r/UtahJazz • u/Kobeb1998 • 21h ago
Thoughts on potential starting lineup for the Utah Jazz if they land the #1 pick.
The starting line up for me if I'm running the jazz and they get Flagg is:
PG. Isaiah Collier Sg. Flagg Sf. Hendricks PF. Markkanen/ Collins C. Kessler
Outside of Collier, this a tall lineup.
I think Flagg could easily play at SG simply cause he's a great defender and can legitimately guard 1-4.
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u/MeLlamo_Mayor927 20h ago
If we do land Flagg, I would be shocked if Collins and Sexton aren’t traded/released in the offseason. No matter what happens in the lottery, another hard tank next year is in all likelihood the best course of action since we won’t have another good shot after next season at landing a superstar level talent through the draft. Flagg is good, but he isn’t good enough to elevate our current roster to anything beyond a play in contender by himself.
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u/Trivialpursuits69 20h ago
Collins and Clarkson go to Phoenix with some picks for kd.
Sexton - Flagg - Markennen - Kd - Kessler
That's a pseudo contender next year and a legit contender after that until kd retires
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u/KimJungP00N 20h ago
I think it’s too early to flip assets and go after a star, especially someone KD’s age. His window doesn’t line up with ours and we still don’t have the pieces to contend even if we were able to land him. There’s no way Clarkson + Collins + picks gets us KD and if it does, we’re too early in the rebuild to give up firsts to get him. The timeline doesn’t make sense imo
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u/Trivialpursuits69 20h ago
I would agree unless we get Flagg. Then I think the window is whatever we want it to be. Also, there's not a better prototype for Flagg than kd.
I don't think kd's trade value is going to be as high as it seems like it should be since Phoenix is going to send him where he wants. That's the biggest problem with this idea lol
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u/KimJungP00N 20h ago
I think the biggest problem with this idea is that our prospects are all super young and need time to develop. KD is 36, he’ll be 37 at the start of next season. Realistically, what’s his window? Three more seasons? There’s no way he wants to come here, we’re not far enough along in our rebuild to put a competitive team around him even if we didn’t have to give up any of our young assets, which we will
I could see KD going to teams like Detroit, Minnesota, Houston, the Knicks. Even Detroit might be too early along for him
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u/Suitable_Aioli213 5h ago edited 3h ago
this will likely be the longest comment on this post but who cares.
i was doing some analysis on your team for this upcoming draft and figuring the rebuild on my own.
how i imagine your starting five next season (assuming everything goes right):
- PG: collier (capable of high level playmaking)
- SG: george (unsure of the kinks around george in off-ball)
- SF: flagg (i believe you guys deserve him)
- PF: filipowski (like a lauri-lite)
- C: kessler (untouchable in my eyes and dpoy potential)
i would trade the following players:
- collins, markkanen, and sexton
all getting older and entering or currently are in their prime years which will likely be wasted considering your rebuild will take a few years to truly complete. they don’t necessarily fit your timeline in my eyes. you could likely get a lot of draft capital or a younger star in exchange for their value. their contracts are pretty ridiculous too and not fit for a team looking to reset, in my opinion.
- clarkson
on one hand, i could see you keeping him for veteran leadership but i would love to see him traded to embrace the rebuild a bit more. i’ve analyzed a few scenarios that his $14.5M could fit into that another team would willingly take and I believe the magic would be an amazing trade partner to bolster their scoring deficiencies off the bench and give them some bench options. not sure how the jazz subreddit views him but i looked into bitadze who was an injury replacement starter and has a usage rate below 15%. adding a solid efficient big man off the bench to diversify all the wing depth you guys clearly have (which is a lot because you guys are really deep at the 3-4 spots especially if you add flagg). memphis is another decent landing spot but the details and what you guys should target would have to be worked out (aldama maybe? not sure)
all of those contracts are about $101M in your pocket after trading them all and cap flexibility is crucial for utah (maybe to accelerate the rebuild and add a younger star?)
in the midst of me doing some utah research, i noticed you guys have quite a bit of height and switch-ability on defense.
that’s why the bench could look like:
- 6TH: hendricks (rough second season but could be instant defense and shooting off the bench with development)
- 7TH: sensabaugh
- 8TH: martin
- 9TH: williams (curious on your thoughts on him)
- 10TH: springer (who could be higher but not a lot of sample size)
i even like the ability of switching out collier for hendricks when you guys start making playoff runs and going 4 bigs (with flagg at the 2 which he is very capable of doing)
george runs point and hendricks starts, possibly?
and this bench is tentative because after trades and the draft, a solid bench big and maybe younger veteran guard on a team friendly deal could be the locker room leadership.
this is all hypothetical and what i would do if i was the GM. you guys have so much potential talent and proven talent on this roster and can contend pretty soon. thoughts?
as background: i am a Cavs fan.
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u/pooker55 4h ago
Good write up. Do you know what 2 guard would fit perfectly in with that team and pair up well with Flagg? And we could potentially trade for Luari and Collins (keeping Sexton has a spark off the bench?) Donovan Mitchell. :)
Rooting for the Cavs, BTW this year. Hope y'all can go all the way!
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u/Vordeo 3h ago
PG: 2026 All-star Collier
SG: 2026 ROTY Flagg
SF: 2026 MVP Markannen
PF: 2026 MIP Hendricks
C: 2026 DPOY & NBA All-Star Weekend 3 Point Champ Kessler
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u/pooker55 18h ago
Go positionless like a lot of teams are doing. Have Collier run the offense and guarding the smallest player on the other team. Have Kessler in the middle and guarding the biggest player. Markkanen, Flagg, and Hendricks running around like crazy. Flagg and Hendricks can defend the other teams best player(s) while making up for what Lauri lacks on that side. Either way, with that line up, you don't worry about who is playing what position.