KSL Sports Utah Jazz Insider Ben Anderson Recaps 2025 NBA Draft
well the NBA draft has now come and gone and we want to break it all down with our Utah Jazz insider Ben Anderson Thanks for coming in studio and talking about this draft once again Ben this was pretty exciting I feel like you know considering the Jazz had that fifth pick fans were maybe a little deflated but I think after the draft maybe there’s a little bit of excitement and optimism here What are your just overall quick take of of the Jazz draft
i think fans have to be relieved right you set up an entire season this last year for the Jazz without signing a bunch of free agents to lose games and you lost games in hopes of drafting one of two or three players and it was Cooper Flag it was Dylan Harper and it was Ace Bailey And when you fell to five in the lottery didn’t think it was going to happen You didn’t think one of those players was going to be on the board Almost universally those guys were going to go one two and three And then because of all the pre-draft drama which does happen uh Ace Bailey falls to five So I think the Jazz really have to be thrilled that he was on the board It’s the type of upside swing you want to be able to make after a season like you just had And then as we showed you know you trade up to 18 to get a player like Walter Clayton We talked about him last week Clearly that was a guy the Jazz had targeted That was a guy they really liked and we’re happy to get him
Okay so let’s dive into these picks a little bit You know uh cuz Ace is a guy like you mentioned he was considered a top three pick He was able to be there at five but also a guy that it felt like maybe Utah wasn’t his destination At least that’s the word that was out there The Jazz went ahead and went with him anyway
Yeah And the rumor was you know his agent had even told one team in the top five don’t draft him He will not report Um clearly it wasn’t the Jazz because the Jazz were comfortable drafting him So he didn’t want to go to Philadelphia Too much talent there No room for him to really become the man And I wonder if Charlotte had some of the same issues They’ve got a lot of young players Or if he just didn’t like the setup of the roster and he didn’t think there was going to be an opportunity to play Uh he’s going to get a chance to be a star in Utah Uh I don’t know if the Jazz are going to put the ball in his hands day one and say “Go create carry this big offensive load.” Probably what’s best for him is for that not to happen Uh they would be better to bring him along slowly let him play off the ball He’s going to get 25 minutes a night Make no mistake about that But maybe he doesn’t need to try and score 20 points a game Do what the San Antonio Spurs did with a Kawhi Leonard and what the Indiana Pacers did with the Paul George Come along slowly Find your shots where they’re available Make them You’re going to get confidence out of that and that’s going to grow your game more naturally than just trying to force it and force it and force it and that might end up being the best thing for him
So uh Austin after the first round he said that this is kind of what they envisioned two weeks ago is getting Ace and then Walter Clayton Jr a guy they liked so much they were able to trade up a few spots to grab him
Yeah They said this was their dream scenario Now no team is going to say “Well we just had a terrible draft.” So take him take him for what it’s worth But truly you get a a very high upside player who if everything clicks with Ace Bailey really has a chance to be the second best player in the draft And then Walter Clayton is these guy is one of these guys that gets overlooked because he’s a little undersized because he’s 22 years old We start to think oh well maybe the potential is not there And we undervalue what they’re already doing Uh we undervalue that you know he’s going to shoot 40% from the three-point line in the NBA at some point in his career He does it star things He shoots off the dribble and that’s one of the really hardest things to do It’s what turned Donovan Mitchell into a star and he’s got some of that already coming into the league So uh this was a very successful draft for the Jazz The first round was really pretty spectacular and we’ll see what they uh end up getting with John Tanji in the second round but they added shooting and I think you look at where Austin was coming from Uh looking over the Boston Celtics for the last two years they were the most prolific three-point shooting team in NBA history They won a title I’m sure he said “Let’s let’s figure out how to get more shooters in Utah.”
Well it feels like that’s what they’ve done I want to ask you also about Jor Dem Obviously we’ve kept our eyes on him throughout his college career at BYU Not a bad spot for him Brooklyn with the Nets What do you think about that number eight pick
yeah I worried when he went number eight overall that that might be a little high and the expectation was going to he was going to have to come in and score a lot and I don’t think he’s going to do that But then they followed it up by taking two other guards that are going to kind of share the ball handling responsibilities including Nolan Trayori who’s going to score a lot That’s a nice landing spot All of a sudden he doesn’t have to do everything He doesn’t have to be the everything guard which I don’t think is his specialty he can come in he can get other guys involved Uh and they’re going to bring him along slowly and he’s going to be a part of this big draft class They’re the first team ever to make five first round draft picks in the same draft So he’s going to have an opportunity to find his rhythm figure it out which is what he did at BYU And then by the time they got to the tournament he was playing so spectacularly well I think you’re going to see a lot of that uh with Brooklyn as well
Okay So what would you say is next here for the Jazz obviously summer league is right around the corner now What’s the next step here yeah I think you look at some of the undrafted free agents that didn’t get picked up in the second round on Thursday and then uh where they go moving forward and build out that summer league roster but uh you’ve got an opportunity to extend Walker Kesler if you want to There’s going to be trade opportunities on the table We know the Lakers are interested there and then you’ve got to figure out what you’re doing with John Collins and Colin Sex Are you going to keep them are they going to be a part of the roster going forward the nice thing is I mean you have until February to trade them if you want to hold on to them Uh but they’re both expiring contracts and I would expect they move Well it seems like we’ve got an exciting off seasonason ahead of us Exciting season to come in the fall as well Can’t wait for summer league Ben thanks for joining us throughout this whole draft process
Fun
KSL Sports Utah Jazz Insider Ben Anderson Recaps 2025 NBA Draft.
