FanPost

Drop Korver; Sign Bogdanovic & Beverley in off-season

According to Basketball-Reference.com, Utah has $92M in team payroll contracts for 2019/20, which means they may only have $17M in cap space if the NBA 2019/20 salary cap is going to be $109M. Utah will be losing Rubio, Sefolosha, and Udo off the books (~ $23.6M total ). Favors, O'Neale, Niang, Neto and Korver all have non-guaranteed contracts for 2019/20 if not retained by a certain date.

As tempting as it may be to try trading Exum in the off-season, I believe Lindsay will stick with him at least through the first half of next season. I wouldn't be surprised to see Exum traded by next All-Star break if he doesn't become a reliable wing. Exum's defense can be really, really good, and his offense lags even though the tools are there. Just not sure how long Lindsay will wait before putting him on the chopping block.

As much as I've enjoyed Korver's pull on opposing defenses, spreading the floor, and catching fire sometimes, I would not guarantee his contract for next season and go after Bojan Bogdanovic. Bogdanovic will be an unrestricted free agent (UFA) playing at the peak of his game. He'll be 30 but he'll be an upgrade from Korver. Not only will he be an upgrade from Korver and cost quite a bit more (possibly a lot more for Utah to pull him from Indiana), he will bring a lot more offense. Per 36 minutes, Bogdanovic is averaging 20 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.9 steals on 41.6% 3P shooting (2.0 3PM - 4.7 3PA) and 49% FG shooting (6.3 - 12.8). He's a decent defender with good size, .12 WS/48, and 0.61 TS%. As Ingles gets older, it may be better for him to not start and instead come off the bench. His best is when he's playing with Favors against other second units. He just picks them apart. Starting Bogdanovic with Mitchell and Gobert would really spread the threat around, not that Ingles can't be a threat, but his 3P shooting did take a little bit of a hit this season. He's basically our backup PG though if you think about it. He's the best one to handle the ball after Mitchell when Snyder has second unit guys in- we rely on Ingles a lot to create scoring opportunities either for himself or others. Bogdanovic is listed as a SF but there's no reason he can't play a stretch PF. This would allow Ingles to start still and create a really good offensive front for Utah:

Mtchell / O'Neale / Ingles / Bogdanovic / Gobert

Snyder could bring Neto, Exum, Crowder, and Favors off the bench. Not sure who else Utah might try to sign or trade for this season, but there are some interesting backup PG options. That said, Neto has been pretty great this season when he's healthy. If Utah were to look for a backup PG to Donovan Mitchell, because that's who should be starting PG now, I like the possibility of Patrick Beverley who is a defensive hound. A combination of Mitchell and Beverley would be a really good defensive back court and Beverley would bring that same feistiness Rubio brough but Beverley is a little more athletic. Beverley is also a much better 3P shooter (40%). Beverley is a RFA this off-season and made $5M last season with the Clippers who Utah is currently competing against for playoff position. Beverley ha splayed in 72 games and started in 43 of them. With only $17M in apparent cap space for Utah, I'm not sure they could get both Bogdanovic and Beverley for less than that. Their combined salaries from this season is less than $17M, but I have a feeling it'll take more to bring them to Utah. Utah's lineups could look like this:

Mitchell / O'Neale / Ingles / Bogdanovic / Gobert

Beverley / Exum / Niang / Crowder / Favors

Neto / Allen / Bradley

Allen and Exum are the weak links, so I'd foresee Snyder playing Ingles with Beverley, Crowder, and Favors. That would be the main 9 man rotation. Sefolosha might be worht re-signing if he's cheap enough and Utah has room, but Utah is starting to acquire some more advanced aged players (Sefolosha, Korver, Ingles) while trying to build the future (Mitchell, Gobert, O'Neale, ?). Bogdanovic and Beverley are both around 30.

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