FanPost

Jazz Nuclear Option....Trade Favors and Hayward

First of all I don't know if I like this idea. I think that the Jazz are more likely to be good for a long time keeping the current core together than they are trading Favors and Hayward. The Jazz could be better off not trading for anybody, keeping the core of Hayward, Favors, Gobert, Hood together and adding a few pieces and getting up into the top four in the west. Then with luck they can easily be playing for a championship.


However trading those two would increase the odds of a championship over keeping them (not by that much though).

That said, here are some ideas for the Jazz if they decided to go Nuclear.

If the Jazz go nuclear, they should build around their younger core of Gobert, Hood, Exum, Lyles. So that makes Favors, Hayward, Burke, and Burks tradeable. They also have the OKC 1st, GSW 1st, plus their own 1st round picks. Here is my order on value: Hayward, Favors, Jazz 2017 1st, Burks, Jazz 2016 #12, Burke, GSW 1st, OKC 1st, 2nd round picks.

It would be nice to keep our own pick next year as it should be lower than 12 and could be a really good pick.


I am interested to know what you think about these trades.

I think if the Jazz trade Hayward they need to trade Favors. So here are two trades. The first for Hayward, the second for Favors.


Trade 1 -


The Jazz trade Hayward, #12 pick and 2nd round picks for the #1 or #2 pick (+ salary match looking at you crappy Swaggy P) and draft either Ingram or Simmons. [wouldn't it be awesome if the Lakers were sitting on the board at #2 and Simmons demanded a trade to the Jazz to be with Exum, Ingles and our young core? In your face Lakers]

This has been talked about many times. I won't rehash the reasons to do this.

Trade 2 -


Basic Trade:

Knicks -
Receive: Kevin Love
Trade: Kristaps Porzingis

Cavs -
Receive: Derek Favors
Trade: Love

Jazz -
Receive: Porzingis
Trade: Favors

+Plus filler to make it work. The Jazz would probably also have to take salary dump (Jose Calderon) and add the GSW 1st Round Pick and the OKC 1st to complete the trade. They could also add Trey Burke and Alec Burks for additional value.

Alternatives: Jazz could also trade Burks, Burke and a 2nd to Atlanta who would then send Jeff Teague to the Knicks.

Reasons for the Knicks: First, I don't think the Knicks do a straight Favors for Porzingis trade. Favors wouldn't fit with Anthony and Lopez as well as Love would.

Second, I think the Knicks are in a funky situation where they either need to build around Carmelo Anthony or Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis wont reach his prime until after Carmelo is in serious decline. They also can't easily build around Porzingis as they don't have draft picks and the only other person that can net them a lot is Anthony who has a no trade clause. So they either have to be bad for a long time (years) and keep Porzingis or trade him and build around Anthony.

Anthony, Love, Lopez are all in their prime together and fit together well together, adding Teague would be even better. If they dump Calderon's contract they also have space for another great player or a few good players to fill in the gaps. Or alternatively the could bring over Burke and Burks who can start or really strengthen the Knicks bench.

Cavs -

I think that Favors fits with the Cavs better than Love, especially in the playoffs agaisnt the Warriors where they need the most help. Favors would be able to match up defensively much better against Golden State than Love. If the Cavs went small with Favors they would be able to switch 1-5. OKC gave the Warriors such fits this year buy switching 1-5 and then having tall athletic wings cover the rim when Adams got beat.

Favors also has a better PER than Love. The Cavs also don't lose that much on the offensive end as Irving and James can make up for the lose.

The Cavs might need a first round pick to sweeten the deal and the Jazz have either the GSW or OKC pick that would work.

Jazz -

The Jazz are similar to the Knicks in that their best players are in two different development time lines. Favors and Hayward are in their prime. Gobert, Exum, Lyles and Hood are all a few years away. Trading Favors and Hayward (and Burke and Burks) and taking a step back may be the best thing for them to do.

Porzingis outside game may work very well with Gobert and Lyles. His length also fits well with Utah's length. The Jazz could take a step back defensively with Lyles and Porzingas taking the place of Favors.

Calderon and keeping Mack could give Exum that soft landing talked about.

If the Jazz made this move in conjunction with a trade of Hayward, #12 pick for the #2 pick then they would have a very young roster with lots of potential:

Exum, Neto
Hood, Simmons (or Ingram)
Gobert, Porzingis, Lyles

As all these contracts are cheap this also gives the Jazz $ to get veterans to build around the team. Bradley Beal, Mack, Ingles, ? Calderon?

The Jazz lineup would look like:

Exum, Mack, Neto
Beal, Hood, Simmons (or Ingram), Ingles
Gobert, Porzingis, Lyles, Withey

Anyway, let me know your thoughts.

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.