Answering reader questions before the NBA draft


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NEW YORK CITY — With a few hours to spare before the 2016 NBA draft kicks off, I thought I'd answer a few of your questions. If you have more, please feel free to ask me through Twitter at @andyblarsen.

Should and do Jazz buy back into the first round? What guy would they shoot for? — @TheJerrbear1

I think it's something they're looking at, but I haven't gotten the feeling that they like one prospect as much as they liked Rudy Gobert when they traded into a late first round pick in 2013. That being said, I know trading out from the first round yesterday probably caused some anxiety in the Jazz's front office, passing up on a cheap contract moving forward.

Earlier Thursday, Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Charlotte Hornets are willing to trade the 22nd overall pick for a team to take on Spencer Hawes or Jeremy Lamb's contract. The goal for the Hornets would be to free up more cap space to re-sign their own free agents, and add a difference maker from another team to their mix.

The Jazz weren't interested in acquiring Jeremy Lamb in the Enes Kanter deal, and I doubt they'd be interested now, even though Lamb is coming off a career-best year in Charlotte.

But Spencer Hawes may be intriguing: Quin Snyder has wanted a stretch center to give him more flexibility in running 4 and even 5-out sets. That's part of Tibor Pleiss' appeal, but Hawes has a much more proven shooter. Hawes leaves a lot to be desired on the defensive end, though.

He has one year remaining at about $5.8 million, and then a player option at $6 million for 2017-18. Believe it or not, Spencer Hawes is only 28 years old, and if he plays minutes in 2016-17, he'd probably opt out. Taking on more salary for next year isn't much of a problem: the Jazz will have about $26 million to spend to get to the salary cap next season.

That all being said: there are a ton of other teams that would be thrilled to take Charlotte up on its offer too. Brooklyn should be calling immediately. Los Angeles too. Philadelphia. Portland. Basically, every team without major free agent aspirations will be making the call on this deal, so it's probably unlikely the Jazz get it done.

With the acquisition of George Hill, who in your opinion should the Jazz stick with as the 3rd PG, Shelvin Mack or Raul Neto? — @aheffy

After acquiring George Hill yesterday, the Jazz now have five point guards: Hill, Dante Exum, Shelvin Mack, Raul Neto and Trey Burke. That's too many.

Burke is as good as gone: if not today, then during free agency. Yesterday, Peter Novak reported that the Jazz will try to find a taker for Burke, and if not, negotiate a buy-out with him. He won't play in a Jazz uniform next season.

That leaves four point guards on the roster, and I kind of suspect that the Jazz will keep both. Both Hill and Exum (especially Hill) can play the off-guard if need be, and the Jazz don't have anything particularly compelling to use a third shooting guard spot on. Why jettison Neto or Mack if you don't have to?

That means Mack and Neto will battle for limited minutes in case of injury, but both players have been in that situation before. Mack was Atlanta's third PG, and Neto's just happy to be in the league in a great situation. There shouldn't be any chemistry issues. I'd bet that given the choice, Snyder would play Mack more minutes than Neto, and I'd agree with that decision based on Mack's plus/minus impact since coming to Utah.

Any news on DLeague team? They starting from scratch with roster? Sure seems like it with all of the workouts of second round dudes. — @JoesphHorner

That will be interesting to watch. By all accounts, departed Jazz assistant GM turned likely future Bucks actual GM Justin Zanik ran the basketball decisions of the Idaho Stampede (now the SLC Stars). With him gone, it's a little bit up in the air until the Jazz find a replacement.

That being said, the Jazz scouting department all generally worked on the Stampede's players, and they were acquired because the organization liked them, not just Zanik. So I wouldn't expect major philosophical changes. That being said, D-League rosters are super fluid from year to year.

Rosters aren't close to being set yet: that will very much depend on who the Jazz draft tonight, summer league performances, who decides to go to Europe, the D-League draft, and a bunch of other factors. I'd bet on one or two of the guys the Jazz worked out (either rookies or free agents in the Jazz's mini-camp) to come to SLC and be a capital S Star.

Are there second rounders that the Jazz think will make the team? Or are they thinking draft and stash for the late ones? — @crnkovich17

The Jazz's Walt Perrin told me early in the process that he thinks there's talent to be had in the second round this year. Chad Ford has a big Tier 5 this year that stretches into the second round, talent that GMs believe can be a rotation player if things break right. I'd bet one of those Tier 5 players falls to No. 42, the Jazz's first pick of the draft.

But for the picks 52 and 60, I'd be very surprised if they were college players who expected to play in the NBA right away. Those are much more likely to be traded away (as the Jazz did with the 54th pick last year), or used on draft-and-stash European players. Last year's other second rounder, Olivier Hanlan, was amenable to going to Europe to develop too, even as a Canadian collegiate player.

Really, the Jazz just don't have the roster spots for more fringe talent. They already have 13 players under contract for next season, 15 if they choose to keep Mack and Chris Johnson around. There's not space for more players to make the team.

Teodosic wants either Spurs or Jazz. Now with Hill, Neto, Exum, and Burke, do Jazz target bigs w/ 2nd rounders to stash? — @cellobarney

The question refers to a recent interview that Milos Teodosic gave, where he was very favorable towards Quin Snyder and mentioned only San Antonio and Utah as NBA teams he would like to play on. The best translation I've found for it is here on Reddit's Utah Jazz community.

That being said, Teodosic is a 29-year-old point guard, and not eligible for the NBA draft. With the Jazz acquiring Hill yesterday, Teodosic won't be coming over with the Jazz's already too-full glut of PGs. With draft-and-stash players, the timeline is so far out that position doesn't matter too much, though: you might as well get the best player possible.

Still, it's nice to see some recognition of Snyder and the Jazz's system coming from a third-party overseas.

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