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Jazz Sneakily Find Their Missing Pieces: The Downbeat #1666

By JuMu
Lyles is become death, destroyer of worlds
Lyles is become death, destroyer of worlds
Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

Well that was a crazy week of rumors and draft madness! Now that the duststorm that is the draft has settled,  let us continue to get to know more about our 2 newest youthful members of the Jazz: Trey Lyles and Olivier Hanlan!

For those who haven't watched it yet, here is the link to the Jazz press conference introducing them:

Trey and Olivier Press Conference

For those who prefer reading over watching, moni has you covered over at jazzfanatical.

Here's an excerpt of what our very own not-so-subtle-wizard Dennis Lindsey had to say about his new draft prizes:

On the Jazz’s draft selections
At the end of the day, these guys, relative to their picks, really stood out. Trey specifically, his ability to make plays and be a versatile player, his intelligence…

And Quin [Snyder] and I talk about this a lot, but when you get 19-year-olds, 22-year-olds that are basketball prodigies, things kind of gravitate towards them. So, the "derecruitment,*" if you will, of young players is very important, and I thought coach [John] Calipari did a great job and a great service for all the Kentucky players to really put the team in front of themselves…

Trey in particular, playing different positions, we think that is going to set a platform for him to be able to be even more versatile at the power forward position as we’ll be playing him.

Olivier, we’ve been impressed with all the way through. You’ll soon see how well-educated he is, how cultured he is, and then what a good basketball player he is. He came in this workout here, and this is a tough place to work out at, not only what we demand, but in altitude. And many times, the altitude gets on players’ back.

And so, his ability to play with pace and to knock out the workout allowed us to take a longer look at what he could do as a point guard who could both score and create for his teammates. And we’re thrilled to have him.

.For t

These two sure look good in their new uniforms! Can't wait to see the damage these two do in the future in these threads:

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So whoever was keeping track, I was on the Kelly Oubre bandwagon, and wished we found a way to snag him. I wasn't overly excited with the pick of Lyles initially. But the more I read about Lyles, the more my doubts are put to rest. (Though, I do still think we could use another defensive SG/SF)

Dennis Lindsey is a mastermind, do not forget this. He is the Indominus Rex of NBA GMs. His analytical tools and insight into the direction the NBA is making led him to pull the trigger on Lyles and buying into the stretch forward idea that hopefully works betters with Lyles than it did with Marvin a couple seasons ago.

Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune has a nice breakdown of some more of the strengths of Lyles: Link to article

Here's a relevant snippet to those who want to know how he'll contribute to this team:

Jazz officials also believe Lyles, who already has a promising midrange jumper, is a better shooter from deep, particularly in the corners, than his 4-for-29 performance as a freshman showed. It might take some time before Lyles can be a consistent deep threat, but the Jazz believe his ability to put the ball on the floor and his above-average vision for a big man could still make him a threat on the perimeter and a nice complement to big men Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert.

Other news around the league: free agent wheeling and dealing time is nigh!

Both LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Monroe are planning on meeting with several teams and have minimal interest in signing back with their original teams.

Paul Pierce opted out of the final year of his contract with the Wizards; his reported most likely destination are either the Clippers or a return to the Wizards for next season.

The Suns are close to agreeing on a 5-year $70 MM Deal with Brandon Knight. There is speculation that the Suns will be looking to move Eric Bledsoe who signed an identical deal last offseason.

What do you think Jazz fans: would you make a trade for Bledsoe, given the roster we have now. Is he a big enough upgrade over the best of  Burks/Hood/Exum/Burke/Hanland to warrant giving up much to Phoenix for him?

I'm not so sure I'd give up much for him but I could be convinced given that our backcourt was the team's weakness last season (mainly due to point guard inexperience and every single shooting guard getting bit by the injury bug)..

Enjoy an assortment of tweets from the Utah Jazz twitter feed recently:

I do appreciate how quickly the Jazz integrates their new draft picks into the community. Here's to yet another promising offseason!

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