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Vet minimum Options

Let me backup and say that it wouldn’t appear like it’s an obvious upgrade, but really would be. The fact that it wouldn’t appear that way is reason enough that DL doesn’t do it.

But let me give some better context:

For those who have been following this franchise, we really haven’t ever had a really good defensive wing, and it’s distorted our views. Even dating back to the DWill era, some thought Brewer was a defender, but he was pretty bad. I even said Korver was our best wing defender. You could count Matthews, but we had him one year as a rookie. I won’t get in to AK because that’s a huge can of worms. Even with our finals runs our “specialist” was Bryon Russel, whose defense was very overrated. It’s allowed us to create the illusion that guys like Roger Braille were defensive stoppers.

I would then couple this with our franchise’s history of clinging to guys because both sentimentality plus thinking we got value. You know those people who buy something they don’t want or need simply because they perceive they got it at a really good value? That’s kind of how we are. Jarron Collins comes to mind. The fact that Royce is one of DL’s cubic zirconias in the rough makes us value him more because of how much of a value he appears to be. Since we’ve never had really good wing defenders, we get to see the whole body of work on Royce and feel he must fit that. I think if we had a few seasons of footage on Torrey Craig, maybe we’d feel the same way. So even a guy like him or, better, a Shaq Harrison. But I don’t think our collective pride would allow us to believe that we could replace our $10M guy with a minimum signing and be better off.
I see your reasoning. Not sure I fully buy it. I tend to think Royce is the better overall player than either. At this point, the Jazz need more players who give something on both sides of the ball (which I think Royce is better at--you may disagree). Loading up on specialists (which I think most all the realistic names on the board are) isn't going to improve the Jazz.
 
Jazz are in a hard spot (to be fair, most teams in the league are -- though the Jazz might have it worse, since they're likely not high on the list for prospective FAs). This is that addressing one problem likely makes the team vulnerable to another.

Conley addressed the need for off-the dribble creation that the Rockets so painfully exposed. Jettisoning him makes us vulnerable to that again. Though the Rockets don't exist in their same form, there are likely teams around the league that could throw a switching defense at the Jazz in playoff matchups. But with Conley, we're still good here.

At the same time, the Lakers and Nuggets have shown us that the Jazz need to have bigs (and preferably depth there). We addressed that this week.

But there's still one mole we can't whack very well: the (esp. big) wing-heavy teams (Clips and maybe one or two other teams). Problem is that addressing this problem will likely cause another mole to pop up.

We have that problem because we don't have enough players who can whack enough moles simultaneously or are transcendent enough (Steph, Harden) for it not to matter. There's just not a lot of players like this out there, and they tend not to have the Jazz high on their list of preferred spots. So, like most teams in the league, we try to cover up weaknesses with specialists. But specialists can be exposed. And you don't really feel comfortable if you have to rely on specialists for more than 15 minutes a game.
 
Batum!!! Get Goberts buddy. Waived by hornets to make room for Hayward. Batum on a vet minimum deal would bring defense and shooting.
Does Batum bring anything right now? (Honest question, didn't pay attention to Hornets, though the little I've heard makes me think he's washed.)
 
We should probably just sign Thabo. Even washed, he’s better than any of our other wings.
 
Doesn’t his deal mean that unless he’s paid more than his Hornet contract, which would never happen, he can’t be paid more? Whoever signs him pays what they pay and Charlotte makes up the difference?
 
Batum!!! Get Goberts buddy. Waived by hornets to make room for Hayward. Batum on a vet minimum deal would bring defense and shooting.
I’d love to get Batum on a vet min! If we could fill out the roster with him and Hollis Jefferson on L.M deals were contenders!
 
I’d add Gary Payton (can’t remember if he’s a jr or II OR III) to this list... I just want one disruptive defender please.
 
