Salt Lake City
AP
—
Utah was not believed to be one of Ace Bailey’s preferred destinations to start his NBA career. Still, Bailey indicated Sunday that he never thought about holding out or forcing a trade after the Jazz drafted him No. 5 overall.
Bailey reported to Utah after he was criticized for his approach to the pre-draft process, during which he refused to work out for teams interested in him. When asked during his introductory news conference if he considered not coming to Salt Lake City, he only expressed enthusiasm for being with the Jazz.
“Just blessed to be in the position I am,” Bailey said.
Before the draft, Bailey canceled a scheduled workout with Philadelphia and declined invitations from Charlotte and Utah to work out for them.
That didn’t stop the Jazz from using their lottery pick on him anyway. Utah is betting the 18-year-old will unlock his potential and blossom into a prolific scorer.
Joining Bailey in Utah are No. 18 pick Walter Clayton Jr. and No. 53 pick John Tonje, two other high-level scorers.
“This is a dream scenario for us,” Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge said. “These are guys we targeted before the draft with high potential and high character, and we couldn’t be more excited.”
Ainge believes all three rookies are multi-dimensional players who can make an impact on defense.
“These guys can play on both ends,” Ainge said. “We’re looking for the best combination of all the skills we can. But, yeah, these guys can put the ball in the hole.”
Mock drafts had Bailey as a consensus top-three pick before he slid to the Jazz. The 6-foot-8 forward has a versatile offensive game. At Rutgers, Bailey showed he can shoot off the dribble, knock down step-back jumpers and attack the paint.
He averaged 17.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in his lone season with the Scarlet Knights. Bailey complemented his inside game by stretching defenses with his range, shooting 34.6% from beyond the arc.
“I got great energy,” Bailey said. “I can do everything from rebounding to defense to scoring to passing. So I can say I can bring it a lot in different ways.”
Still, concerns about his scoring efficiency, ballhandling, passing, defensive intensity and maturity contributed to Bailey falling out of the top three. He’s eager to prove the Jazz made the right choice.
“I trust my work,” Bailey said. “I (put in) countless hours in the gym with everything that I do. So I trust it. Everybody makes mistakes. God didn’t put us here to be perfect. So I just trust myself and just trust my process.”
