With currently no draft pick in the upcoming NBA draft, the Utah Jazz are holding a two-day free agent workout at the Zions Bank Basketball Campus to try and find talent that can contribute at the end of the team’s roster.
Utah is working out 18 free agents during the camp — Aaron Henry, Alize Johnson, Allen Crabbe, Carlik Jones, Chris Silva, Craig Randle, Deividas Sirvydis, Derrick Alston, Isaiah Miller, Jared Wilson-Frame, Justin Tillman, Kevon Harris, Louis King, Pat McCaw, TJ Leaf, Tyler Johnson, Tyrique Jones and Wes Iwundu.
“A lot of them played in the NBA, some were some of the best G League players. We need to find those guys that can come in and be at the end of the roster and contribute,” said Bart Taylor, Utah Jazz vice president of pro personnel and Salt Lake City Stars general manager.
Crabbe (381 NBA games), Tyler Johnson (354), Iwundu (226), McCaw (199) and Leaf (146) have the most NBA experience of the 18 players that worked out. Johnson averaged 9.8 points per game throughout an eight-season NBA career and Crabbe averaged 9.1 points per game throughout a seven-season career.
Iwundu, who averaged 4.4 points over a five-season NBA career, is coming off of a 7.3 points per game average with Atlanta in 2021-22.
McCaw averaged 3.8 points per game in his five years in the NBA and was part of two championship teams — the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors. Leaf averaged 3.3 points per game in his four years in the NBA.
Taylor said that the team is always looking for players with “long arms that can play on the wing.”
Many of the players in the group fit the bill.
“We’ve always been kind of focused on it. I think it is something that we do look for so I think that had shown up in this group.”
Alize Johnson, Silva, King, Sirvydis, Henry and Carlik Jones all have NBA experience as well and the rest of the players have played professionally, whether in the G League or overseas. Alston and Wilson-Frame played for the Salt Lake City Stars, the G League affiliate of the Utah Jazz, this season.
The lack of a draft pick currently makes the Jazz more attractive to these players, who — if chosen for the Jazz’s Summer League team — could see more playing time than if the Jazz had to play their 2022 draftees.
“Yeah, that definitely helps,” Taylor said. “It also helps in summer league right now with my conversations with agents. It’s like, hey, we don’t have any picks. So that’s intriguing to them. We’re not going to have guys coming in that we are committed to and want to play and develop that are younger.”
Another selling point is the Jazz’s history of player development under head coach Quin Snyder.
“I think over the years, guys have seen what we do here and how we develop players,” Taylor said. “That’s been more of the driving force from talking to people is that they want to come here because they know that this is a place where they can get better.”
Over the two-day camp, the Jazz will have the 18 players play “a lot of five-on-five games”, during the evaluation process, Taylor said.
“I think what we’re looking for really is like their competitiveness and how hard they play, and then just kind of how they pick up concepts, getting to know them up close and in person,” Taylor said. “Like, you can watch guys with another team and you can see how they play and you can like them or not like them and things like that, but when they’re in your building, and you’re able to like touch them and coach them and really get a feel for how they interact with other teammates, how they interact with coaches, how they pick things up. That’s a really big piece for us in our evaluation. That’s the biggest thing we’re looking for.”