Stifle Tower
Punch Bowl Re-Filler
Just my 2 cents, but I think the Jazz potential for 2012 looks better after trading Deron. I realize it's just "if's" at this point, but if Favors hits his potential and the Jazz have at least decent luck with the 2 lottery picks, they should be a pretty good team. If they get extremely lucky and hit it big with one or both of the lottery picks, I think they could be damn good.
Right now, I'll take that over what this team may have looked like in 2012 if they were somehow able to resign Deron. I don't see how Utah could have netted any big time Free Agents, even with D-Will on the roster and D-Will would have kept Utah good enough to stay out of prime draft pick territorry. How is Utah supposed to remake the roster into a true contender under those constraints? There is no way they possibly could.
In an extreme dose of bitter irony, it took trading away D-Will to bring in some players and assets that he probably would have deemed a step in the right direction were he still a Jazzman.
And the Jazz desperately need a big man if they're ever going to take the next step. Decent PG's are much easier to find than serviceable big men. Getting Favors is a real coup. The #3 pick in the draft, who we all coveted? And we got a very good replacement at PG. Oh yeah, we also got a lottery pick. Are you kidding me?
Jefferson is not a superstar, but he's a very good player. Favors is going to be every bit as good and probably much better (certainly more physical). The kid is 19 and he's absolutely ripped! We'll have a solid front court and just need a couple of wings, which we can get with our picks and/or the savings from AK's expiring this season and Okur's next year.
Maybe we struggle a bit next season while Favors continues to refine his game, Hayward continues to develop into a solid backup and the NJ pick learns the ropes. But we're going to have a good young team just like OKC. Maybe a bit more advanced than when they first drafted Green and Durant since Jefferson and Harris are already proven vets. Harris has been an all-star and Jefferson is borderline.
I can't wait to see the team come together. I haven't been this optimistic since Boozer and Okur signed.