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[Ed. Nooope. This entire article is unnecessary because I made an error and miscounted how many players were still on the team after all the trades. Anyway, have fun reading a useless piece of work . . . oh wait, that's all my work.]
The Utah Jazz just completed their buyout of Kendrick Perkins. While they are still receiving Grant Jerrett as part of the Enes Kanter / Steve Novak trade, they will only have 12 of the 13 minimum needed to field a team. They need to fill that roster spot soon, and the historical evidence points to the NBA DL as a possible place to find said newest Jazzman. I have a personal bias towards adding another bigman, even just for 10-day insurance to fill out the bench behind Derrick Favors, Rudy Gobert, Trevor Booker, and Jeremy Evans . . . so I looked at the NBA DL prospect list to find out who was available.
I removed players who have recently been signed, or players who are on assignment and/or have their rights held by another NBA team. And that means my list isn't top tier talent, but still fun to look at.
| Player | Pos | Ht | Wt | Team | Age | Rnd | # | Draft | ||
| 1 | Jordan Hamilton | SF | 6 | 7 | 220 | Bighorns | 24 | 1 | 26 | 2011 |
| 2 | Willie Reed | PF/C | 6 | 10 | 220 | Drive | 24 | -- | -- | 2011 |
| 3 | Khem Birch | PF/C | 6 | 10 | 220 | Skyforce | 22 | -- | -- | 2014 |
| 4 | Eric Griffin | SF | 6 | 8 | 194 | Legends | 24 | -- | -- | 2012 |
| 5 | Arinze Onuaku | C | 6 | 9 | 275 | Charge | 27 | -- | -- | 2010 |
| 6 | Andre Emmett | SF | 6 | 5 | 224 | Mad Ants | 27 | 2 | 36 | 2004 |
| 7 | Jerrelle Benimon | PF | 6 | 8 | 245 | Stampede | 23 | -- | -- | 2014 |
| 8 | Tyrus Thomas | PF | 6 | 10 | 225 | Energy | 28 | 1 | 4 | 2006 |
| 9 | Jack Cooley | PF/C | 6 | 9 | 244 | Stampede | 23 | -- | -- | 2013 |
| 10 | Amadou Mbodji | C | 6 | 10 | 230 | Stampede | 28 | -- | -- | 2009 |
You may remember some of these guys. Hamilton was SIGNED by the Jazz back after training camp but before the season started, then waived. Willie and Khem are both "new style" bigs who can extend their range a bit, and are tall and skinny. I like Khem better because he's Canadian. Sorry.
The rest of the list are unremarkable people, Tyrus Thomas -- looking for that next paycheck -- and then I added two guys not on the top of the NBA-DL prospects list. These are two Idaho Stampede players. It's a lark, I know, to include people from the Jazz' own DL team on a list of possible call ups to the senior team. It's never, ever happened before. If anything, the Jazz used their NBA-DL team as an extended scouting tool for OTHER team's players, and not really a tool for hand-in-hand development. (Off the record correspondence I've had with former Utah Flash players have confirmed my suspicions.) Still, Jack Cooley was a part of our Vegas team, a part of our NBA training camp, and then has played with the Stamps all season long (despite some injury trouble). And, well, yes, I did pick former Utah Flash, current Idaho Stampede player Amadou Mbodji just because of his size and crazy name. I'd buy a Mbodji Jazz jersey. You would too.
If I was the Jazz I would go with Reed or Birch. But I am not the Jazz. They just may go for another wing, who knows? If the Jazz do actually call up someone from the Flash that would be a surprise to me, and I will eat a ghost chili pepper raw if they do.