Jeff Teague to the Jazz would be a marriage of convenience
Leading up to the Feb. 18 trade deadline, theScore's NBA editors will try to find the best deals for players reportedly on the market. Next up, Jeff Teague.
The Atlanta Hawks are in a tricky spot.
It's one every team finds itself in sooner or later, but the Hawks likely didn't expect to end up here this season. A year after winning a franchise-record 60 games, finishing atop the East, and making their first-ever conference finals appearance, the Hawks head into the 2015-16 All-Star break having already eclipsed their 2014-15 loss total, sitting as close to 10th place in the conference as they are to second.
And so they're faced with a choice: Stay the course with the (largely unchanged) core that took them to unprecedented heights last season, and hope things eventually click back into place, or tear up the road map and strike out in a new and uncertain direction.
Related: Hawks open to moving Horford, Teague, Korver
The Utah Jazz, meanwhile, are still trying to figure out where, exactly, they are. After closing last season on a 21-11 surge, the Jazz were expected to make a quantum leap this year. But a season-ending ACL tear to would-be starting point guard Dante Exum threw a wrench into those plans, as did subsequent injuries to frontcourt stalwarts Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors.
And yet, despite being delayed by those extenuating circumstances, the Jazz's progression is indeed starting to manifest. With their full complement of starters (minus Exum) finally healthy at the same time, they ripped off seven straight wins to vault into the Western Conference playoff picture. When Gobert, Favors, and Gordon Hayward have played together, the Jazz are 14-9, and when that trio shares the floor with blossoming second-year shooting guard Rodney Hood, they're outscoring opponents by 7.2 points per 100 possessions, a mark that would rank fourth in the NBA.
Though Raul Neto has provided steady, no-frills production, and Trey Burke is scoring more efficiently as a reserve, the biggest weakness on the Jazz's roster remains the point guard position. With the Hawks potentially looking to deal Jeff Teague - an All-Star a year ago - the Jazz have a great chance to make a significant upgrade.
Related: Jazz interested in Hawks' Teague
Utah's offense has been surprisingly effective this season - better even than its vaunted defense - but the Jazz rank just 27th in assist rate and 28th in assist-to-turnover ratio. Assists aren't always indicative of a healthy offense, and it's not like the Jazz don't move the ball - on the contrary, they lead the league in passes per game - but those passes too often lack purpose. A Jazz pass leads directly to a basket just 5.2 percent of the time, far and away the lowest mark in the league.
Teague would give the Jazz a new dimension - a bit more zip, a bit more aggressiveness, and a heretofore lacking ability to break defenses down at the point of attack. Teague ranks sixth in the league in drives per game. Hayward (28th) is the only Jazz player in the top 60. Teague's also shooting a career-best 40.9 percent from 3-point range, and playing off the ball alongside Utah's wings (who offer more playmaking verve than Atlanta's), could provide him that many more opportunities to spot up beyond the arc.
The Jazz know they're not sniffing contention this season, and their window is only just starting to open, so they have no particular desperation to make a move. They'd likely balk at including either Exum or rookie forward Trey Lyles in a deal. That said, playoff experience (however brief) could be valuable for a young team largely devoid of it, and the Jazz have a glut of additional draft picks coming to them in the next few years, including the Warriors' first-rounder in 2017 and a lottery-protected first from the Thunder in 2018. Either of those would be a nice sweetener for the Hawks.
Teague would also pay dividends for the Jazz beyond just this season. Exum will be back, but he'll still be just 21, with a 34.9 percent shooting mark and fewer than 400 NBA points to his name. A spotty rookie campaign, followed by a year on the shelf, has done little to suggest he'll be ready to take the reins next season, or that throwing him into the fire would even be good for his growth. Another year to develop behind a heady veteran like Teague - who is signed through 2016-17 at a major discount - could be perfect for Exum.
The Hawks, if they accept that they aren't in a position to improve upon last year's result, might have to settle for a small step backward in order to hedge for the future. Hood's emergence has made Alec Burks extraneous in Utah, and a change of scenery could be good for Burks - a sizey, crafty shooting guard whose progress has stalled some due to injuries and lineup crunch, but who's still just 24.
Locked up for three years after this one, Burks could make trading Kyle Korver - whose production has cratered after a career-best season - more palatable for the Hawks, and provide some insurance in the event impending free agent Kent Bazemore winds up out of their price range this summer.
Burks is also recovering from ankle surgery and it's unclear when he'll be ready to play again, so the Hawks may demand more. The Jazz can add backup center Jeff Withey, a scrapper who's signed for the minimum through next season. Withey would provide a much-needed boost to Atlanta's league-worst rebounding rate, and shore up a reserve frontcourt unit that's missing Tiago Splitter (who may need hip surgery).
Given all the young talent already dotting their roster, the Jazz should also be able to toss in the Warriors pick (an early second-rounder, for all intents and purposes) without losing too much sleep.
Proposed Framework
*Hawks also receive 2017 first-round pick (via Golden State)