Elijah Hughes Provides Big Impact Off-The-Bench In Rookie Season

When Bojan Bogdanovic went down for the Jazz last season and Joe Ingles only being on the court for about 30-minutes per game, the Jazz was left with a big hole to fill on the wing. Juwan Morgan and Royce O’Neale were decent options to fill-in for the Jazz, but ultimately, they are not great offensive players. 

So, in the draft, the Jazz went out and was able to draft Elijah Hughes, one of the best scorers in the ACC last season with Syracuse. Not only is Hughes a second-round pick who can come in and contribute immediately, but he is one of the best pure scorers in this entire draft class.

Last season at Syracuse, Hughes averaged 19.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and shot 42.7% from the floor, 34.2% from three-point range. Using his athleticism and size to score in the paint, Hughes is a do-it-all kind of wing player who can score in many different ways.

The Jazz and Elijah Hughes agreed to a two-year rookie contract that is fully guaranteed, meaning that Utah has some plans for how they want to use Hughes moving forward. You can never have too much depth on the wing in the NBA and having a proven, older rookie that can come in and create scoring opportunities on his own is very valuable. 

Expect to see Elijah Hughes play for 10-15 minutes early on in the season and potentially move into a bigger role with the Jazz as they get deeper into the season.