Lakers have no reason to. They own their pick, correct? So without Lebron or Kawhi, they should just try to get the best lottery pick they can. He's a fit in Atlanta due to being a GA boy. Atlanta drafted Collins last year to play PF. But Collins isn't an outside shooter. Even if Favors played the 5, he'd not be a good combo with Collins.
Did you also factor in that Gobert was hurt when Utah had that horrible December schedule? Of course the Jazz were amazing when Gobert came back. They gain a starter and don't have to have Favors cover for Gobert and a backup play in Favors' place and Udoh get a ton of minutes at the backup 5. That's just common sense that getting a starter back is going to make the team much better. And on top of that, Utah had a >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>easier schedule. December was absolutely brutal. Even with Gobert, I'll bet the Jazz don't win more than 2-3 games over what they did that month. Udoh was a novelty; he can block shots. But he's absolutely horrible on the offensive end. Jazz won't miss him at all if he's released (except for his off court stuff). He's not an NBA rotation player.
Looking at some of the deals that are coming together, I’m actually feeling like Thabo, Jonas and Ekpe are all great values. Better to not screw up the cap with bad deals when we’ve already got 3 great ones as insurance already in Utah. Bring them back, look at trades at the deadline and then let them expire after this season.
