When the Utah Jazz signed the Brazilian Raul Neto on Thursday, the team's point guard position became just a bit more crowded.
Between Neto (2013, second round), Trey Burke (first round, 2013), Dante Exum (first round, 2014), Bryce Cotton (undrafted, 2014) and Olivier Hanlan (second round, 2015), the Jazz have five point guards with two years or fewer of NBA experience.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Neto's addition just makes the position a little bit murkier, leaving much to be solved during summer league play in Las Vegas this week.
From Kurt Kragthorpe of the Tribune:
- "What does that overstocking of personnel mean for the immediate future? Logically, the Jazz will go into the 2015-16 season with Exum, Burke and Neto on the roster. Any other combination with less NBA experience is difficult to imagine. ...The Jazz right now have four very capable backup point guards. Exum may develop into a genuinely good starter in the NBA, but he's not there yet. Burke can succeed off the bench as a scorer, although he shot poorly last season and doesn't push the ball up the court well enough to really match coach Quin Snyder's vision of a point guard. Cotton does so, as he showed at the end of last season, but he's likely to be squeezed out. In any case, Neto becomes the mysterious figure in this picture. Everybody wants to know whom he will resemble in the NBA, past or present. Yes, another Tony Parker would be nice, but that's not a reasonable expectation."
