SALT LAKE CITY — After the Utah Jazz traded for point guard Mike Conley on June 19 and then agreed to sign Bojan Bogdanovic and Ed Davis on Sunday, both fans of the team and national observers are as optimistic as they’ve been in quite some time about the franchise.
Indeed, the roster is now significantly changed from the one that was the fifth seed in the Western Conference last season, but what will be different in terms of how the team will operate on the floor in the 2019-2020 season?
Most notably, the offense should be markedly better from a few different perspectives. Conley is a much better shooter than the departed Ricky Rubio, and same goes for Bogdanovic compared to both Derrick Favors and Jae Crowder. Jazz head coach Quin Snyder has been tremendous in designing his offense to get open shots for players, and now he has players who will better be able to hit them.
Thanks to the addition of Bogdanovic specifically, Utah will be able to space the floor so much better than it could when both Favors and Rudy Gobert were sharing the court. With the ability to have at least four capable outside shooters playing at all times, the Jazz should be more prolific from downtown, and driving lanes should be much clearer.
That will help Conley and Donovan Mitchell be more effective creating their own shots and plays for others, while Bogdanovic and Joe Ingles are also capable of putting the ball on the floor. In addition, pick and rolls with Gobert should be more effective with a more open lane.
For a team that has seen its share of struggles on that end of the floor, it stands to reason things will be drastically different next season.
Defensively, Utah will surely miss Favors’ ability to both switch onto guards and protect the paint, but Davis is an excellent replacement at a much cheaper price (part of what surely made it easier to move on from Favors is that there were plenty of less expensive big men available in free agency), and both Conley and Bogdanovic are good on that end of the floor.
The Jazz still have some work to do to fill out their roster. They have five total roster spots open, with the most immediate needs being another backup point guard and another solid forward or center, depending on where they see Davis fitting in best.
At guard off the bench, Utah will surely want to find solid insurance in case Dante Exum’s injury woes continue, as well as someone who can spell Mitchell a bit. Up front, there are a couple of questions depending on where Bogdanovic and Davis play most.
Bogdanovic has played both small and power forward in his career, although he’s spent much of his time at small forward. If he ends up playing most of his time there, Ingles would surely become the Jazz’s sixth man and Davis could start at power forward. If Bogdanovic plays power forward, he and Ingles would start together and Davis would come off the bench, likely mostly at backup center, with Royce O’Neale and Georges Niang primed to play significant roles as backup forwards.
The Jazz will be able to sign as many players to minimum contracts as they need to complete the roster, with the three players they took in the second round of the June 20 draft surely in play to possibly earn roster spots.