Syracuse Basketball: Elijah Hughes fit with the Utah Jazz

The 2020 NBA Draft is in the books, and former Syracuse basketball player Elijah Hughes is on his way to Salt Lake City and will join the Utah Jazz.

Former Syracuse basketball star Elijah Hughes has been waiting for almost nine months since he declared for the NBA Draft in late March to learn where the next step in his basketball journey will take him. On Wednesday night, we learned that Hughes will be heading west to join the Utah Jazz.

Hughes’ name was called by NBA’s Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum in the second round at 39th overall. Hughes was drafted by the New Orleans Pelicans but his draft rights were immediately traded to Utah for a future draft pick.

The Utah Jazz is a current contender in the Western Conference and hitting on its draft picks could prove crucial in becoming one of the teams at the top of the conference. So where does Hughes fit with his new team?

Hughes instantly adds scoring to the wing for the Jazz. Utah’s offensive like many in the NBA has transitioned heavily to a perimeter focus philosophy to score and create. Hughes had the ability to score at all three levels during his amateur career and the Jazz hope that will continue in the pros.

The Jazz was led in scoring by fellow wing players Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic. In the bubble during the NBA Playoffs, the Jazz was without Bogdanovic. Without a key cog in their offense, they still took Western Conference finalist the Denver Nuggets to seven games. Bogdanovic’s minutes should not take away too many opportunities from Hughes as he primarily played both forward spots with Hughes expecting to play more in a scoring guard role with occasional chances at small forward.

Mitchell on the other hand will have more positional overlap with Hughes but the All-Star is not expected to lose any minutes anytime soon. Where the minutes can be earned is who plays behind Mitchell or with him as he shifts to the lead ball handler.

For the Jazz last season the answer was Jordan Clarkson who was a premier bench scorer. Clarkson is currently a restricted free agent and Utah holds his bird right allowing them to go over the salary cap to resign him.

Clarkson and Utah’s reunion is not a guarantee but as ESPN’s Bobby Marks pointed out, a separate Jazz trade unloading center Tony Bradley will help.

So with the potential return of Clarkson, where else can minutes be found for Hughes? A potential answer might be a surprising one. Rumors this offseason have offered a potential Mike Conley trade. While this move could, in theory, move Mitchell to more of a point guard position and slide someone like Clarkson to the starting lineup it could also bring in more competition as well. Conley is currently on a max contract and there are not many teams with enough cap space that would allow Utah to just dump the salary without anyone coming back in return.

The most likely one would be to take minutes from bench depth from last season. Utah had a rough time getting much offense out of the second unit minus Clarkson. This lead to a smaller role for Joe Ingles who had a disappointing year in 2019-2020 which frees up minutes or be the guy chosen to replace other free agents like Jeff Green and Emmanuel Mudiay who each averaged about 15 minutes in the regular season.

For this to happen the main key for Hughes like it is with any Syracuse guy, is how they transition to man-to-man defense in the NBA even though zone usage is on the rise. Hughes will not only need to prove he can guard in a one-on-one scenario but that he can become accustomed to team defense principles and be a valuable defender off the ball as well.

When the Jazz selected Hughes it was already apparent the Jazz were selecting for what they considered to be a team need. Utah traded down in the first round to take one of their top targets in center Udoka Azubuike with the 27th pick.

Being a need for Utah made the Jazz an ideal scenario for Hughes before the draft. They were an organization that not only had the positional and skill need but a coaching and player development staff that has been able to get production from outside the top 10 in the draft.

Their stars were even taken later. Mitchell was the second to last lottery pick and Rudy Gobert was the 27th pick like Azubuike. However, roll players like Royce O’Neale who went undrafted and began their careers overseas, and Georges Niang who was the 50th pick for the Pacers in 2016 have carved out solid roles with the Jazz.

The Jazz has player development success and a need for someone like Hughes to give the former Syracuse star a chance to flourish in Utah and start off a potentially long professional career. But what Hughes has already is an NBA ready scoring touch, body, and work ethic. Those will be the difference if he sticks in the NBA or even if he goes on and fulfills what Billy Heyen for the SportingNews described as “an ideal sleeper,” in the draft.