The February trade that brought Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Jazz seemed to signal that Utah was on the verge of ending its four-year rebuilding process. However, even with a promising roster featuring Jackson, Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George and restricted free agent Walker Kessler, the team hasn’t started talking about the playoffs as a goal for next season, writes Kevin Reynolds of The Salt Lake Tribune.
“I think we all want to improve,” coach Will Hardy said. “I think we’re very capable of improving and taking a step forward. How big is that step? I don’t know yet. There’s so many factors that are not in our control as it relates to everybody else, when you start stacking yourselves up.”
Director of basketball operations Austin Ainge was also reluctant to discuss playoff aspirations, preferring to focus on the task of building the roster this summer. The Jazz used up most of their available cap room by adding Jackson, which limits the options for future moves.
“I would say that we made a big move with Jaren,” Ainge said. “We’ll always be aggressive, looking to improve the team. But unless some amazing opportunities present themselves, well, we don’t have tons of cap space that way, right?”
There’s more from Utah:
- Part of the uncertainty stems from the limited availability that Jackson had after the deal, Reynolds states in the same piece. He only appeared in three games before undergoing season-ending surgery to remove a growth in his left knee. Jackson spent time at both center and power forward in Memphis, but Hardy didn’t get much of a chance to experiment with how he fits into different lineups. “The clarity is not great,” Hardy said. “I have my ideas. I have plenty of concepts that I think will be very good for him. But I think any coach would tell you, it all looks good on the board. You don’t want to make the team a laboratory, but you do need to test certain things.”
- Ace Bailey will be expected to take on a larger role in his second NBA season, Reynolds adds. The team wants him to add strength over the summer so he can take on more ball-handling responsibilities and become a better perimeter defender. “It’s the weight room, he’s going to live in there,” Ainge said. “Anytime he can bump anyone and make a shot, he makes sure he tells me about that. So he knows he’s going to work really hard to get stronger.”
- The Jazz hope to quickly reach a new deal with Kessler so they can move on to other offseason decisions, according to Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. Free agent big men Jusuf Nurkic and Kevin Love are both hoping to return, Todd adds, but those will ultimately be financial decisions.
- Utah can afford to give Kessler a new contract and sign George to a rookie scale extension without moving into tax territory, Bobby Marks of ESPN states in an offseason overview. Marks also shares his thoughts in a video.