Jazz Offseason Plans, Draft Update, And Mailbag Questions

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – On the latest episode of the Jazz Notes podcast, Ben Anderson addresses the Jazz end of season comments from the team’s front office, the team’s offseason plans, an update on the NBA draft, and answer mailbag questions from Jazz fans on Twitter.

If you’d like to interact with the podcast, you can follow us on twitter @KSLSports and @Benshoops. You can listen to the entire podcast in the player below.

You can jump to specific sections from the podcast using this guide.

0:00 – Intro

1:08 – FO End of Season Comments

5:50 – Draft Prospects Breakdown

29:30 – Listener Questions

End of Season Front Office Comments

Dennis Lindsey and Justin Zanik, the Jazz current brain trust discussed the Jazz offseason plans on Wednesday, including the lack of information on when certain events will take place.

You can read two articles written about the team’s comments below.

Jazz Front Office Hints At Offseason Plans

Jazz Enter Offseason With Plan But No Road Map

The NBA draft is tentatively scheduled for November 18 after originally being rescheduled for October 16. In addition to owning the 23rd pick in the draft, the Jazz brass mentioned wanting to add players with defensive integrity after dropping from the second-best defensive team in 2019 to the 15th best in 2020.

NBA Draft Prospects

As the NBA draft approaches, KSL Sports will have breakdowns on the top prospects expected to be available when the Jazz are drafting with the 24th pick.

To date, five prospects have been broken down in0depth out of the PAC-12.

Utah Jazz NBA Draft Prospects: Arizona Freshmen Trio

Utah Jazz NBA Draft Prospects: Isaiah Stewart

Utah Jazz NBA Draft Prospects: Jaden McDaniels

In the podcast, Anderson discussed Oregon guard Payton Pritchard. Pritchard is a senior point guard who has helped lead the Ducks over the last four seasons to some of the best finishes in team history.

“Depending on when you watch him, he’s either Fred VanVleet, who everyone loves or he’s Trey Burke who nobody likes,” Anderson said in the podcast. “That’s the issue I have with Payton Pritchard. You can see both of those guys in him and just whatever you want to convince yourself of is who he’s going to be.”

Jazz fan Mailbag

As will be a staple going forward, Anderson answered mailbag questions from Jazz fans on Twitter. You can find all the questions by clicking on the tweet below.

Going to be recording a podcast over the next 30 minutes or so if you have questions you want me to answer about the @UtahJazz offseason reply here and I will try to get them in the episode!

— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) September 11, 2020

Otto Porter in Utah: From Ben Coombs

Otto Porter Jr has been spotted around Utah this past week. Have the Jazz been in talks with him?

“Otto Porter has a one-year player option for $28 million. So he’ll pick that up. Unless the Jazz were to trade Mike Conley for him, there’s no way Porter comes to the Jazz. Also, Mike Conley is better than Porter. So you wouldn’t even want to make that trade unless you were getting the Bulls (number 4 overall) first-round pick.”

Bobby Portis to the Jazz? From Glen Andersen

Bobby Portis?

“He’s not a bad option. It’s not a bad idea and certainly something I don’t think the Jazz would hesitate to revisit. I just don’t think you’re getting an upside starter but you don’t need that anymore. You’ve got Bojan Bogdanovic to spread the floor and be the shooter. And if Portis can rebound a little bit and play defense and then spread the floor as a backup center next to Bogdanovic for stretches then you probably really like him. So at the biannual exception, I’d be all for Bobby Portis.”

Does Yoeli Childs get drafted? From Tyler Daines

Yoeli Childs draft?

“His first hundred games in college, which were his first three seasons, he shot 31 percent from the three-point line, which is bad. That’s not a good enough number, and that’s who he needs to be in the NBA. He’s not going to be a low post scorer. There’s no such thing. He’s got to be a good athlete who rebounds and shoot threes like Paul Millsap two years ago.

Don't expect Yoeli Childs to get drafted but he'll probably be worth calling to bring in as a UDFA. Shot 22-45 3PT in 19 games this year. pic.twitter.com/JlvTnvdP3p

— Jonathan Wasserman (@NBADraftWass) May 7, 2020

“He’s 22 years old. He can do intriguing things because he’s such a good athlete and because he did shoot 45 percent for the three-point line over the last 19 games? If those 19 games are projectable and are who he is now, he’s an NBA player. If he can shoot 40 percent from the three-point line with his body, and some of the things he can do? Heck, yeah. He’s just he hasn’t been that guy for long enough for me to believe that that’s not a small sample size.”

You can find the answers to the rest of your questions in the podcast above.

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