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James Hansen
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Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images
Are the Jazz looking to move up in the draft?
According to Scott Agness, Cam Whitmore has a workout scheduled with the Indiana Pacers and the Utah Jazz.
Apparently, this will be his second workout after a workout with the Pacers. As draft day gets closer, teams will bring in players they’re interested in drafting, and this potential workout has some interesting possibilities.
The Jazz did not do enough last season to worsen their record to get a player of Cam Whitmore’s caliber, there is very little chance that he will be there at 9 when the Jazz make their first pick. You also have to understand that players like Whitmore will not work out with teams that are out of their range because they don’t want to lessen their perceived value. That means if you connect the dots here a little bit, the Jazz may be telling Whitmore’s camp that they’re interested in possibly moving up to draft Whitmore. Either that or Whitmore’s camp believes that 9 is the floor for their player. Either is possible but when you consider all the assets the Jazz have from their trades of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, they have what it takes to move up in the draft and get Whitmore. The question is, will Houston or Detroit be interested in what the Jazz have to offer?
Detroit recently just hired Monty Williams to a big-time contract and may not be interested in continuing a long rebuild with more picks. Would they want some of Utah’s picks to use for other players? Maybe, but they might just want to make this pick and continue with the timeline of their current roster. Or maybe Houston would be interested in some of Utah’s capital since their latest draft picks have not panned out like they might have wanted? It’s difficult to say because Utah has already given up some of their most prized free agents. With Harden possibly coming back to Houston do they want to find more players to put around him, or would more picks make them happy? Either scenario for the Jazz likely comes down to picks if the Jazz want to make something happen, and keep their core young players.
But that brings up the other possibility. Would the Jazz be willing to part with either Lauri Markkanen or Walker Kessler? We’ve seen reports that those players are untouchable, but if the Jazz feel like Whitmore is the #1 option they’re looking for, would they move one of those players?
One thing is for sure, draft night has a chance to be really interesting. I’ll just leave you with this interview where Whitmore mentions the players he most watched growing up in the D.C. area: LeBron James, John Wall, and Deron Williams.
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