Top-10 Draft Prospect Sends Message to Jazz on Instagram
It appears the Utah Jazz have brought in projected lottery pick Gradey Dick for a workout. The sharpshooter out of Kansas seemed to confirm his arrival in Salt Lake City by posting a picture of downtown via an Instagram story on Sunday.
With its first pick, Utah could go in a couple of directions in regard to what position it'll end up drafting. Conveniently, there are a handful of prospects that are projected to be drafted in the No. 9 overall range that would fill Utah’s biggest positional need at point guard or combo forward.
Dick would also fill Jazz CEO Danny Ainge’s search for better perimeter shooting. Ainge talked about what he’s looking for in his end-of-season press conference.
"I would say, maybe, shooting with size," Ainge said. "There are a lot of different ways you can win in this league. I would say that shooting we could use. We weren’t a very good shooting team at the end of the year.”
Dick is touted as one of the best perimeter shooters in a deep draft. As a freshman, the 6-foot-8 forward shot 44.3% from the field while knocking down 40.3% from long distance.
Dick has the size and length where he could play the three or the four for the Jazz, giving head coach Will Hardy more options when juggling lineups. Dick excels at playing off the ball and may have the quickest release in catch-and-shoot opportunities in the draft.
In today’s game, where spacing the floor is critical, Dick should be cemented into an NBA rotation starting day one. Coming out of college, multiple outlets have used Gordon Hayward as a Dick comparison.
It does look like the Jazz will either be drafting a versatile forward or point guard with their first pick. With under three weeks left until the draft, it appears that Dick, Anthony Black, Cason Wallace, or Taylor Hendricks are the leading candidates to be suiting up in a Jazz uniform in 2023.
Ausar Thompson, Cam Whitmore, and Jarace Walker should also be on the radar of Jazz fans, but are projected to be drafted in the 5-8 range. Closure on the matter is just around the corner, with the draft day slated for June 22.
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