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As we all know by now, Yahoo! Sports' guru Adrian Wojnarowski explained that the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets are no longer dancing around with Trey Burke and Ty Lawson potential trades . . . it was only time for a new target to emerge. ESPN's Marc Stein (who was certain that the Lawson deal was going to happen) now reports that Atlanta Hawks, and former Butler Bulldog, Shelvin Mack may be on the table.
If Jazz have indeed walked away for good from the Ty Lawson gamble, I'm told one "safer" PG option they've looked at is Hawks' Shelvin Mack
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) February 18, 2016
Early on this month I was thinking the Jazz could get Shelvin and Kyle Korver in a deal for some of our disposable parts (like Trevor Booker and Trey Burke). It's validating to know that I'm not the only one who sees a potential use for Shelvin in Utah as a 3rd string point guard. Our bros over at Peach Tree Hoops explain:
Utah head coach Quin Snyder is familiar with Mack who has proven over the years to be a steady if not spectacular option at the point when given minutes. The emergence of Dennis Schröder over the last two seasons has relegated Mack into a bench role. He has played in just 24 games this season and is averaging 3.9 points and 1.6 assists while shooting 42 percent from the field.
Trading Mack wouldn't likely bring much of a return but would open a roster spot and allow the Hawks to pursue a buyout players or to bring in a free agent.
If the Hawks want nothing back then that still leaves the Jazz with Trey Burke. Gordon Hayward's college bro Shelvin is only making $2.433 million this year, and has a non-guaranteed deal for the same next year. So he's not that expensive and theoretically the Jazz could get him for little. The Jazz and Hawks do make deals, the Jazz got Raul Neto from them back in 2013. Furthermore, the Jazz and Hawks also made a deal in 1982 sending them Dominique Wilkins. Could another trade be on the horizion? Maybe.
Adding Shelvin makes things "better" for Gordon Hayward, but G-Time is still going to opt out of his contract as soon as possible. I don't know if Shelvin keeps him in Utah though, especially not when he doesn't have a long term contract either.
Is Shelvin better than Trey? No. Trey is a 2nd stringer and Shelvin is a 3rd stringer. Is Shelvin better than Trey at being a 3rd stringer? Probably, absolutely, yes. And that's where the Jazz are planning for next season with Dante Exum being the starter and Raul Neto and Alec Burks handling back-up duties depending on the situation.
I'm obviously okay with this for a variety of reasons, one of them because I thought of this myself. Of course, Marc Stein isn't right a lot when it comes to Jazz rumors, but we'll see what this all means.