Decided to try my hand at this little exercise. A lot of my assumptions of where guys will be available in the draft were formed by averaging their mock draft position from 7 different mock drafts.
I broke my plan up into four key steps - A. Coaching Staff, B. Before the draft, C. 2014 Draft and D.) Free Agency.
A. Coaching Staff - The first step to building this team is to get the right coaching staff to develop a young, but talented roster. As I understand it, the plan is to keep both Brad Jones and Alex Jensen as two of the top 3 assistants. I'm fine with that. Jones can help with offense, Jensen with defense. My key addition to the coaching staff would then be to hire Chip Engelland from San Antonio. I'm assuming that it will take a very nice offer and a big promotion to lure Engelland away from San Antonio and keep him from going to Golden State. I absolutely think that it's critical to get a guy like him who can help improve shooting across the whole roster. I'd keep Johnnie Bryant as one player development coach and try to hire Darvin Ham as the other. Besides those moves, I'd probably expand Karl Malone's role with the Big Men and then also officially hire him and John Stockton as Coaching Consultants to help teach these young kids the nuances of P&R.
B. Before the draft - I'd maximize the team's cap space this offseason by trading JLIII to the Houston Rockets for Jeremy Lin and their #25 selection. The Rockets want to get another big star to team up with Harden and Howard, while still being able to keep Parsons and Beverly. That means that they have to unload both of their huge contracts for Asik and Lin. Since Asik is a quality big man, it should be easier for them to trade him and get something back for doing so. Getting rid of Jeremy Lin's $14+ million contract ($8.3 million cap hit) is not going to be as easy. They'll have to kick in a decent asset to get it done, and it makes sense if that asset is their first round pick from this year because it frees up even more immediate cap space. The Jazz can use the asset to be aggressive trading up in the draft and Jeremy Lin is actually a very good fit for what Quin Snyder wants to do. He plays at a higher pace than Trey Burke and he's actually quite good in the P&R. If it pans out, the team has a chance to extend him next offseason - he's still young enough to possibly figure into the their long-term plans. If it doesn't work out, he backs up Burke and then moves on next offseason freeing up that cap space for 2015. I'd also buy out Ante Tomic before the draft and bring him and Raul Neto over to add to the team's depth. I'm expecting that getting Tomic to come over would cost around $4-5 million per year for his 3 year contract - depending on what the buyout ends up being. Details on that are a little sketchy.
C. 2014 Draft - In this scenario, the Jazz have the #5, #23, #25 and #35 picks in the draft. If I can't move up into the top 3, I want to try and get at least 3 good prospects to improve my depth. I'm holding out hope for trading up into the top 3 for either Wiggins or Parker, but I just don't think that Cleveland, Milwaukee or Philly will trade out of that top tier of players. I'm expecting Orlando to take either Exum or Smart, so my first pick is going to be SF: Aaron Gordon (Arizona). He can step into the SF spot right away and contribute on defense, in transition and in attacking the rim. After taking Gordon, I keep working the phones to package #23 and #25 to move up for SG: Zach LaVine. He's got athleticism and a lot of hype right now, but I think that there's enough holes to his game that he slips a bit past the lottery. With their last pick, the Jazz trade the #35 pick, a future 2nd round pick and cash to move up for SF: K. J. McDaniels (Clemson). He's another athletic guy with a strong defensive game. IMO, he's DeMarre Carroll-Lite. The Jazz need perimeter defense, heart and hustle off the bench. I think that he'd fill that role very well. With the new draft and develop philosophy that the Jazz are employing, they're banking on the fact that their new coaches (especially Chip Engelland) can take super-athletic guys like Gordon, LaVine and McDaniels and get the most out of them. At the very least, the Jazz have greatly improved their defensive capabilities. I like the idea of Aaron Gordon and K. J. McDaniels both out on the floor when they absolutely must get a stop.
Aaron Gordon (10 - 10 - 8 - 6 - 6 - 6 - 6) Average mock draft position = 7.4
Zach LaVine (17 - 9 - 24 - 18 - 19 - 17 - 17) Average mock draft position = 17.3
K. J. McDaniels (26 - 31 - 23 - 32 - 22 - 23 - 21) Average mock draft position = 25.4
D. Free Agency - This is where I'll probably run into the most contention. I'm a fan of the young guys on the roster and I think that they should all be kept and given a real chance to develop into the players they were drafted to become. My main focus would be on extending (or matching) Gordon Hayward's deal and also getting Alec Burks and Enes Kanter signed to extensions before their RFA seasons. I think that there's a good chance that both guys will take a big step forward next year, and I'd prefer to lock them up at a favorable rate. I'd renounce the rights on all of the team's free agents and pass on resigning Marvin Williams. I'd avoid going out and spending valuable cap space on any other veteran free agents as well. I think that I'd prefer to let all of the remaining young players on the Jazz roster battle it out for the last few spots and a trip to Idaho for some D-League playing time.
Consider it this way. . .
Players who will be back from last year are - (1) Derrick Favors, (2) Enes Kanter, (3) Gordon Hayward, (4) Alec Burks, (5) Trey Burke, (6) Rudy Gobert and (7) Jeremy Evans. They'll be adding (8) Aaron Gordon, (9) Jeremy Lin, (10) Ante Tomic, (11) Zach LaVine, (12) K. J. McDaniels and (13) Raul Neto to replace Marvin Williams, Richard Jefferson, John Lucas III, Andris Biedrins and Brandon Rush. Plus, they have two left-over roster spots (14/15) for guys like Diante Garrett, Malcolm Thomas, Erik Murphy, Ian Clark and any summer guys or undrafted free agents to battle it out for. Between McDaniels, Neto, and whoever the last two guys are, they should always have two players up in Idaho getting quality D-League minutes.
2014 Roster:
5/4 - Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter, Ante Tomic, Rudy Gobert and Jeremy Evans
3/2/1 - Aaron Gordon, Gordon Hayward, Alec Burks, Jeremy Lin, Trey Burke, Zach LaVine, K. J. McDaniels, and Raul Neto
plus two more from - Diante Garrett, Malcolm Thomas, Erik Murphy, Ian Clark, Summer League, Undrafted Free Agents, etc.
My biggest concern is that, as a team, the quality of shooting isn't where I'd like it to be. My hope is that Quin Snyder and Chip Engelland can really help the Core guys and the new draft picks all improve their shots dramatically. If they can do this, I think that Gordon, Burks, LaVine and Kanter can all become special players down the line. I love the idea of loading up the roster with young, hungry players who are eager to prove themselves. The competition for starting jobs and playing time will be intense. There's also great depth that can be utilized to keep guys healthy and fresh. There's a lot of versatility to this roster to matchup with pretty much any kind of lineup that they can face. I also like that this is an extremely athletic group of players. They can learn to play at a faster pace than they did under Sloan/Corbin - which should lead to them having more fun playing basketball again.
