Utah Jazz Recognized Among One of NBA’s Better Offseasons

With the dust of this offseason mostly settled and rosters getting increasingly finalized ahead of this upcoming NBA season, now is a perfect time to take a step back and look around the league to see just how each team may have fared across the summer months, and whether they positioned themselves better or worse than they stood just three months ago.

For the Utah Jazz, while not the most flashy of the bunch, they managed to accomplish their major goals for this rebuild ahead of next season, and as a result, have seen some notable praise because of it.

The Athletic's David Aldridge recently stacked up rankings evaluating the best and worst summers around the NBA from one to 30, and for the Jazz, they didn't quite reach within the top 10 of those standings, but fell just outside of it at the 11th spot.

"It’s all about Ace," Aldridge wrote. "If he’s actually cool now with playing in the Wasatch, the Jazz had a great draft. He’s a huge talent, and his ceiling is worth taking the big swing. But if this blows up in Utah’s face in two or three years … oy. Ainges pere et fils don’t blink, though, and they’ll do everything needed to surround Bailey with the personal and team support needed for him to get off to a good start. Clayton is just the kind of high-character, winning player the Jazz needed more of in their building. Another lottery season awaits, but there’s a Rockets-like path back to relevance through the draft to which Utah appears to be committed."

For a team that's slated to potentially win less than 20 games across next season, an offseason that's ranked right outside the top 10 is a pretty sound result for the Jazz.

It wasn't a perfect summer in Utah. One could argue the Jazz could've gotten a better returning package in exchange for Collin Sexton, and the same could be said for John Collins, had they decided to make those moves six months earlier. They could've poked around a restricted free agent market that held a few intriguing names, and as of now, Walker Kessler remains without an extension before his fourth season.

However, the Jazz certainly didn't remain complacent with the roster they ended last season with, even if it mean t sending out Sexton and Collins for less-than-stellar packages.

President Austin Ainge entered the mix with a clear vision to add more young talent, prioritize development next season, and, in turn, has Utah on the verge of retaining their top-eight protected pick from the Oklahoma City Thunder next offseason at a time when they'll desperately need that asset.