12. New Jazz Front Office – KSL Sports
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Jazz open their season on October 20, just 13 days from today. With the clock ticking, we look at 50 things for Jazz fans to be excited about leading up to the 2021-22 NBA season. Coming in at number 13, the new Jazz front office.
New Jazz Front Office
While most of the praise or criticism for the Jazz is directed at the players on the floor or towards coach Quin Snyder, it’s the team’s front office that bares a larger responsibility for the team’s successes and failures that often goes underappreciated.
For example, Snyder’s defensive scheme or Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert received a significant amount of blame for the team’s lack of versatility against the Los Angeles Clippers during last year’s playoffs.
Little attention however was paid to the fact that the Jazz lacked enough adequate defenders elsewhere on the roster to give Snyder and Gobert the tools needed to make their roles more successful.
On the flip side, rookie Jared Butler is already garnering significant praise for his play over the team’s first two preseason games.
What has gone overlooked is the magnificent work the Jazz front office did throughout the draft process recognizing Butler as their top target, doing their due diligence to be comfortable drafting him despite his medical concerns, all the while cutting down the luxury tax bill, and adding two future second draft picks in the process.
That’s how good teams getting better on the court while still managing the owner’s checkbook, and it’s a tough task to balance.
After a long and successful run under Vice President of Basketball Operations Dennis Lindsey, the Jazz chose to hand the reigns of the front office over to General Manager Justin Zanik with the support of owner Ryan Smith.
Smith is a key cog in how the front office operates as his willingness to spend money to keep the Jazz in a position to win is a competitive advantage over other mid-level market teams.
However, it’s how Zanik chooses to use that advantage that will likely determine the Jazz’s success over the next few seasons. After all, Gobert and All-star teammates Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley have shown they have enough talent to carry the team to the top record in the NBA.
Likewise, Snyder has proven that he’s among the top head coaches in the league and is capable of putting a team in a position to succeed.
Now it’s on Zanik and the rest of the Jazz front office to make the final tweaks around the team’s central pieces to lead them to a championship. So far, the results have been promising.
Zanik has long rumored to like forward Rudy Gay as an option for the Jazz and found a way to land the savvy veteran in his first season at the helm. Though it’s only been two games, Butler looks like the team’s best draft pick since trading for Donovan Mitchell in 2017.
How Eric Paschall and Hassan Whiteside will contribute remains to be seen, but reveal a willingness for the team’s front office to bring in players who align the traditional “Jazz DNA” that had been a staple under Lindsey.
Despite his long tenure with the Jazz, Zanik’s story with the team is only now starting to be written. And, how the new front office pans out will be one of the top storylines to track leading up to opening night.