NBA Insider Breaks Down How Utah Jazz Landed Ace Bailey

During an interview with Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter, ESPN insider Shams Charania broke down what led up to the Jazz's draft picks at five and 18, noting that there had not only been "whispers" about Utah's interest in Bailey in the days before their fifth selection, but also mentioning how excited the Utah front office is about the results.

"There were whispers over the last couple of days at number five, Utah, even though they had not brought in Ace Bailey," Charania said. "Ace Bailey hadn't worked out for anyone in person in the high lottery. Despite that, Utah had really been looking at him, and his talent, wanted to bring him in– his scoring, his competitiveness. So you get Ace Bailey, and then Walter Clayton, Jr. later in the first round, as well. So, I think Utah's very happy with the draft that they had today. "

"You have multiple other storylines, but Utah getting those two players, competitors, shooters, scores. I think they're very excited about it."

The Jazz hadn't brought in either Bailey or Clayton Jr. for a pre-draft workout in the weeks leading up to their pair of choices, but that clearly didn't factor into their decision-making much. Utah saw enough from the two within their NBA Combine meetings and film study to enforce that confidence to mark them down on their draft cards.

And now, with those two choices in the books, it gives Utah and coach Will Hardy two new building blocks for the foreseeable future, and could be a catalyst to help this Jazz rebuild start to turn in the right direction.

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