Utah Jazz: 2009 NBA Draft

Jason Tomassini — Tue, 12 May 2009 07:16:58 -0700

2009 NBA DRAFT: NBA Team Needs/Capsules - NBA Mock Draft - Top 100 Prospects

- We’ll update our Team Capsules with more specific info once the lottery is complete.

Utah Jazz

2008-09 Record: 48-34

Draft Picks: 20, 50

Key Free Agents:

Restricted: Paul Millsap, Kyrylo Fesenko; Unrestricted: Carlos Boozer, Morris Allmond, Jarron Collins, Brevin Knight, Ronnie Price. Mehmet Okur and Kyle Korver have early termination options.

How They Got Here:

It was a season that really can only be described as weird for Utah. Deron Williams and Ronnie Brewer made nice steps in the right direction and Paul Millsap made an unexpected leap into the realm of Soon To Be Very Rich People. But the team seemed to be constantly mired in rumors of turmoil, mainly because of the potential free agency of a good portion of their rotation and Andrei Kirilenko seemingly always on the brink of a nervous breakdown. There is a big decision looming on whether to retain Millsap or Boozer, and they almost certainly can’t keep both.

What They Need:

This could be a make-or-break offseason for Utah’s future and essentially for Deron Williams’ career. He’s going to need that power forward to run the screen and roll with and Utah needs to chose the right one. In a draft this weak, No. 20 isn’t going to replace Boozer, Millsap or Okur, so they need to look at gaining some depth with the free agency period shortly following the draft. Also, due to Kirilenko’s craziness, finding another wing player (a non-crazy one of course) couldn’t hurt.

Who They'll Take:

The Kosta Koufos pick last year continues to boggle minds, unless they thought, “Hey, if Okur leaves next year, we can just replace him with a worse, softer version!” So, even with two other European bigs drafted last year and Fesenko on the bench, drafting a solid defensive big man would be a good look. Unfortunately there aren’t many in this draft, which is exactly why BJ Mullens’ draft position will be sure to confound. If they lose Millsap, it seems to make perfect sense to target DeJuan Blair. Chase Budinger would seem like the perfect way for the Jazz to waste this pick and as you can see below, there’s about a 50 percent chance that will happen.

Utah Jazz Draft History (since 2001)

2008: Kosta Koufos (23), Ante Tomic (44), Tadija Dragecevic (53)

2007: Morris Almond (25), Herbert Hill (55)

2006: Ronnie Brewer (14), Dee Brown (46), Paul Millsap (47)

2005: Deron Williams (3), C.J. Miles (34), Robert Whaley (51)

2004: Kris Humphries (14), Kirk Snyder (16)

2003: Aleksandar Pavlovic (19), Mo Williams (47)

2002: Ryan Humphrey (19), Jamal Sampson (47)

2001: Raul Lopez (24), Jarron Collins (53)

2009 NBA DRAFT: NBA Team Needs/Capsules - NBA Mock Draft - Top 100 Prospects

Top Prospects

Stephen Curry - PG/SG - Davidson

Tyreke Evans - PG/SG - Memphis

Blake Griffin - PF - Oklahoma

James Harden - SG - Arizona State

Jordan Hill - PF - Arizona

Ty Lawson - PG - UNC

BJ Mullens - C - Ohio State

Ricky Rubio - PG - DKV Joventut

Brandon Jennings - PG - Arizona

Hasheem Thabeet - C - UCONN

utah jazz

Utah Jazz: 2009 NBA Draft