Utah Jazz top five stories of the week

Did anything really happen this week? Man . . .

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1. Gordon Hayward had outpatient surgery, Alec Burks is back on the court dunking on guys!

The Utah Jazz released information relating to a minor surgical procedure that Gordon Hayward had last week. It was to address inflammation in his right heel, and I figured out that it must be a heel spur. It's nothing that's going to keep him off the court for long -- in fact keeping him off the court for portions of this summer may not be a bad thing with the new baby coming in his life and his yearly high minutes load. On the flip side, Alec Burks is back to business using his dribble moves to create space on his jumper, or get into the paint to finish at the rim. I'm glad to see him back out there. More on both stores here.

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2. If the Jazz want, they can trade up on draft night

Right now the Jazz are picking #12th, but have the parts to make trades. They have future picks. They have draft rights. They have expendable players on non-guaranteed deals. And they have some really good, young players too. It's not out of the blue to see Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey pull the trigger on draft night; he's done it six times in the last two drafts. Here are legit trade proposals for the Lakers, Knicks, Magic, or Nuggets picks. Additionally, I think it's much easier to get stuff done with fewer assets from the Bobcats pick downwards. It's very possible that the Jazz are making moves again this June, and some of them may look like this.

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3. Pre-Draft Workouts

The Utah Jazz had a few workouts before the NBA Draft Combine, but have really been putting "pipeline" prospects through their motions for the most part. These are guys who may not be drafted at all, but people that the Jazz feel the need to keep eyes on. They may make up who the team builds for next seasons' Idaho Stampede roster, or even add to the team during the Jazz season if there are injuries. While most of these names may not excite you, one of them could be the next Jack Cooley, Dee Bost, Toure' Murry, Jordan Hamilton, Niels Giffey, Bryce Cotton, Elijah Millsap, Jarnell Stokes, or Jerrelle Benimon. If you impress the Jazz at the workout you can be assured that you'll be in the pipeline for a long time, being invited to free agent mini-camps, or summer league. There are many roads that lead to the NBA, and for some of these players, if they play hard they could just one day put on a Jazz uniform.

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4. Is free agent Joe Ingles a realist or hinting at something

Joe Ingles signed with the Jazz after training camp finished, and he cleared waivers after the Clippers cut him. He had a non-guaranteed contract with the team that lasted all season long. The occasional starter, and vocal leader / vet of last season's club is essentially a restricted free agent this off-season. But he is going to return to the Jazz? At locker clean out he suggested that there was mutual interest. However, some of his tweets skew on the "maybe not" side if you are paranoid. As someone who butchers the English language and grammar on the regular I feel like Ingles' command of the written word is about as poor as mine is, so perhaps he just tweets at a 7th grade level, like I do? Or maybe the basketball pro who has played all over the world is a realist and knows that in this business it's never good to feel too comfy in a situation. Read his tweets for yourself and decide!

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5. Dante Exum seems to be growing still

He "looks taller" now, but we'll have to wait until training camp to see if his measurements have really changed or not. If he keeps growing he may have to move from point guard to point forward! It's not out of the question to see him top out at 6'8 at this rate!

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Previous Top Five Stories:

• March 28 - April 3: Hot Rod Hundley passes away; Grantland kills Enes Kanter and his comments on Utah; Australian Newspapers talk about Dante Exum; the Idaho Stampede have been purchased by the Utah Jazz and what does this mean for the future; and Rudy Gobert is a legit star according to the National basketball writers of America
  
• April 4 - April 10: DUKE wins the NCAA National Championship; Rodney Hood will play in summer league; National media think the Utah Jazz will make a run for the playoffs next season; Quin Snyder interviews + Moni = awesome; some national writers don't think the Thunder want Enes Kanter back
  
• April 11 - April 17: Utah Jazz players could make some noise with some end of season awards; Rocky Mountain Revue dates and teams; Bryce Cotton 's awesome oop; Gary Briggs retires; Locker Clean Out exit interviews
  
• April 18 - April 24: Rudy Gobert's reaction to placing 5th in DPOY; Alec Burks desire to get back on the court; Quin Snyder is a Top 10 Coach; Andrei Kirilenko is still AK-47; Larry H. Miller day of service
  
• April 25 - May 1: Gordon Hayward blogs about his impending fatherhood; Rudy Gobert is doing charity work in Africa this off-season; Ante Tomic is really never, ever, ever coming over to the Jazz; Utah Jazz license plates are fun; and it's been a very long time since the Jazz won a playoff game
• May 2- May 8: Our bigman Rudy Gobert continues to voice his displeasure for not winning awards, and his hunger for next season; Derrick Favors is giving back and increasing visibility for charity; a breakdown of the Jazzmen who may be on the road to the 2016 Olympics (Gordon Hayward, Dante Exum, Joe Ingles, Raul Neto, Carlos Arroyo, Andrei Kirilenko, Erik Murphy, Tibor Pleiss, Kosta Koufos, Ante Tomic, and maybe Kyrylo Fesenko); a look at the players the Utah Jazz have worked out so far pre-draft; and a look at the free agency strategies for the Jazz
• May 9 - May 15: The NBA Draft Lottery is right around the corner; the Larry H. Miller Group of companies keeps making changes; but the Utah Jazz are still in great hands; Dante Exum may get tired, but he never stops playing; and Rudy Gobert is living it up
• May 16 - May 22: The NBA Draft order has been set and the Utah Jazz are picking #12 (+ a list of some of the players historically taken at #12); Jazz pre-season schedule partially released; Gordon Hayward breaks down the East and West Finals; Utah players continued to be shut out of end of season awards and teams; and the Utah Jazz Summer League schedule was released!
• May 23 - May 29: You're already reading this one, you dumb-dumb!