Jazz Rank: Ochai Agbaji 11th, Talen Horton-Tucker 10th, and Simone Fontecchio 9th Most Valuable Players on the Roster

Our next round of voting in this year’s ranking of the Utah Jazz roster is in the books. And given the results, I’m calling it for the next 3 slots in the ranking. I personally do not agree with the results, but that’s what makes this fun. We don’t have to agree and not everything goes as expected.

Ochai Agbaji comes in as the 11th most valuable player on the Utah Jazz roster. He came to Utah as part of the Donovan Mitchell trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Agbaji was the Big 12 Player of the Year as well as the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player as he lead Kansas to a National Championship. Ochai averaged nearly 19 points a game and is an elite outside shooter. He’s got great length and athleticism that should translate well to the NBA game. He may not get a lot of minutes as a rookie with how deep this Jazz roster is, but don’t let that fool you. I still expect him to develop into a nice wing after being a lottery pick in the 2022 NBA draft.

Talen Horton-Tucker is somehow younger than Agbaji, even though he’s now in his 4th season in the NBA. After showing a ton of promise in his first couple years (earning him a pretty fat extension as a 2nd round pick in 2019), his development seems to have stalled with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Jazz traded the recently acquired Patrick Beverly to take a flyer on THT and give him a fresh start in a new environment. He’s got crazy length and is a solid ball-handler. Developing an outside shot will be critical given his need to have the ball in his hands to be most effective. He looks like an improved defender so far this year, which is a great start.

Simone Fontecchio was the best overseas player on several scouts’ lists. The Jazz front office must have agreed because they used a chunk of their MLE to sign him as a free agent. Much like Lauri Markkanen, Fontecchio had a great EuroBasket and was often the best player on the court during that tournament. The Italian is apparently known as Splash Fratello to some, and it only took a few minutes in a single game to understand why. His shot is smooth as butter. At 26, he may not have the most upside of guys on the roster, but I think he could be Utah’s next good free agent find akin to Royce O’Neale, Joe Ingles, and Georges Niang.

Jazz Rank Results

9. Simone Fontecchio

10. Talen Horton-Tucker

11. Ochai Agbaji

12. Nikeil Alexander-Walker

13. Udoka Azubuike

14. Leandro Bolmaro

15. Rudy Gay

Alright, I’m excited to see where we go from here! Another reason why I decided to go ahead and just rank 3 players based on 1 polls results is that it makes the next round of voting much less predictable. This is where things will get especially interesting.