Can Jazz pick play right away?

Georgetown’s Greg Monroe. North Carolina’s Ed Davis. Baylor’s Ekpe Udoh. Kansas’ Cole Aldrich. Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson. Wake Forest’s Al-Farouq Aminu. Nevada’s Luke Babbitt. Kansas’ Xavier Henry. Butler’s Gordon Hayward. Fresno State’s Paul George.
The question was if whomever it is that the Jazz take with their No. 9 overall selection in tonight’s NBA – probably one from above pool of 10 – could be counted on to step in and play significant minutes as a rookie next season.
Jazz player personnel vice president Walt Perrin, for one, suspects that perhaps they can.
His answer, however, comes with some caveats.
“Depending on who we pick, and also what happens in free agency, whoever we bring in is gonna get some minutes,” Perrin said. “But it depends on the player, and it depends on the coaching staff.”
Moral of the story?
Deron Williams didn’t even start early in his rookie season. Undrafted Wesley Matthews wound up his rookie season this past season as a starter. There really is, in other words, just no telling. At least not yet.

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