Mitrou-Long Adds to Utah's International Presence
Naz Mitrou-Long is the latest international player on the Jazz roster, writes Jody Genessy of The Deseret News. The 24-year-old Canadian signed with the team this week, likely for a non-guaranteed camp contract. Mitrou-Long seems to have little chance at a roster spot with Utah, which has Rodney Hood, Alec Burks and first-round pick Donovan Mitchell entrenched at shooting guard. The Jazz also have 15 guaranteed salaries, so Mitrou-Long appears headed to the G League.
Jazz Move Forward With Donovan Mitchell
- The Jazz are still reeling from the loss of Gordon Hayward this summer but have an intriguing long-term prospect in lottery pick Donovan Mitchell, Shaun Powell of NBA.com writes.
Jazz Sign Nate Wolters To Two-Way Deal
SEPTEMBER 13: The Jazz have officially announced Wolters’ two-way contract. Having also signed Naz Mitrou-Long today, Utah now has 19 players on its roster.
SEPTEMBER 12: Nate Wolters is close to signing a two-way contract with the Jazz, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune.
The 26-year-old point guard was a second-round pick in 2013 and began his career in Milwaukee. He started 31 games as a rookie, but was waived by the Bucks the following season and caught on briefly with the Pelicans. Wolters was in training camp with the Nuggets last year before spending the season in Serbia.
Wolters would fill the second two-way slot in Utah and would give the team 18 players in camp. The Jazz already have 15 guaranteed contracts, so the odds are against Wolters earning a roster spot.
Jazz Sign Naz Mitrou-Long
The Jazz have signed rookie free agent Naz Mitrou-Long to their 20-man offseason roster, according to RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions. While details of the agreement haven’t been reported, it figures to be a non-guaranteed camp deal.
A 6’4″ guard out of Iowa State, Mitrou-Long appeared in 35 games during his senior year in 2016/17, averaging 15.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 2.7 APG. More than half his shot attempts came from beyond the three-point line, and he was effective from outside the arc, making 2.8 threes per game at a 38.4% clip.
Although he went undrafted in June, Mitrou-Long caught on with a pair of NBA teams in July, playing for the Pacers in the Orlando Summer League and the Kings in Las Vegas.
Mitrou-Long isn’t likely to crack the regular season roster for the Jazz, since the club already has 15 players on guaranteed salaries. However, there’s a good chance the Canadian-born guard will end up as an affiliate player for the Salt Lake City Stars, Utah’s G League squad.
Jazz Add David Morway, Justin Zanik To Front Office
The Jazz have issued a press release announcing a handful of changes to their front office, confirming that they’ve hired David Morway and Justin Zanik as assistant general managers. The club also promoted Steven Schwartz to director of basketball operations.
Utah’s agreements with Morway and Zanik were initially reported earlier this summer by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Morway has nearly two decades of experience in NBA front office, having originally joined the Pacers in 1999. He was promoted to general manager by Indiana in 2008 and spent four years in that position before resigning. He subsequently joined the Bucks as an assistant general manager and then spent the 2016/17 season as a basketball operations consultant for the Jazz.
As for Zanik, his return to Utah represents a reunion for him and the Jazz — Zanik held an assistant general manager position with the franchise until 2016, when he left to join the Bucks. Milwaukee appeared to be grooming Zanik as the eventual replacement for general manager John Hammond, but the club passed over him earlier this summer following an unusual GM search, opting to promote Jon Horst instead. Zanik left the franchise in the wake of that decision.
Morway and Zanik will work under GM Dennis Lindsey in Utah’s revamped front office.
Rodney Hood Responds To Challenge From Jazz GM
Rodney Hood‘s offseason began with a “frank” exit meeting the day after the Jazz were eliminated from the playoffs, as general manager Dennis Lindsey challenged the fourth-year shooting guard to become more efficient and more consistent — and to prepare for a larger role. As Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune details, Hood has responded to that directive by staying in Utah for the summer and working harder than ever to get ready for the 2017/18 season.
“There were a lot of challenges we gave Rodney,” the Jazz GM said. “What he needs to be doing, his commitment level to his development. And he’s responded this summer. He’s going to be given a prominent role, and his development will be significant to us.”
With Gordon Hayward having left the Jazz for Boston, Hood will be required to take on a greater share of the scoring load in Utah, and as Lindsey suggests, the team’s success figures to hinge in part on how Hood responds to that increased responsibility.
Alec Burks Back At 100%; Royce O'Neale's Journey
- It’s no sure thing that Royce O’Neale will stick with the Jazz this season – the club currently has 16 guaranteed contracts – but the franchise saw enough in the versatile wing to offer him a three-year contract with the first season guaranteed earlier this summer. Benjamin Mehic of the Deseret News broke down the 24-year-old’s long journey to the NBA.
- A knee injury sidelined Jazz guard Alec Burks in the middle of last spring’s postseason but the 26-year-old is back at full health. Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune tweets that Burks will be ready to go without restriction at training camp.
Jazz, Rodney Hood Begin Discussing Extension
The Jazz and Rodney Hood have opened negotiations on a possible contract extension for the fourth-year shooting guard, reports Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. According to Jones, the two sides have only had preliminary conversations so far, but another meeting is expected to take place within the next few weeks.
Hood and teammate Dante Exum are two of 21 players entering the final year of their respective rookie contracts who are eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason. Although there’s some internal hope within the organization that Exum is on the verge of a breakout, the Jazz are expected to let him play out his final year and enter restricted free agency, says Jones.
