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Royce O’Neale. The poster child of defying his preseason rank moved up from 14th last year to 8th this year. O’Neale became more and more important as the Utah Jazz season wore on last year. I’m excited to see how he’s improved over the summer and what type of player he becomes.
On the season, Royce averaged just 5 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals, and shot 35% from 3. He became an incredible wing defender as well. One of my favorite moments from last season was when he clamped down on the Spurs at the end of a game, forcing a terrible shot and ensuring a Jazz win. Quin was pretty pumped about that, as you can see here:
Quin is intense pic.twitter.com/Ek4ZfhGqUh
— Kris (@5kl) February 13, 2018
And to stay consistent, here are his overall highlights on the season:
A year of development and a year of experience in the league could lead to a good jump from Royce this year. Let’s not forget that he’s also on a steal of a contract, with the next 2 years non guaranteed at an average of about 1.5 million a year. I’m quite confident that Dennis Lindsey will have no problem guaranteeing his deal again next year as well.
Poll
Who is the 7th most valuable player on the Utah Jazz roster?
This poll is closed
-
53%
Dante Exum
(75 votes) -
2%
Derrick Favors
(4 votes) -
0%
Donovan Mitchell
(1 vote) -
42%
Jae Crowder
(60 votes) -
0%
Joe Ingles
(0 votes) -
0%
Ricky Rubio
(1 vote) -
0%
Rudy Gobert
(0 votes)