Jazz use caution during free agency period


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SALT LAKE CITY — Dozens of solid NBA players are now free agents and have earned the right to seek out the best opportunity to continue their basketball careers.

And here are the Utah Jazz, willing to dole out huge amounts of cash and the chance to play with an impressive group of young talent. Over the next two weeks, we’ll see if there’s a match.

But don't count on it.

"We feel very strong about the plan that we put in place of our desire to really build through the draft," said team president Randy Rigby.

With one of the youngest teams in the NBA, including teenagers Dante Exum and Trey Lyles, the Jazz may want to add a veteran presence to stabilize the roster. There’s also a great need to bolster perimeter shooting, in particular from 3-point distance.

From the veteran standpoint, the Jazz could entertain signing the likes of Aaron Brooks, Jordan Farmar, Jameer Nelson or Mo Williams. For perimeter shooters, there’s Aaron Affalo, Marco Belinelli and — dare we say — Jimmer Fredette.

Big names are also available, but it doesn’t seem likely LaMarcus Aldridge or Kevin Love would be interested. Maybe the Jazz could bring back a homegrown talent in Paul Millsap.

Whatever the future holds, the Jazz remain intent on improving the team.

“We want to let the fans know that we have every option out there available to us and we’ll exhaust everything,” said general manager Dennis Lindsey. “If it’s a big move, we’d love to do that. If it’s stay the course and stay flexible and young, we’re committed to that process as well.”


We feel very strong about the plan that we put in place of our desire to really build through the draft.

–Randy Rigby


There have been reports on social media that the Jazz are interested in signing Millsap, who left as a free agent two years ago and signed with the Atlanta Hawks. The popular Millsap, who has reportedly received a maximum contract offer from the Orlando Magic, parlayed his strong work ethic into becoming an All-Star in the Eastern Conference both seasons. But the Jazz already have a good frontcourt combination of Derrick Favors, Rudy Gobert and Trevor Booker

Team executives face an interesting challenge to not hinder the chemistry the Jazz impressively displayed late last season. The Miller family, which owns the team, is willing to spend the money as long as it’s for the right type of players.

The Jazz preference is to focus on internal development to make the necessary improvement to make a playoff push next season. Opting against dipping into the free agent pool could provide more flexibility to future moves.

“From A to Z we’ll have every conversation with free agents according to our tiers that are the right fits from just an overall talent standpoint all the way to a need,” Lindsey said. “And we’ll see what that means. We could again spend every dollar available to us. The Millers have authorized us to do so or we could again be very young and move the group forward and operate under the (salary) cap.”

The Jazz bypassed the opportunity in last week’s NBA draft to improve the perimeter game when they chose forward Trey Lyles over Kentucky teammate Devin Booker, who was widely considered the best shooter in the draft. Booker went 13th to the Phoenix Suns, one behind the Jazz.

In Lyles, the Jazz got an agile 6-foot-10, 241-pound forward who figures to fit into the defense-first philosophy that Lindsey has tried to install. Lindsey was fully aware of Booker’s shooting ability but believes the team can improve from within in that area.

"We’ll stand by the pick,” Lindsey said. “We’re very confident in Trey. We’re very confident in our ability to move forward internally as shooters.”

Even if the Jazz don’t sign a free agent, in a sense they will welcome a new perimeter player. Alec Burks, who has a career scoring average of 10.3 points a game, missed 55 games last season with a shoulder injury.

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