2017-18 fantasy basketball preview: Utah Jazz

Over the coming days, we at FanSided will finish our team-by-team breakdown of each NBA franchise’s fantasy prospects for the 2017-18 season. Let’s continue today with the Utah Jazz.

The Utah Jazz did their best to make lemonades out of lemons this offseason, but the free-agent departure of Gordon Hayward will be an inevitable setback for the upstart team. Whereas the Jazz had the makings of a dark-horse contender out West with Hayward, they’ll now be fighting for their playoff lives with a number of new rotation members, complicating their outlook for fantasy basketball owners heading into the year.

Joe Ingles, who re-upped in Utah on a four-year, $52 million deal this summer, figures to slide into the starting small forward gig Hayward vacated, although he won’t provide the same type of well-rounded fantasy appeal. In Hayward’s absence, the Jazz are expecting Rodney Hood to take a major step forward as he heads into a contract year, while rookie 2-guard Donovan Mitchell, Alec Burks, Joe Johnson and Thabo Sefolosha should provide complementary offense off the bench.

In the frontcourt, Rudy Gobert appears poised to build upon his career-best 2016-17 campaign and emerge as a legitimate two-way monster. The biggest question mark is Derrick Favors, who was limited to a career-low 50 games last season due to lingering knee trouble. With Favors headed into a contract season, the Jazz have to weigh whether he’s a long-term fit alongside Gobert or if they should consider moving on from him prior to the trade deadline.

Which Jazz players should fantasy owners target with early-, mid- and late-round picks, and who should be left on the waiver wire? Let’s take a look.

Early-round picks

Rudy Gobert, C: Last season, Gobert began his transformation from a blocks, rebounds and field-goal percentage specialist to a two-way fantasy force of nature. The Stifle Tower set new career highs in points (14.0), field-goal percentage (66.1 percent), rebounds (12.8), blocks (2.6) and minutes (33.9) to finish as the 19th-ranked player on a per-game basis in nine-category leagues. His play after the All-Star break was particularly superb, as he went off for 16.7 points on 70.1 percent shooting, 13.1 rebounds and 3.0 blocks across his final 24 games. With Hayward gone and new point guard Ricky Rubio set to feed him the ball, Gobert could be in line for a major uptick in offensive production, which makes him worth a look toward the end of the first or beginning of the second round.

Ricky Rubio, PG: Rubio is Utah’s biggest wild card heading into the 2017-18 season. He figures to be an elite source of assists and steals, as usual — he averaged 9.1 and 1.7, respectively, in his final year with the Minnesota Timberwolves — but last season was the first time he shot at least 40 percent overall. Rubio has finished as the 47th-ranked player on a per-game basis in nine-category leagues during each of the past two seasons, but his dismal shooting efficiency and lack of 3-point shooting holds him back from joining the ranks of the NBA’s elite fantasy floor generals. As such, owners should target him toward the end of the fifth round in 10-team leagues.

Mid-round picks

Rodney Hood, SG: I’m apparently higher on Hood than the rest of the fantasy community, but with Hayward gone, that’s a hill I’m willing to die on. The Duke product finished as the 95th-ranked player on a per-game basis in nine-category leagues two seasons ago, but an injury-marred campaign sent him plummeting to 183rd overall this past season. With general manager Dennis Lindsay pegging Hood as a potential 18-point-per-game scorer this season, per Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune, it appears as though the Jazz are relying primarily on him to fill the void Hayward left. As such, owners should reach on Hood in the ninth or 10th round, even though he’s going off the board well after that on average in early ESPN.com leagues (117.9).

Late-round picks

Derrick Favors, PF: Like Hood, Favors is another oft-injured Utah player with tantalizing fantasy upside. Two years ago, he ranked 29th overall on a per-game basis after pouring in a career-high 16.4 points on 52.5 percent shooting, 8.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals in 32.0 minutes, but he scuffled his way to a 162nd-place finish this past season after setting four-year lows in points (9.5), rebounds (6.1), blocks (0.8) and minutes (23.7). Favors’ injury history makes him a high-risk investment, but given his late-round price — he’s going off the board in the mid-12th-round in early ESPN.com drafts — his top-75 upside makes him a worthy gamble at that point in your draft.

Joe Ingles, SF/PF: Ingles burst forth from fantasy obscurity to post late-round value last year, and Hayward’s departure opens the door for another step forward in 2017-18. Despite averaging just 7.1 points on 45.2 percent shooting, 3.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.5 triples and 1.2 steals in 24.0 minutes, Ingles finished as the 144th-ranked player on a per-game basis in nine-category leagues. With a significant increase in playing time on tap, Ingles’ combination of 3s and steals will make him a strong 12th- or 13th-round pick in 10-team leagues.

Waiver-wire fodder

Raul Neto, PG

Dante Exum, SG

Alec Burks, SG

Donovan Mitchell, SG

Thabo Sefolosha, SG

Joe Johnson, SG/SF

Jonas Jerebko, SF

Ekpe Udoh, PF

Joel Bolomboy, PF

Tony Bradley, C

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Sleepers/Busts

Sleeper: Rodney Hood, Derrick Favors

Bust: N/A

Other team breakdowns

All average draft position info via FantasyPros. All rankings via Basketball Monster are based on nine-category leagues.

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