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This Utah Jazz season started off with the idea that there would be some guard depth this year with Alec Burks, Gordon Hayward, Rodney Hood, Joe Ingles, Ian Clark, and Dante Exum all on the season roster. Players like Carrick Felix and Toure' Murry have come and gone ... and the team just recently signed Patrick Christopher and Elijah Millsap to contracts. Millsap is on a 10 day contract. But Christopher signed a 2 year deal on December 10th, 2014 -- but it's not guaranteed. Still, it's a veritable shooting guard party in Salt Lake.
You know, if you look past the current injuries to Burks, Hood, and Christopher. The Jazz aren't against cutting, trading, or waiving an injured player. And they may be doing that soon because, according to Yahoo! Sports' Marc J. Spears:
D-League Santa Cruz G Elliott Williams is expected to sign a 10-day contract with the Jazz soon,sources said. He is in SLC taking a physical
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) January 6, 2015
Yes, you may remember Elliott Williams. The 25 year old was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers (1st round, pick #22) back in 2010, and he has bounced around a bit. He played for Portland (24 games, 6.2 mpg) as a rookie, then got injured and missed his entire second season. He then signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers and was cut in training camp, and then signed on to play for the Philadelphia 76ers, where he would play in 67 games, and 1157 minutes.
He has had injuries for most of his professional career, something he didn't really face as a player at Duke, or Memphis. In the D-League he has played for the Philadelphia 76ers Philly's affiliate the Deleware 87ers and and the Santa Cruz Warriors. He is young, and as a shooting guard in the minor leagues, is averaging 21.2 ppg, 7.5 apg, and 4.7 rpg -- while hitting 38.6% of his shots from deep.
According to one NBA scout recently, "Elliot Williams is the top guard option in the entire NBA D-League."
— D-League Digest (@DLeagueDigest) January 6, 2015
If he does sign that probably means that Christopher is out. And it's yet another NBA DL player who will join the Jazz who is not part of the Jazz NBA DL team or pipeline. You know, if you are keeping score at home. (Like Kevin Murphy, who signed on to play in Europe for the rest of the season, may be keeping.)
If it happens and we do get Williams I'm cool with that. We've added a number of NBA-DL players over the years who did not last long in the NBA, and some who did. (Sundiata Gaines, Othyus Jeffers, Travis Leslie, Jerel McNeal...) This team needs some help, and Williams could be that guy who can.