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The Utah Jazz leave no stone unturned. When it comes to the NBA Draft they the front office, the basketball people, and especially the scouts are working their butts off. They consistently maximize their results from their diligence and have acquired a number of good players from unlikely sources over the years, Rodney Hood (#23), Rudy Gobert (#27), and Raul Neto (#47) are all solid examples of getting NBA level starters (and possible stars) from outside of the Top 5. As a result, I have complete confidence in what they are doing. Unfortunately, I would still love to understand their method and/or their madness. This year they worked out 97 players, and only two are projected to go in the lottery this year. That makes sense, because yesterday they traded their lottery pick. One wonders what else can we learn from the clues they have left behind?
Let us take a look at where the guys they worked out actually rank (Ranking based on the consensus rank and average draft spot calculation):
| Lotto Picks | College | Avg # | End of the line | College | Avg # | |
| Deyonta Davis | Michigan St. | 11.97 | Elgin Cook | Oregon | 75.00 | |
| Domantas Sabonis | Gonzaga | 12.32 | Alex Caruso | Texas A&M | 75.60 | |
| Isaiah Taylor | Texas | 76.14 | ||||
| Late 1st Round | College | Avg # | Marshall Plumlee | Duke | 76.86 | |
| Denzel Valentine | Michigan St. | 18.63 | Shawn Long | Louisiana | 77.29 | |
| Dejounte Murray | Washington | 20.09 | Alpha Kaba [x] | INTL - France | 81.00 | |
| Malachi Richardson | Syracuse | 20.44 | Kyle Collinsworth | BYU | 84.50 | |
| Ante Zizic | INTL - Croatia | 23.32 | Tim Quarterman | LSU | 84.71 | |
| Demetrius Jackson | Notre Dame | 24.47 | Brannen Greene | Kansas | 86.00 | |
| Thon Maker | INTL - Sudan / Australia | 27.11 | DyShawn Pierre | Dayton | 89.00 | |
| David Walker | Northeastern | 90.00 | ||||
| Around #42 - #60 | College | Avg # | Rosco Allen | Stanford | 90.25 | |
| Gary Payton II | Oregon St. | 41.81 | Jalen Jones | Texas A&M | 92.00 | |
| Pascal Siakam | New Mexico St. | 44.11 | Jalen Reynolds | Xavier | 93.00 | |
| Michael Gbinije | Syracuse | 48.42 | Tyler Harris | Auburn | 93.00 | |
| Jarrod Uthoff | Iowa | 52.24 | Thomas Walkup | Stephen F. Austin | 93.33 | |
| Dorian Finney-Smith | Florida | 57.83 | Bryn Forbes | Michigan St. | 96.00 | |
| Ryan Arcidiacono | Villanova | 97.67 | ||||
| "Finger's crossed!" | College | Avg # | Nikola Jovanovic | Southern California | 98.00 | |
| Yogi Ferrell | Indiana | 63.78 | Nathan Boothe | Toledo | 99.00 | |
| Fred VanVleet | Wichita St. | 63.89 | Andrew Andrews | Washington | 99.33 | |
| James Webb III | Boise St. | 64.11 | ||||
| Kyle Wiltjer | Gonzaga | 66.75 | After 100 | College | Avg # | |
| Ron Baker | Wichita St. | 67.33 | Josh Scott | Colorado | 100.50 | |
| Damion Lee | Louisville | 68.29 | Ryan Anderson | Arizona | 103.00 | |
| Gracin Bakumanya | INTL - Congo | 68.63 | Marcus Georges-Hunt | Georgia Tech | 106.50 | |
| Tyrone Wallace | California | 69.13 | Anthony Gill | Virginia | 107.50 | |
| Marcus Paige | North Carolina | 69.88 | Shavon Shields | Nebraska | 110.00 | |
| Josh Adams | Wyoming | 72.00 | Retin Obasohan | Alabama | 121.00 | |
| Julian Jacobs | USC | 72.43 | Jameel McKay | Iowa St. | 123.00 | |
| Zach Auguste | Notre Dame | 74.20 | Alex Hamilton | Louisiana Tech | 124.00 |
As you can see, the majority of these guys are not projected to even be drafted. And I didn't even include the legion of guys who didn't even get a SINGLE draft or big board rank from 40 sources. For what it is worth, those guys were: Abdel Nadar, Andrew White III, Angel Rodriguez, Anthony Beane, Brandon Taylor, Chase Fischer, Chris Fowler, Chris Smith, Codi Miller-McIntyre, Dakarai Tucker, Eric McClellan, Ethan Telfair, Gavin Ware, James Robinson, Jaron Blossomgame, John Brown, Jordan Loveridge, Jordan Sakho, Jordan Tolbert, Josh Gray, Josh Hagins, Kenny Gaines, Malik Pope, Marcus Gilbert, Mathias Lessort, Matt Costello, Matthew TIby, Max Hooper, Max Landis, Michael Bryson, Michael Carrera, Mike Tobey, Nic Moore, Nigel Hayes, Obi Emegano, Quincy Ford, SHaq Goodwin, Tanner Plomb, Trevor Cooney, Trey Freeman, Trey Lewis, Tyler Dorsey, and Vince Edwards.
*IF* the Utah Jazz are going to move back into the last 1st, as most of us are wishing for, then it's going to be only if someone they like is on the board. Do they like any of these guys that they worked out? Hopefully.
But all in all, this year's group wasn't that impressive to begin with. Or maybe I'm just jaded about having to learn all about a hundred new guys for three years in a row?
I dunno.
I do love the NBA Draft. And I do still expect the Jazz to "wow" me tonight with something they do.