You're the GM this offseason. What do you do?

[Hekate]

I think we should consider starting the following 5:
PG Conley
SG Mitchell
SF O'Neale
PF Favors
C Gobert

I trust Joe's ability to be that 2nd unit leader and help Exum run the offense. If Gobert rests a good bit while Favors and Joe play together, that allows them more time for their pick and roll success while Niang is spotting up.

I think Ingles could be one of the leaders for 6th man of the year.

Ingles can still start and lead the second unit. You just sub him out early. You gotta make perfect use of his secondary ball-handling and spot up shooting. Take Fave and him out at 6 minute mark and let them PnR second units to death.

 

[Ron Mexico]

I think we should consider starting the following 5:
PG Conley
SG Mitchell
SF O'Neale
PF Favors
C Gobert

I trust Joe's ability to be that 2nd unit leader and help Exum run the offense. If Gobert rests a good bit while Favors and Joe play together, that allows them more time for their pick and roll success while Niang is spotting up.

I think Ingles could be one of the leaders for 6th man of the year.

Eh, I agree with the timing but I would still start Ingles and Favors. Then pull them out after 5 minutes and bring in your backup PF and Royce. Then let Favors and Ingles play with the Bench unit some.

One issue is that Conley is not good at the lob pass though. Hopefully he picks it up quick but he hasnt done it much. Conley might be much better running the pick and roll with Favors as well. Whereas Ingles and Mitchell can run it with Gobert well.

 

[stitches]

Ingles can still start and lead the second unit. You just sub him out early. You gotta make perfect use of his secondary ball-handling and spot up shooting. Take Fave and him out at 6 minute mark and let them PnR second units to death.

Yeah, Favors and Ingles have great chemistry in the PnR. If we are keeping Favors we should try to maximize the minutes Ingles and Favors play together with the second unit.

 

[LoPo]

Ingles can still start and lead the second unit. You just sub him out early. You gotta make perfect use of his secondary ball-handling and spot up shooting. Take Fave and him out at 6 minute mark and let them PnR second units to death.

That could work too. I just think Ingles will be necessary in that 2nd unit than in the first since we have Conley, Mitchell and Gobert orchestrating most of everything.

 

[dy47]

At some point, you should like your team because it’s something other than a logo or your hometown team..

real talk

 

[David Stern]

This is not something you even remotely approach doing without knowing you can actually snag a max player. That’s the only scenario you do that.

At some point, you should like your team because it’s something other than a logo or your hometown team. Joe is absolutely critical both to how well this team plays and it’s culture.

I agree with this. I love Ingles and would hate to see him go, and I think that Tobias is the only player I'd trade him for in this free agent class. My personal opinion is that Tobias > Favors+Ingles in terms of potentially winning a championship, although it seems like 90% of this board disagrees with that. I don't think Joe is actually going to get traded to sign Tobias though.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I mean, backup center is replaceable position for sure... for most teams. Back up center at the level Favors is playing is NOT replaceable. People don't seem to grasp just how good Favors played at center last year. Per 36 minutes at center(minutes without Rudy on the floor) he averaged something like 22/14/2 with 2.5 blocks and 1.2 steals at 67% TS... oh and BTW... the team defense GOT BETTER with him on the floor than it was with Rudy. Yeah. This is not a thing most teams can do - have their 2-times DPOY sit on the bench for a break and have their defense IMPROVE... Favors is around top 10-12 center in the league right now when healthy. He just happens to play on the same team with a top 5 center. This is not easily replaceable. His PF minutes are much more easily replaceable(because of bad fit with Gobert) than his center minutes.

I get that... I really do... I am not sure the defense improves (as in Favs is a better defender than Rudy) but going against bench units he is quite productive. The issue is that is 12-14 minutes a night... it would be less in the playoffs. So if you can replace 75-80% of his production is that a meaningful difference if you improve in other areas. Having Favs also prevents us from getting a long term backup if we want... It's also tough to say that his numbers would be sustainable over 36 minutes going against starting units.

Because Favs is good I think we could move him on his one year deal to a cap space team for some assets... if he really is a top 10-12 center he should have a fair amount of trade value on that contract no?

 

[homeytennis]

I think the reporting that it is not certain Favors will be back indicates that the front office has something up their sleeve.

 

[Engorged On Unborn Gore]

Plus who here wants a championship without Ingles? Come on.

No way. **** that ****.

Ingles is part of this team's heart and soul. If Harris wants to kill it next year on a team that is a perfect fit for him, then he can sign with us for less than the max. If Harris can't make it work without the extra $$$$, then he should re-sign with Philly and get the most he can get.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I think we are in a good position to say "Hey Niko, you wanted to come here... we'd love to have you at $11-13M a year for 3-4 years... we'd have a starting role for you... you in???" and if he says no we can just roll with Favs. I think he'd be a good fit and value at that price... you can use the other space to improve depth or get a really good backup center.. maybe even a good young long term backup like Zubac.

Niko would give you the option to go 5 out and play him at center for 4-5 minutes in spots where the matchup dictates it.

 

[stitches]

I get that... I really do... I am not sure the defense improves (as in Favs is a better defender than Rudy) but going against bench units he is quite productive. The issue is that is 12-14 minutes a night... it would be less in the playoffs. So if you can replace 75-80% of his production is that a meaningful difference if you improve in other areas. Having Favs also prevents us from getting a long term backup if we want... It's also tough to say that his numbers would be sustainable over 36 minutes going against starting units.

Because Favs is good I think we could move him on his one year deal to a cap space team for some assets... if he really is a top 10-12 center he should have a fair amount of trade value on that contract no?

No because we tanked his value. First we played him injured for a full year with an injury that's similar to what took Kawhi out for the entire season, and then we've been playing him out of position for the last 4 years for half of his minutes and behind Gobert for the other half. There is no way he would have super high value while he's on the Jazz. But I do think some very lucky team would thank their lucky star for the bargain they get from him if we waive him.

Just an example - I think he's better than Steven Adams in pretty much anything to do with playing basketball on an NBA court. I think he's probably better than Capela too. But if you asked the general public and fans noone would say that. Simply because they either don't watch the Jazz or watch him play out of position for most of his minutes and in bench unit for the rest of it. Favors was integral part of 2 playoff wins against LAC (playing against DAJ) and against OKC(playing against Adams and their other bigs) two years in a roll. I firmly believe he's that good.

Also, I don't think he's better defender than Gobert and I do think that him playing against bench units at C is part of the reason we have better defensive rating with him on the floor than with Gobert on the floor but the stat is correct - our DRat with just Gobert last year was 102.5 and with just Favors it was 100.6. He's damn good defender.

 

[SCS]

Justin Zanik said the Jazz are going to have open roster spots this year for rookies and FAs to fill. The Jazz just paid $2M to acquire the 58th pick in the draft (which is pretty uncharacteristic for them) so they could draft Miye Oni. Not to read too much into it, but it sounds like the Jazz are preparing a consolidation move.

The Conley trade. Rubio, Crowder, Korver, Allen, Sefolosha, Udoh and either Neto or Bradley are gone. Conley replaces Rubio but it still leaves 6 open spots after that.