Ex-Jazz Scout Offers Sobering Prediction

The Utah Jazz are now entering the third year of their rebuild, and unfortunately for fans, there’s no clear end in sight. Utah regressed in year two, and nobody lost more games after the trade deadline than the Jazz.

So, how long can Jazz fans anticipate the rebuild to last? The topic arose when former Jazz scout Richard Smith joined ESPN 700 The Drive with Spence Checketts.

“This is not going to be done [or] fixed this summer, Spence,” Smith said. “It’s not going to be fixed next summer. I hate to tell Jazz fans the answer is right around the corner, and you know, good times are coming next Tuesday cause that ain’t happening from my perspective. That’s my opinion.”

Indeed, it could take a while before the Jazz are in contention for a title. When comparing it to other rebuilds around the league, the Oklahoma City Thunder is a franchise that decided to start over in 2020 and is already playing meaningful basketball.

The Thunder got a big break by obtaining MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as part of the haul acquired in the Paul George trade. Also, they were awarded the the No. 2 overall pick in 2022 that netted Chet Holgrem while drafting Jalen Williams at No. 12 in the same year.

In comparison, the Jazz got an All-Star in Lauri Markkanen as part of the Donovan Mitchell exchange. Markkanen is considered a top-25 player in the league but not in the top five like Gilgeous-Alexander. Regarding drafting, the Jazz would have to be extremely fortunate to land a player like Williams with the tenth overall pick this year. However, Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, and Brice Sensabaugh did show promise in their first year in Salt Lake City.

If we’re being honest, the Jazz are still quite a bit behind from where OKC was in year three of the rebuild. So what’s it going to take to get over the hump as fast as the Thunder did? According to Smith, it’s going to take some luck.

“They’re going to have to get somebody in the draft that they get lucky on,” Smith said.

At some point, there will have to be some luck involved regarding the draft. The Jazz had some experience in this area when they drafted Donovan Mitchell with the 13th overall pick and Rudy Gobert at 27.

This is also how the Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets built a championship team by drafting Giannis Antetokounmpo with the 15th pick Nikola Jokic in the second round. Nobody could have predicted they would impact the league on their draft day. With all the draft capital that Utah has to play with, can they strike gold with one of those picks? Despite the less than stellar outlook, it only takes on player to flip the script.

Until the Jazz get back in the playoff conversation, the debate on the best path moving forward rages on. Some fans believe trading Markkanen and guaranteeing a top-4 selection in next year's draft is the answer. Others want Utah to build around their best player and make a push for the playoffs as soon as this season.

Either way, something unforeseen will need to happen for Utah to become relevant again. Utah will have an opportunity to land a difference-maker when they have three selections in the upcoming NBA draft.

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