Did the Minnesota Timberwolves outdraft the Utah Jazz?

The magic eight ball says no

You would be quite justified to believe that the Utah Jazz had the better draft, simply because their odds of doing so dwarfed that of the Minnesota Timberwolves. So that’s where we end it, right? Not exactly.

Still, can we completely ignore the impact on the team after trading away Rudy Gobert? The Utah Jazz made the NBA Playoffs like clockwork. Whether this team kicked the door in where postseason play was concerned or merely arrived on schedule, the team was a fixture in the NBA Playoffs. But that is as far as they got.

You see, according to my scorecard, that is not how the 2023 NBA Draft played out. So how did the draft pan out for the Jazz and the Timberwolves?

Utah Jazz Draft

• Pick         Player                        Position     Projection

1.   9            Taylor Hendricks       PF                  9th
2. 16            Keyonte George        SG                13th * Wolves pick
3. 28            Brice Sensabaugh    SF                 19th

In assessing the Utah Jazz draft class, the common element for all three prospects chosen is: Safe. They are all safe bets, as 6-foot-9 forward Taylor Hendricks, 6-foot-4 guard Keyonte George, and 6-foot-6 Brice Sensabaugh are all polished and NBA-ready per se. The group as a whole tends to lean to the defensive side of the basketball court, with the biggest questions forming around how well can this trio score in the NBA.

There is a challenge to a rookie draft class that is greater than two. Can you guess what that might be?  We know from our own experience that getting minutes to rookies is simply never that simple. And for the Utah Jazz roster, already loaded with young talent, the task is nearly impossible. Per ESPN’s post-draft depth chart for the Utah Jazz, we see that the Jazz’s lone lottery pick rookie, Taylor Hendricks, is slotted to backup center Walker Kessler.

SG Keyonte George was slotted in as the third-string shooting guard, while Brice Sensabaugh was slotted in as a fifth-stringer. While these are all speculation, it does serve to illustrate just how fluid the Jazz roster and the depth chart are right now.