NBA
#12 Utah Jazz: Trey Lyles
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
With the 12th pick in the 2015 draft, the Utah Jazz selected Kentucky power forward Trey Lyles.
Lyles played most of his college career out of position at small forward with Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein occupying the big spots, but many believe he can be the sort of playmaking 4 the NBA has begun to covet. He has a variety of skills for a 6’10 player, including a definite ability to put the ball on the floor and create some offense.
The questions for him will be whether or not his physical profile transfers over to the NBA level. The Jazz have their foundation built on a defensive culture, and Lyles needs to be able to play excellent defense for his position. Whether or not he’ll be capable of this is tough to parse given the amount of time he spent defending wings in college, something he won’t be doing at the next level.
As far as the fit for the Jazz, it’s somewhat interesting, and a little surprising to this eye. The Jazz badly need distance shooting, but Lyles hasn’t really shown much in this regard in his time before the draft. He shot just 13.8 percent from beyond-the-arc last season and 73.5 percent from the free-throw line, and I’m just unsure he can ever develop the sort of range the Jazz might need.
But he has upside, and shooting has been something certain guys have been able to develop historically. He’s versatile, a trait the Jazz desire greatly, and if he can fill multiple roles for the Jazz off the bench behind Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert, he could end up making some real contributions. The onus is now on coach Quin Snyder and his staff to work hard on developing Lyles as another piece of the Jazz’s future.