Warriors also aren’t likely to keep Juan Tuscany and Mychal Mulder... they are okay... look any ****ing one is better than NWG
 
I’d add Gary Payton (can’t remember if he’s a jr or II OR III) to this list... I just want one disruptive defender please.
“Look, there’s only so many hours in a day. You look at all the hard work that’s been put in — and I mean from top to bottom. You go through the organization... from the Millers to the Smiths... well, I’ve gotta be careful and not get myself in trouble since nothings official yet.. it’s gotta go through the proper league channels, but you have David Moreway and Justin Zanik, all high level guys working long hours. We feel we really did a great job in our scouting, hats off to the scouting department who goes in overtime this year. They work like accountants in April. Just the integrity of this program, I couldn’t be more happy or more proud of the job these guys are doing. And not just the guys, we have some really excellent young women and women in this organization who put a great touch on it. A lot of times this isn’t seen but they play an integral role in so many things behind the scenes. You wouldn’t believe the amount of man hours, and woman hours, I should say, it really takes to put on this production, even all the minute detail. And I can tell you, top to bottom, this has been an in-depth, team effort from start to finish. There are a lot of guys out there, guys with phenomenal talent. And we feel like we really came in to the off-season with some big tasks and we really executed. You look at the advanced numbers on a player of the caliber of a Derrick Favors, and it just blows your mind the value he brings to this franchise and this locker room. But there are so many guys to reach. You mention people like Gary Payton Jr., and who could forget all the complimentary things Gary Payton Sr. has said about another Jazz great, John Stockton. Gary has a great knack for identifying talent in competitors and it’s a real testament to the legacy of John and his contributions to the franchise here. But guys like Gary Jr., he’s obviously been exposed to the league at the highest levels from the youngest ages. He’s a guy who can write his own ticket. We really love what we’ve done here, but with Gary’s expansive view in seeing the world, we felt comfortable acknowledging that Salt Lake is a place that he would probably never live or a place that isn’t on his radar, so that allowed us to more efficiently structure our offseason efforts and I can speak for the entire group in saying that we are incredibly pleased with the way this offseason went.”

- Dennis Lindsey, probably.
 
“Look, there’s only so many hours in a day. You look at all the hard work that’s been put in — and I mean from top to bottom. You go through the organization... from the Millers to the Smiths... well, I’ve gotta be careful and not get myself in trouble since nothings official yet.. it’s gotta go through the proper league channels, but you have David Moreway and Justin Zanik, all high level guys working long hours. We feel we really did a great job in our scouting, hats off to the scouting department who goes in overtime this year. They work like accountants in April. Just the integrity of this program, I couldn’t be more happy or more proud of the job these guys are doing. And not just the guys, we have some really excellent young women and women in this organization who put a great touch on it. A lot of times this isn’t seen but they play an integral role in so many things behind the scenes. You wouldn’t believe the amount of man hours, and woman hours, I should say, it really takes to put on this production, even all the minute detail. And I can tell you, top to bottom, this has been an in-depth, team effort from start to finish. There are a lot of guys out there, guys with phenomenal talent. And we feel like we really came in to the off-season with some big tasks and we really executed. You look at the advanced numbers on a player of the caliber of a Derrick Favors, and it just blows your mind the value he brings to this franchise and this locker room. But there are so many guys to reach. You mention people like Gary Payton Jr., and who could forget all the complimentary things Gary Payton Sr. has said about another Jazz great, John Stockton. Gary has a great knack for identifying talent in competitors and it’s a real testament to the legacy of John and his contributions to the franchise here. But guys like Gary Jr., he’s obviously been exposed to the league at the highest levels from the youngest ages. He’s a guy who can write his own ticket. We really love what we’ve done here, but with Gary’s expansive view in seeing the world, we felt comfortable acknowledging that Salt Lake is a place that he would probably never live or a place that isn’t on his radar, so that allowed us to more efficiently structure our offseason efforts and I can speak for the entire group in saying that we are incredibly pleased with the way this offseason went.”

- Dennis Lindsey, probably.
Uh Gary Jr. went to Salt Lake Community College before going to Oregon State. He's also mucked around the GLeague. It's not like Salt Lake is Beirut. The old man played for George Karl in Seattle and George respects the Jazz.
 
Uh Gary Jr. went to Salt Lake Community College before going to Oregon State. He's also mucked around the GLeague. It's not like Salt Lake is Beirut. The old man played for George Karl in Seattle and George respects the Jazz.
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