The Utah Jazz finished towards the bottom of the standings, but have a solid core of young players that will hopefully carry them back into the postseason.

Season Summary

Utah made it clear they were ready to head in a new direction this season after allowing last season’s leaders in points and rebounds Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap to leave via free agency.

The Jazz have a quintet of young prospects in Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter, Trey Burke and Alec Burks – all are within the 21-23 age bracket and have played no more than four years in the league – and they chose to get some experience under their belts rather than persist for low seeding in a tough Western Conference.

By season’s end, Utah were tied with the Boston Celtics for the fourth-worst record in the league, finishing the year with a 25-57 record, but did get valuable playing time into their young core.

Each of the five aforementioned youngsters played no less than 26.7 minutes per night and featured in at least 70 games.

Hayward showcased his wonderful all-around game throughout the season, averaging 16.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.4 steals in his fourth campaign – all career-highs. His shooting percentages did drop to 41.3% from the floor and 30.4% from deep, but as much should be expected in his first season as a primary option on a talent-deprived team.

Favors (13.3 points, 52.2% FG, 8.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per night) and Kanter (12.3 points and 7.5 rebounds) might not have taken as big of a step forward as many would have liked, but their steady improvement should not go unnoticed.

Meanwhile, Burks embraced his role as sixth man and developed into a nice second unit scorer, putting up 14.0 points per contest.

Overall, the Jazz struggled scoring the ball. They finished the season second-worst in the league for points per game production (95.0) and struggled to stop their opponents scoring at the other end equally as bad – 29th in the league in defensive efficiency (111.3).

Utah’s finish in the standings was obviously a disappointing result, but at the same time, they are clearly in a rebuilding stage.

Poor record aside, the Jazz got valuable experience into their young core, and the evaluations they can make from that, will be invaluable heading forward.

Most Valuable Player

After losing two of their best players in the offseason, the Jazz were left searching for leadership and a new identity heading into the new season.

In his fourth professional season, Hayward definitely embraced the role as Utah’s on-court leader.

He is still relatively young, but the 23-year-old tackled his new responsibility as the leader of Utah’s youth movement with admirable grit and determination.

He bumped his production across the board – except his forgivable drop in scoring efficiency – and his development should be one positive fans can take away from an otherwise disappointing season.

However, the former ninth overall pick will be a restricted free agent in the offseason, and with rumours that Hayward’s college coach Brad Stevens and his Celtics, the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers, amongst others, are interested in obtaining his signature, Utah may have a fight on their hands to retain his services.

X-Factor

Former Michigan standout Burke, finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting after making an immediate impact for the Jazz.

After seeing his NBA debut delayed by injury, Burke finished the season averaging 12.8 points (third amongst rookies), 5.7 assists (second) and 0.6 steals (ninth), he also nailed 111 threes (second) and recorded eight double-doubles (third) during the season.

Utah has been searching for their future point guard since they dealt Deron Williams to the then New Jersey Nets in 2011. Devin Harris and Mo Williams were not the answer, while watching John Lucas and Jamaal Tinsley controlling the offence at the beginning of this season was not pretty to watch either.

Despite his delayed debut, Burke still finished the season second in total minutes played for the Jazz – a clear indication of the faith they have in him developing into the long-term solution at point guard.

He is an excellent passer, who looks to others before deferring to his own scoring abilities. And while his efficiency from the floor was questionable at times – Burke often struggled to score against bigger-bodied NBA defenders – he is an adequate finisher at the rim (51.1% at the cup) and shot a respectable 41.9% from midrange.

Inserting Burke into the lineup also alleviated some of the ball-handling pressure on Hayward and Burke.

Looking Forward

Before the draft lottery, Utah won the “coin flip” tiebreaker against the Boston (who also finished 25-57) and looked primed for a top-4 pick and even had a 33.7% chance to slip into the top three.

However, thanks to the Cavaliers’ endless luck, the Jazz were pushed to fifth overall.

Although they missed out on the likes of Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker, who went to the Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks, respectively, the Jazz did land an exciting prospect in Australian combo guard Dante Exum.

Coming out of Melbourne, Australia, Exum is somewhat of an unknown commodity, having not played competitively on the big stage of the NCAA level – his last notable tournament was the 2013 Under-19 FIBA World Championships, where he averaged 18.2 points at 44.6%, 3.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists. However, with excellent speed, court vision and instincts, and standing At 6’6″, Exum has the skills and size to slot into Utah’s backcourt with Burke. Definitely keep an eye on the 18-year-old at Summer League, as it will be the first time to truly see him competing against NBA-level talent.

The Jazz also received the 23rd pick via the Golden State Warriors (after taking on the contracts of Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson and Brandon Rush during the offseason), which they used to select Duke’s Rodney Hood, who was projected to much higher by many scouts and should be an excellent shooter and defender at the next level – averaged 16.1 points and 42.0% three-point field goal percentage after transferring to the Blue Devils from Mississippi State.

Meanwhile, the expiring contracts of Biedrins, Jefferson, Rush and Marvin Williams will give Utah around $30 million in cap space to play with during free agency.

However, the immediate future of Hayward and planning for Kanter’s inevitable contract extension will need to be factored into the Jazz’s spending plans.

The Celtics are rumoured to be interested in acquiring Hayward, so Utah might need to over-spend to retain the former Butler star.

Regardless, the Jazz are still rebuilding and are not likely to be able to attract a big-name free agent anyway. Look for them to add some veterans to help develop their young talent.

Meanwhile, Utah hired Quin Snyder to replace Tyrone Corbin as the team’s head coach. Snyder has previous NBA experience as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers.

Utah have an exciting young core, valuable assets and are well positioned to improve their team during the offseason.

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