No. 9 Utah Jazz
Need: What does a top-caliber team like the Jazz need? Depth, depth and depth. Their front line dealt with injuries all season, plus they might lose Carlos Boozer to free agency. Adding a center to back up aging sharpshooter Mehmet Okur seems to make sense, but they have talented young bigs in Kyrylo Fesenko (23 years old) and Kosta Koufos (21). So power forward is the bigger need, or a sharpshooting wing to work with undrafted starter Wesley Matthews. All the bigs we've mentioned (excluding Alabi), plus Hayward, are in play here. I think Henry and Babbitt are, too.
Value: The Jazz are well known as a team that prefers to bring its rookies along slowly, and rightfully so, as Utah typically is in playoff contention or better. So this pick is more about tomorrow than today. Because of that, Avery Bradley might end up being the guy here. He has terrific upside and could play next to Deron Williams on both ends of the floor. In five years, he could be better than most of the players taken ahead of him. Ford picks Monroe, who does have excellent passing skills that will fit in perfectly in Utah's offensive system. But can he handle Jerry Sloan's tough love? One last guy I love here is Patrick Patterson, if the Jazz look for a "ready to help us win a title now" guy. He'd play Paul Millsap's old role well as Millsap moves into the starting lineup for Boozer.
