Ace Bailey indicated Sunday that he by no means considered holding out or forcing a commerce after the Utah Jazz drafted him No. 5 general.
Bailey reported to Utah after he was criticized for his strategy to the pre-draft course of, throughout which he refused to work out for groups fascinated with him. When requested throughout his introductory information convention whether or not he thought-about not coming to Salt Lake Metropolis, he solely expressed enthusiasm for being with the Jazz.
“Simply blessed to be within the place I’m,” Bailey stated.
Earlier than the draft, Bailey canceled a scheduled exercise with the Philadelphia 76ers and declined invites from the Charlotte Hornets and Jazz to work out for them. Utah was not amongst his most well-liked locations, a supply instructed ESPN’s Jonathan Givony within the lead-up to the draft.
That did not cease the Jazz from utilizing their lottery choose on him anyway. Utah is betting the 18-year-old will unlock his potential and blossom right into a prolific scorer.
Becoming a member of Bailey in Utah are No. 18 choose Walter Clayton Jr. and No. 53 choose John Tonje, two different high-level scorers.
“This can be a dream situation for us,” Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge stated. “These are guys we focused earlier than the draft with excessive potential and excessive character, and we could not be extra excited.”
Ainge believes all three rookies are multi-dimensional gamers who could make an affect on protection.
“These guys can play on each ends,” Ainge stated. “We’re searching for one of the best mixture of all the abilities we are able to. However, yeah, these guys can put the ball within the gap.”
Mock drafts had Bailey as a consensus top-three choose earlier than he slid to the Jazz. The 6-foot-8 ahead has a flexible offensive sport. At Rutgers, Bailey confirmed he can shoot off the dribble, knock down step-back jumpers and assault the paint.
He averaged 17.6 factors and seven.2 rebounds in his lone season with the Scarlet Knights. Bailey complemented his inside sport by stretching defenses together with his vary, capturing 34.6% from past the arc.
“I received nice vitality,” Bailey stated. “I can do all the pieces from rebounding to protection to scoring to passing. So I can say I can convey it loads in numerous methods.”
Nonetheless, issues about his scoring effectivity, ballhandling, passing, defensive depth and maturity contributed to Bailey falling out of the highest three. He is desperate to show the Jazz made the precise alternative.
“I belief my work,” Bailey stated. “I (put in) numerous hours within the gymnasium with all the pieces that I do. So I belief it. All people makes errors. God did not put us right here to be excellent. So I simply belief myself and simply belief my course of.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.