Does this trade make sense for the Utah Jazz?

Utah’s whole offensive scheme is built around the three-point shot, primarily coming by ways of Donovan Mitchell or Jordan Clarkson. It is hard to envision them giving up Clarkson this season, especially given that he is the reigning Sixth-Man of the Year, however, the Jazz really need to tighten things up defensively. 

They rank just 14th in the league in defensive rating, which is not bad, but they have not been able to stop virtually any team over the last month or so with both Mitchell and Gobert being injured. They even recently gave up 126 points to the Detroit Pistons and 116 points to the Houston Rockets, two of the most offensively challenged teams in the league! 

Marcus Smart does not solve all the problems the Jazz have, but he covers them up pretty well given that he is an All-Defensive First Team caliber guard. Not to mention, former Celtics’ executive Danny Aigne is now the alternate governor and CEO of the Jazz and he was always fond of Smart’s energy and play. 

This is not a terrible deal for the Utah Jazz to make at the trade deadline, especially with Joe Ingles now out for the year with a torn ACL. Should they make this trade though, the Jazz would  probably have another deal lined up to bring in a replacement for Joe Ingles on the wing and off-the-bench.

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One of the main reasons why Utah has not been successful the last several weeks is because they have been missing Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Overall though, it is hard to match this team up with the Suns, Warriors and even the Grizzlies in the Western Conference right now. 

The Jazz are a combined 0-6 against these three teams this season and while Bojan Bogdanovic, Mike Conley and Royce O’Neale are solid secondary talents, this team is still missing something. Going out and trading for Marcus Smart could be a step in the right direction to getting their defense back on track, but it could also have detrimental effects on their offense.