[RELATED: Players eligible for rookie scale extensions in 2017]
However, the Jazz are interested in getting something done with Hood before the 2017/18 regular season begins, and as we heard earlier this week, Hood and his camp are “very open” to that idea. The Duke alum, who will turn 25 next month, has started 155 games during his first three NBA seasons, but will be poised to take on an even larger role in Utah with Gordon Hayward gone.
Sources tell Jones that Hood has been in Salt Lake City for most of the summer working closely with Utah’s coaching staff, and the Jazz are confident that Hood can make a significant leap forward in 2017/18. Still, there have been questions in the past about Hood’s consistency and durability, so it will be interesting to see if the two sides can find a price point that everyone likes.
In 2016/17, Hood averaged 12.7 PPG and 3.4 RPG with a shooting line of .408/.371/.783 in 59 regular season contests (27.0 MPG). He struggled in the postseason, scoring just 8.9 PPG with a .352/.260/.611 shooting line.
NBA Draft Rights Held: Northwest Division
When top college prospects like Markelle Fultz or Lonzo Ball are drafted, there’s virtually no doubt that their next step will involve signing an NBA contract. However, that’s not the case for every player who is selected in the NBA draft, particularly for international prospects and second-round picks.
When an NBA team uses a draft pick on a player, it gains his NBA rights, but that doesn’t mean the player will sign an NBA contract right away. International prospects will often remain with their professional team overseas for at least one more year to develop their game further, becoming “draft-and-stash” prospects. Nikola Mirotic, Dario Saric, and Bogdan Bogdanovic are among the more notable players to fit this bill in recent years.
However, draft-and-stash players can be former NCAA standouts too. Sometimes a college prospect selected with a late second round pick will end up playing overseas or in the G League for a year or two if there’s no space available on his NBA team’s 15-man roster.
While these players sometimes make their way to their NBA teams, others never do. Many clubs around the NBA currently hold the rights to international players who have remained overseas for their entire professional careers and are no longer viewed as top prospects. Those players may never come stateside, but there’s often no reason for NBA teams to renounce their rights — those rights can sometimes be used as placeholders in trades.
For instance, earlier this summer, the Pacers and Raptors agreed to a trade that sent Cory Joseph to Indiana. Toronto was happy to move Joseph’s salary and didn’t necessarily need anything in return, but the Pacers had to send something in the deal. Rather than including an NBA player or a draft pick, Indiana sent Toronto the draft rights to Emir Preldzic, the 57th overall pick in the 2009 draft.
Preldzic is currently playing for Galatasaray in Turkey, and at this point appears unlikely to ever come to the NBA, but his draft rights have been a useful trade chip over the years — the Pacers/Raptors swap represented the fourth time since 2010 that Preldzic’s NBA rights have been included in a trade.
This week, we’re taking a closer look at the players whose draft rights NBA teams currently hold, sorting them by division. These players may eventually arrive in America and join their respective NBA teams, but many will end up like Preldzic, plying their trade overseas and having their draft rights used as pawns in NBA trades.
Here’s a breakdown of the draft rights held by Northwest teams:
Denver Nuggets
- Sani Becirovic, G (2003; No. 46): Retired.
- Xue Yuyang, F/C (2003; No. 57): Retired.
- Izzet Turkyilmaz, F/C (2012; No. 50): Last played in Croatia.
- Nikola Radicevic, G (2015; No. 57): Playing in Serbia.
- Petr Cornelie, F (2016; No. 53): Playing in France.
- Vlatko Cancar, F (2017; No. 49): Playing in Serbia.
Minnesota Timberwolves
- Lior Eliyahu, F (2006; No. 44): Playing in Israel.
- Henk Norel, C (2009; No. 47): Playing in Spain.
- Paulao Prestes, C (2010; No. 45): Last played in Brazil.
- Bojan Dubljevic, F/C (2013; No. 59): Playing in Spain.
Oklahoma City Thunder
- Abdul Shamsid-Deen, C (1990; No. 53): Retired.
- Sofoklis Schortsanitis, C (2003; No. 34): Last played in Greece.
- Szymon Szewczyk, F/C (2003; No. 35): Playing in Poland.
- Paccelis Morlende, G (2003; No. 50): Last played in France.
- Yotam Halperin, G (2006; No. 53): Playing in Israel.
- DeVon Hardin, C (2008; No. 50): Retired.
Portland Trail Blazers
- Marcelo Nicola, F (1993; No. 50): Retired.
- Doron Sheffer, G (1996; No. 36): Retired.
- Federico Kammerichs, F/C (2002; No. 51): Retired.
- Nedzad Sinanovic, C (2003; No. 54): Retired.
- Daniel Diez, F (2015; No. 54): Playing in Spain.
Utah Jazz
- Peter Fehse, F (2002; No. 49): Retired.
- Mario Austin, F/C (2003; No. 36): Retired.
- Ante Tomic, C (2008; No. 44): Playing in Spain.
- Shan Foster, G/F (2008; No. 51): Retired.
- Nigel Williams-Goss, G (2017; No. 55): Playing in Serbia.
Previously:
Information from Mark Porcaro and Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
Rodney Hood Interested In Negotiating Extension
- Sources tell Kyler that Rodney Hood and his camp are “very open” to negotiating an extension with the Jazz. The Basketball Insiders scribe estimates that something in the Evan Turner range (four years, $70MM) might be an appropriate price point for Hood.
[SOURCE LINK]