Thee Jazz Fan
Well-Known Member
It's hilarious that some are calling Middleton a 10-11 million$ player and Hood a bust.
I think Hood will be a solid backup, which is all you really want/expect out of a guy drafted in the 20's. His ability to play either wing position will be valuable going forward. As Lindsey said, he sees Hood developing into a SF. That would be a pretty solid rotation if it happens: Hayard/Hood.How can anyone say Hood will be good enough to be a starter on a Championship team? If anything he looks closer to out of the league in 2 years than that. Why take the risk when you just sign someone who is already good enough to be a starter on a playoff team?
Interesting.Jury is still out on Hood, but after trading Enes, this off-season is the year we should sign a free-agent. I think the Burke expirement should be over as well. The Jazz need more offensive potency if they ever hope to contend, and Trey doesn't bring efficient offense or defense.
I hope we can aggregate some of million second-rounders, our own pick, and whatever else needed (Trey?) to move up to snatch D'angelo Russell (or we could just get lucky.
So the addition of a healthy Alec, Russell, and a healthy/ better seasoned Hood would pretty much flesh out the gaping hole at the wing right now.
PG is also a big weakness, but I don't want stunt Dante's growth. I think we pushed him into the starting gig too fast because Trey was too awful, but I think putting him back on the bench could hurt his confidence--which seems to be his biggest weakness thus far (lack of trust for his own talents). Bring Neto over. Exum, And Neto are PG's and Hayward and Russell are point-forwards (technically Russell is a gaurd, but...), and Hood and Alec are both good enough ball handlers as well. I think this position, which is weak now, will right itself as well.
So what do we need?
We still need a stretch four who can pass!
If there is any chance that Kevin Love might be back on the market at season's end, we should throw every last dollar we have up to the luxury tax, shed Booker, and whoever else we need, and try to sell our story. A Kevin Love-Rudy Gobert-Derrick Favors would be the best sampling of all three big man archetypes.
So there's my pipe-dream in the post Enes Jazz era.
Weird that anyone is ready to make any guesses to hood is. He has looked bad and he has looked good and he has been injured. At the worst he looks like rotation player and reminds me somewhat of Danny green.
Is rather have Trey than Lin.
Trey = Lin, but Trey is a lot cheaper.
Gobert/Favors/Pleiss (or other FA)
Favors/Booker/Jerrett (or other developmental stretch-4)
Hayward/Hood/Ingles
Burks/Draft Pick/Millsap
FA or trade/Exum/Neto (or other 3rd PG)
That's the way I could see things working out. And that totals 14 players. Our "deep" bench (i.e. the guys who rarely see playing time) would be Ingles, Millsap and a prospect we develop as a stretch-4. Pleiss would get 10 mins/per (I'm assuming Tomic doesn't come over) as the 4/5 is primarily a 3-man rotation of Gobert, Favors and Booker. Our draft pick develops behind Alec; if he eventually starts in 2-3 years, Alec becomes the 6th man for the rest of his contract - or gets traded. Maybe Dante starts, maybe not. But his minutes are kept at about 18-20.
Trey is traded. We use our 2nd-rounders in trades or draft-and-stash.
Sign Matthews. Move Burks to the 6th man role. He is being paid appropriately for a primary 6th man. With Hayward and Mathews who can hit the three there is really no reason we need a stretch 4 (more than Booker anyway.) Matthews takes a lot of pressure off of Exum, who doesn't need to stay on the perimeter anymore and can work exclusively on drive and dish and pick and roll.
A defense of Gobert, Favors, Hayward, Matthews, Exum is damn stout, maybe elite.
Finally, people think that Love to come here and accept a role that Kanter wouldn't? SMH