Jazz face issue-filled offseason


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SALT LAKE CITY — There was both a feeling of sadness and elation at locker room clean-out for the Utah Jazz Thursday.

Sadness over the season’s final result (a 25-57 effort); sadness for the fact that several members of the team may depart (Richard Jefferson and Marvin Williams are both free agents, while Gordon Hayward is a restricted free agent. Elation for the fact that a season of speculation, disappointment and on-court struggles are over, and there is an offseason to unwind from the pressures of the season.

However, this upcoming offseason for the Utah Jazz may prove to be one of the franchise’s biggest turning points, as so much can potentially happen. There are dozens of issues the Jazz have, and the questions that will need to be asked are numerous. Now, it comes time to begin to look at the three biggest issues that will confront Utah this offseason, and it encompasses nearly every facet of basketball operations.

1. Do the Jazz retain Ty Corbin?

There is perhaps no NBA coach who has ever been in a bigger no-win situation than Tyrone Corbin. Corbin, a former Jazz small forward himself, was thrust into the limelight the minute longtime coach Jerry Sloan chose to step down from coaching. It’s never easy to replace a Hall of Fame coach, yet Corbin was asked to do just that, despite having zero head coaching experience at any level of basketball. Remember, Corbin wasn’t even the first assistant during his time on Sloan’s coaching staff, and he suddenly became a head coach.

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That being said, it’s impossible to forget the numerous game management gaffes Corbin has had throughout his tenure, and games like this year’s 114-94 loss to Detroit, where the Jazz barely looked interested in playing. Whether the team quit on Corbin toward the end of the season will never be known, but it doesn’t speak well to the motivation on the roster to play.

However, Corbin has had several bright spots this season. Indeed, Enes Kanter had a more diverse offensive attack, adding a face-up jump shot and running hook shot to his game. Also, Trey Burke showed signs of being a player to watch with his development, making rookie mistakes alongside making heads-up veteran plays, like finding trailers on a fast break. Finally, credit Corbin for helping to maintain a locker room that had every possible chance to become cancerous not once, not twice, but three times in his three-plus seasons as head coach.

Another goal mentioned early in the season regarding Corbin was promoting a defensive culture. The Jazz ranked 18th in the NBA in defense, allowing 102.2 points — a defense that ranked ahead of Western Conference playoff teams like Portland, Dallas and Houston. However, Utah allowed opponents to shoot .473 from the field over the course of the season — a mark that doesn’t indicate a strong defensive effort. Now, whether or not that is because of the roster or coaching is left to be seen, but the Jazz still couldn’t find a way to stop teams from scoring.

What it will come down to is whether or not general manager Dennis Lindsey believes Corbin is worthy to train a high lottery pick, as Utah attempts to follow the Oklahoma City model in trying to build a championship contender. If Lindsey chooses not to retain Corbin, he is making a statement that this team’s development was sub-standard, and that the younger core of players (Hayward, Favors, Burks, Kanter, Burke) didn’t make enough improvements to prove Corbin’s merit.

2. Does Gordon Hayward return?

Hayward is one of the more interesting enigmas in the NBA. He is a pure stat stuffer, yet doesn’t seem to have the poise to be a game-winning shot artist like LeBron James or Kevin Durant. Of course, Lindsey and the rest of the Jazz management have to quickly decide what Hayward can still become as they prepare to sit down with the restricted free-agent-to-be swingman.

On the season, Hayward finished with an average of 16 points per game, with five rebounds and five assists a game. Numbers like that indicate his ability to play the NBA game, and with his athleticism he was one of the team’s better defenders, yet his struggles this season were well-documented as he missed time due to injury and other factors.

Still, Hayward has shown enough to NBA teams that the Jazz have significant incentive to sign him before another team can. Looking at the final game of the season, a 136-130 win over Minnesota, Hayward proved his versatility, finishing the night with 23 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Yet he also made no 3-point shots (0-for-5) in the game. A team that looks for a long, athletic small forward will certainly covet Hayward, and his relationships with both Phoenix and Boston’s coaching staffs is well-documented. For a player that so much was expected of, Hayward has had to fight through adversity his entire pro career, whether due to a coaching change, players around him changing like the months on a calendar, or playing with the pressure of a future contract.

His comments regarding Jazz fans were positive, and he appears to have a genuine rapport with several teammates that are under contract next season. However, the Jazz will have to weigh out the costs of letting Hayward leave, and the cost of matching an offer sheet for him.

3. Will the Jazz draft the most-talented player or go for positional need?

Utah finished tied with Boston for the league’s fourth-worst record, and draft talk has been entertaining fans since early November. However, the Jazz have to decide whether or not to draft on positional need or on simply taking the most talented player available. After aggregating various draft ranking services, it appears Utah will either have a chance to take guard Dante Exum or forward Julius Randle. The position Utah lacked this season was of a wing scorer, which has prompted all the talk of wings like Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker. Obviously, the Jazz hold multiple draft picks in this draft, so it's yet to be seen whether or not they intend to try to package a deal to move up. The three teams ahead of them (Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Orlando) are going to similarly covet Wiggins and Parker, so if the ping-pong balls fall in sync with the final standings, Lindsey will have to pull off some of his greatest work yet as the team’s general manager.

At 6-foot-6, it would appear that Exum may be the best answer to the position need, as he is a wing player who can also easily handle the basketball. Randle may be the best talent left at the position, as he was a low-post force to be reckoned with in college this past season. However, there is already a logjam of post players on the Jazz rosters, with three players (Favors, Kanter, and Rudy Gobert) returning to the team next season. How the Hayward situation plays out will certainly influence how the team selects, yet it would seem Utah’s greatest need is a wing that can take over a basketball game with shot-making ability. For that, drafting Exum may be the smart move to make.

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Jon Oglesby

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