I have been cursed by a witch to repeatedly travel back through time to relive every NBA draft. Fortunately, her spell sends me directly to the Utah Jazz war room on draft night and all the executives magically know I’m from the future and will do whatever I say. Unfortunately, the curse prevents me from seeing how my advice altered the future, as I am sent back to the previous year as soon as draft night ends.
June 25, 2015 – Barclays Center, New York
Previous season:
The Jazz were slowly, but surely showing signs of improvement in 2014-15. Quin Snyder had just finished his first season in Utah, Gordon Hayward was turning into a star, Rudy Gobert was developing into a defensive force and Derrick Favors was coming along nicely. Enes Kanter was traded away halfway through the year, which made everybody happier. And rookie Joe Ingles was an unexpected surprise. However, the inconsistent backcourt of Alec Burks, Trey Burke, Dante Exum and Rodney Hood held the Jazz back. And the team limped along to a mediocre 38-44 record, which landed them the 12th pick in the draft.
The draft:
Dennis Lindsey decided to use this lottery pick on Trey Lyles, a 6-9 forward from Kentucky, who would ideally spread the floor with his 3-point shooting.
With the 42nd pick, Utah drafted a point guard from Boston College named Olivier Hanlan.
The Jazz also owned the 54th pick, thanks to a 2014 trade with Cleveland involving John Lucas III. But Utah sold the pick to Portland, and they used it on a small forward from Spain named Dani Diez.
Analysis:
This is the easiest draft so far for me to fix. Utah picked Lyles at No. 12, when his Kentucky teammate, Devin Booker, went No. 13. Lyles is best known for being traded for Donovan Mitchell. While Booker has been named to three All-Stars, one All-NBA First Team and was the leading scorer on a team that reached the Finals. This is a no-brainer. True, the Jazz already had a glut of young and promising guards on their roster. And a stretch-4 would have been an incredible thing for Utah. But Booker was significantly better than Burks, Burke, Exum and Hood combined. I think Booker could have given the Jazz exactly what Mitchell did, but a few years earlier.
Olivier Hanlan played for Utah’s Summer League team, but he never made the real roster. Or any NBA roster for that matter. He’s been overseas ever since. To find a better replacement for him, I’ll have to sort through the list of undrafted players. The 2015 second round was shockingly weak — 15 of the 30 players selected never made it to the NBA. Luckily, I was able to find one diamond in the rough among the undrafted: Royce O’Neale. He eventually did make the Jazz roster a few years later and even worked his way into the starting lineup for a couple of seasons. I say let’s do that all over again but just start the process a little earlier.
Dani Diez also never made it to the NBA, so the Jazz didn’t miss out on anything there. I never could find out exactly how much money Portland gave Utah for the pick, but I don’t think that could have been any better than Christian Wood. On paper, at least, it seems like he could have given the Jazz everything they wanted from Lyles. Was Wood just putting up big numbers on a bad team? Is he a bit of a head case? I don’t know. But I think with the 54th pick of the draft, the Jazz could have afforded to have given him a chance.
My advice:
1. Use the 12th pick on Devin Booker.
2. Use the 42nd pick on Royce O’Neale.
3. Keep the 54th pick and use it on Christian Wood.
Hayward was never very comfortable being the primary scoring option. Booker could have taken that pressure off him. Would it have been enough to convince Hayward to stay in Utah? I doubt it. But I’m fine. I’d much rather have Booker than Hayward, anyway. And pairing Booker with Gobert, Favors and Ingles is a very intriguing lineup.
I’m also quite intrigued by what Wood might have done for Utah. Again, on paper, he could have given Utah everything they wanted. O’Neale, on the other hand, is a known quantity. He thrived in Snyder’s system, so that’s why I put him over Wood.
Sadly, I never got to see what Snyder and the Jazz would have done with an All-NBA guard. That witch’s curse has abruptly sent me back to 2014, where the Jazz have the 5th pick and things have become a bit more complicated.
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