The NBA Draft is 8 days away, and the Utah Jazz are hoping to make their selection with the 5th pick in the draft. However, there seems to be a bump in the road. Rutgers’ star, Ace Bailey, isn’t very interested in Utah:

Bailey, who continues sliding down the board in this scenario, doesn’t appear to have much interest in Utah and is viewed by most teams as a riskier bet. — Jeremy Woo of Draft Express

Ace Bailey has always seen himself as “THE guy” and wants to be that for an NBA team. He wants enough runway to be able to take as many shots as he can and play as many minutes as he can. So, why not Utah, Ace? I honestly couldn’t answer that. Utah gets a bad rap, the fans, the city, the people, and I just don’t get it.

One of the reasons I don’t get it is that Ace Bailey is not good enough to be that guy for a team, and he probably never will be, given his playing style. He is a shot chucker, a ball stopper, and has very bad passing chops. He takes terrible shots largely due to the fact that he can’t get to the rim. He has the 2nd or 3rd worst rim frequency out of all draft-eligible freshmen in the entire draft, because he has an underdeveloped handle, which leads to the worst shot you can take in the game of basketball — the long 2.

I already talked about his bad feel of the game — a disappointing 0.6 assist-to-turnover ratio. If you look at all of the best players in the league, they get efficient looks at the basket because they make their teammates more of a threat. If you get your team involved, that is going to open up the court for yourself; Ace Bailey does not play that way. Before you say he had a terrible team (which is true), Collin Murray-Boyles, a projected first-round pick, was on one of the worst basketball teams in high-major basketball and still ended up with a net neutral assist-to-turnover ratio with a higher assist percentage — not to mention the usage difference was less than 1% and CMB was in a tougher conference.

If you combine Ace’s subpar collegiate shot diet, his poor feel of the game, and age, there are only 2 players since 2008 that have had good careers: Tobias Harris and Harrison Barnes. Why did they succeed? Because they scaled down and accepted a role that was less than trying to be “the guy”. Ace Bailey will have to do that if he wants to find success in the league. He can also find success by harnessing his defensive potential, which is a legitimate skill set he has.

Ace Bailey and his agency are trying to force themselves into a place where he is the focal point of the team (Givony & Woo). That doesn’t scream “team player” to me; that screams entitlement and an unwillingness to do what it takes to win. Will Hardy and the Jazz have lived by “minutes aren’t given, they’re earned” for the past 2 seasons, and it is likely that will not change. If Ace Bailey doesn’t want to earn his minutes, then he can go get run in Philly, New Orleans, or whatever organization he wants. The Utah Jazz want to build a team with players who want to win.

Does this mean that the Utah Jazz won’t take Ace? I am not sure. Would I take Ace Bailey? Probably not. If I am the Utah Jazz, my eyes turn to Kon Knueppel, VJ Edgecombe, Noa Essengue, Derik Queen, and for most of you out there, Tre Johnson. Out of those listed players, I would imagine that the Utah Jazz would select Tre Johnson.