The Utah Jazz have had a very interesting and fairly active off season. Despite having no first round picks, and only one second round pick, the Jazz have still found ways to improve their team. They got Mo Williams from the Clippers for basically nothing, traded Devin Harris to the Hawks for Marvin Williams, signed free agent Randy Foye, watched CJ "chucker" Miles leave for Cleveland and gotten a new GM in Dennis Lindsey. Overall, the Jazz have had a very solid offseason and have clearly improved their team/organization.
Bringing in Mo Williams improves the team because he is familiar with Utah's system and he's a better offensive player than Devin Harris. Mo Williams may not play a lick of defense, but he can stretch the floor and score from just about anywhere on the court. He makes Utah's backcourt a lot more offensively potent. He proved last season with the Clippers that he can still light up the scoreboard, and that is something that the Jazz desperately need coming from the point guard position.
Not only that, but they didn't have to give up Devin Harris to get him. They were able to give away an $8M trade exception in exchange for him, and trade Devin Harris to get an athletic small forward in Marvin Williams. The Jazz upgraded at the point guard and small forward positions while only giving up one player! The Jazz wouldn't have wanted to trade one of their young budding players like Hayward for Marvin Williams, but they would be willing to give up Devin Harris if they found another guy to play the point.
The next big move they made was signing free agent Randy Foye. Foye is a definite upgrade at the 2 guard position. Like Mo Williams, he can score the ball from anywhere and stretch the floor. Randy Foye is a perfect option because he will be a familiar face in the backcourt for Mo Williams and he shoots well beyond the arc (36.6% career 3 point shooter). The Jazz were a bad 3 point shooting team last season, and Foye's presence along with Mo will help fix that problem. Gordon Hayward and Alec Burks are both still very young and they aren't quite ready to shoulder the load at the shooting guard and small forward positions full time. Foye's presence will help ease the pressure off of their shoulders and help them develop at a more comfortable rate.
The departure of CJ Miles may be sad for Jazz fans who kept on thinking that CJ Miles would one day be a really good starting shooting guard in the NBA. But that day never came, and likely won't. CJ can undoubtedly go crazy from beyond the arc, but his play was way too sporadic and inconsistent for the Jazz to have him as a regular part of their offensive game plan. All he did when he touched the ball was chuck up a shot from Wendover, NV and that isn't the way you establish good offensive chemistry. Especially in Utah's system. When CJ was on his game it was a bonus, but it was nothing that they could bank on or rely on. Having Cleveland come in and swoop him up was a godsend to the Jazz because now they don't have to deal with his spotty play or worry about how to divide the minutes between him, Alec Burks, and Gordon Hayward. Now that they have added Randy Foye who is more consistent, the departure of CJ Miles should be embraced by all of Jazz nation.
Finally, we have the "promotion" of Kevin O'Connor to an executive position and the hiring of Dennis Lindsey as the team's new GM. Many members of Jazz nation are celebrating the "promotion" of KOC out of the GM spot as if LeBron James had just agreed to sign a long term contract with the Jazz. Jazz fans have been fed up and pissed at Kevin O'Connor for years, and have been waiting for an asteroid to come from space to take him out. Him being "promoted" out of the job is the second best thing that could have happened, and to make things even better, the replacement is a guy from the Spurs organization. The Jazz have always been envious of the Spurs, who are basically a better version of the Jazz. Like Utah, the Spurs have been competitive for years in a small and undesirable market for players to be in. But somehow the Spurs have won 4 NBA championships. Stealing a guy who can rub some of that San Antonio magic onto the Jazz is a very good thing and perhaps the biggest of all off-season moves by the Jazz. O'Connor wasn't all bad, but he certainly hasn't wowed the Utah fans either. I think it was time he moved on to "bigger and better" things.
Overall, the Jazz look to have a better season after all of the above/mentioned moves. I think it's safe to assume that they will be a better team next year, but that doesn't mean they'll have better results. Teams like the Nuggets, Warriors,and Timberwolves have also made moves that have improved their clubs. Utah's moves might just be what's needed to "keep up with the Jones'". Change always brings about much excitement and chatter, but until it proves to yield success and fruit, it will only remain as such. Hopefully the Jazz will be better in 2012-13, and that these moves yield the type of success that many Jazz fans have been waiting for, and that is a trip to the 2nd round of the playoffs and beyond.
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