 win-loss record. The 2016-17 season brings some new hope for the Jazz as they get their potential future star PG Dante Exum back from injury and they have brought in some key veteran players in the likes of George Hill, Joe Johnson and Boris Diaw to add even more depth to the roster but also some additional scoring options. When you look at the Jazz’ roster you actually see one of the most depth heavy teams and although that is good for Utah Jazz the team, it is not the best for DFS and finding fantasy value from the players as minutes are what we are looking for in putting our rosters together as that is where the points will come from.
Projected Starting Lineup
Point Guard- George Hill
The point guard position was the toughest spot for the Jazz last season as they dealt with a preseason injury to their potential prized future star in Dante Exum. They struggled to try to fill the void with starting the likes of Raul Neto and later trading for Shelvin Mack but it was clear that the PG position was a key weakness on the Jazz team and hopes for success. The Jazz recognized this weak spot and traded away the 12th overall pick in the draft in a 3-team deal to bring George Hill to Utah and pencil him in as the team’s starting PG. The 30-year old Hill is coming off a 12.1 points and 3.4 assists season for the Indiana Pacers and will be an asset in helping to distribute the ball to the likes of Hayward, Favors, Gobert, and Hood.
Shooting Guard- Rodney Hood-
Hood has been one of the pleasant surprises for the Jazz over the past two seasons. After they drafted him 23rd overall in 2014, Hood has done nothing but put up fantasy points for the team. He started 79 games last season and averaged 32.2 minutes, 14.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 0.9 steals. He is known as a shooter but he can also put up stats in small doses in the other categories.
Small Forward- Gordon Hayward-
Hayward may be the best fantasy asset on the Jazz as he gets plenty of minutes and contributes in all the fantasy scoring categories. Coming off a season where he played 80 games he averaged 36.2 minutes, 19.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.2 steals a game. The one thing slightly negative about Hayward is that he can have up and down type of games so counting on a sure fire consistent game out of him is anybody’s guess.
Power Forward- Derrick Favors-
When you think of the Utah Jazz over the past few season it is the names of Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors that come to mind. In the DFS world you are looking for players that play big minutes and can score and rebound the basketball. Favors can do it all but his one downfall is that he has been getting banged up and missing some games. He appeared in 62 games last season averaging 32.0 minutes, 16.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.5 blocks per game showing that he can truly do it all if healthy and on the floor.
Center- Rudy Gobert-
Much like his teammate Derrick Favors, Rudy Gobert had to fight the injury bug last season and appeared in 61 games on the season. When healthy Gobert can be a force defensively and he shows with his 11.0 rebounds a game and 2.2 blocks from last season. He can also score the basketball in close as he averaged 9.1 points.
Key Bench Players
Dante Exum – There was so much hype surrounding Dante Exum after the Jazz drafted him 5th overall in the 2014 NBA Draft. Fast forward 3 years and he played his full rookie season and missed his sophomore year with a season ending injury. The hope is for Exum to be fully healthy and eventually over take George Hill as the starting point guard. He could also see some time at shooting guard as the Jazz have a great deal of depth everywhere you look. Even in his rookie season when he was healthy he was still finding his ways and learning the NBA game. He will be one of the most interesting players to watch on the Jazz this season and if he can work his way back to full health he should see plenty of minutes.
Joe Johnson - Although Johnson’s 35-year old age comes into play for most teams, it is quite the opposite for the Jazz as they have a young core group of players that needed some veteran presence. The Jazz agreed to a two-year, $22 million contract with Johnson this offseason and he will be entering into his 15th season in the NBA. Johnson averaged 12.2 points, 3.9 assists, and 3.6 rebounds in 81 regular season games with Brooklyn and Miami last season.
Trey Lyles – Lyles was the Jazz’ 1st round pick (12th overall) in the 2015 NBA Draft and he played like a rookie early in the season but by the end of the year he improved a great deal and became a big part of the rotation off of the bench. He was a key fill in when starters ahead of him were injured and he ended up starting 33 games himself. He will be a key member of the team this season off the bench and should continue to develop into a better all-around player.
Alec Burks - Burks struggled to stay healthy last season as he missed a total of 51 games. In the 31 games that he was available, he was very effective off the bench behind Rodney Hood and averaged 25.7 minutes and 13.3 points per game.
Shelvin Mack - The Jazz bit the bullet late last season and traded for Mack and instantly inserted him in the lineup as the starting point guard. In 27 starts for the Jazz he played an average of 31.4 minutes and scored 12.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 5.3 assists and was an instant upgrade at the PG position. He will serve as a backup type role heading into this season behind George Hill and Dante Exum.
Boris Diaw - The Jazz were full of wheeling and dealing all offseason in moves where they tried to bring in a veteran group to help their current younger group. Diaw was one of those pieces as the 34-year-old was acquired in a trade that sent the Jazz’ 2015 2nd round pick Olivier Hanlan to the Spurs. Diaw is entering his 14th season in the league and should be a welcoming bench player that adds some size to the Jazz frontcourt as he will likely spell Derrick Favor, Trey Lyles and Rudy Gobert.
Joe Ingles – The Jazz have used Joe Ingles in 79 and 81 games over the past two season and he has made 34 starts in that span. With the Jazz roster growing with depth this offseason it will be hard to find many minutes for Ingles moving forward. He averaged 15.3 minutes last season with 4.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists.
Raul Neto – The 2015-16 season was one where the Jazz struggled right from the start to find consistent play from their point guard position. With Exum going down with injury before the season even began the Jazz were forced to plug Raul Neto into the lineup as the starting PG for the teams first 53 games. Neto averaged 18.5 minutes and 5.9 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
Jeff Withey – Withey was a depth type player last season for the Jazz as he appeared in 51 games and started 10, averaging 12.9 minutes per game and finishing with 4.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 0.4 steals and 1.0 block a game. He adds some height to the team with his 7’0” frame.
Key Offseason Acquisitions
Boris Diaw
Joe Johnson
George Hill
Key Offseason Departures
Trey Burke - It was beyond evident that Trey Burke fell out of favor with the Jazz organization and head coach Quin Snyder. The Jazz dealt Burke to the Washington Wizards for a 2021 second-round draft pick. With the addition of George Hill this offseason and the return of Dante Exum from injury and depth of Shelvin Mack and Raul Neto at the point guard position it was pretty clear that Burke was not coming back for the 2016-17 season.
Trevor Booker - Booker skipped town and signed with the Brooklyn Nets this offseason in a move where the Jazz were ok as they have already acquired enough depth on their roster to get by without Booker off the bench. Booker played in 79 games for the Jazz and started in 2 of those games and averaged 20.7 minutes played per game. He was a decent bench player but with the addition of Boris Diaw and the emergence of Trey Lyles there just wasn’t a spot for Booker on the Jazz’ roster for the 2016 season.
