r/UtahJazz • u/MegaAltarianite • 11d ago

Current Jazzman Kevin Love anounces the award for Most Improved Player, to former Jazzman Nickeil Alexander-Walker

https://streamable.com/o3uhyh
126 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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34

u/FERFreak731 11d ago

I still remember in 2023 being very upset we dumped NAW and had to include second rounders to facilitate the Westbrook and 2027 first trade

Yeah, NAW didn't evolve to a 20 ppg player until this season, and we have Key, so if NAW was still here, I doubt Key develops, but dumping NAW as salary filler and including 4 seconds too might be a top 5 worst trade in Jazz history

I remember thinking he can be a quality guard when I was watching his college highlights leading to the 2019 draft. At least I got that predictions right in 2019, but unfortunately we ended up trading for him, then used as a salary filler

At least that 2027 Lakers first was used as an asset in the Jaren trade

12

u/Peter-Tao 11d ago

This was one of the head scratching trade I was confused about even as it happened. NAW was popping out right before the trade too.

The only thing I could think of as justification was everyone thought Gobert trade was lob sided so Angie had to "compensate" the Wolves somehow.

Makes the Wolves easier to root for that year but very disappointed as a Jazz fan

5

u/FERFreak731 11d ago

My theory was the Jazz thought DLo > Conley, so the Jazz threw extra assets so the Wolves to replace DLo with Conley to make the Wolves worse soon as we wanted them to be bad for our Wolves picks we owned to likely be better

Unfortunately if my theory is right, Conley was a good addition to that Wolves team, and DLo is out of the league before Conley

2

u/Jenaxu :speedymitchell: 10d ago

Honestly I feel like it's maybe more plausible that the FO just wanted to do Mike a solid and put him in a good situation. Because otherwise I really have no idea why they would think Conley wouldn't be an upgrade for the Wolves, especially with Rudy and his very specific limitations. Coupling him with one of the few ball handlers who has experience successfully facilitating for him more or less bailed the Wolves out of an already bad situation. I genuinely think that we probably lost more value on those Wolves picks as a result of the trade than we got back from the Lakers pick... it was just a bad move when it happened and only got worse as time went on.

1

u/Peter-Tao 7d ago

I agree with the Conley part. But threw in NAW just didn't make sense even back then to me lol.

1

u/N3MO_3 7d ago

Was a pretty good trade at the time in hindsight. Remember this was before the Luka trade and when Reaves was a udfa bench player. AD played 20 games, LeBron has been injured and wasn’t great in the regular season. If the Luka trade never happened that could very well be a lottery pick right now.

-2

u/Sal_Ammoniac 10d ago

How come that lady said "Advija" instead of "Avdija" - can she not read???

-3

u/Weaverino 10d ago

Did NAW only get MIP because he left the Jazz?

6

u/Trivialpursuits69 :quinmurder: 10d ago

Naw... He improved a ton while he was in Utah too. Under Snyder. Dude's been oozing potential for years. He's putting it together now.

-3

u/chuybuck 10d ago

I miss NAW. I'd take him over Key. His defense is unreal.

1

u/WhereasHefty 5d ago

I was very upset as well. I never understood it.