The Utah Jazz have been on the lookout for a backup point guard ever since Dante Exum went down with a torn ACL that will keep him out for the entire 2015-16 NBA season. They previously were linked to Garrett Temple but the Washington Wizards apparently have no interest in trading him so the Jazz will have to look elsewhere. One place they might look is overseas to Marcelinho Huertas, according to Pro Basketball Reporter David Pick.
Huertas is a 31 year old point guard who has played with the Brazilian national team and spent years in the Euroleague. Huertas has been trying to come over to the NBA for a few years now but there were continuous obstacles in his contract which reportedly are no longer a problem making it easier to bring him to the NBA. A few months ago Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported that Huertas felt this was the right time to come over to the NBA.
Huertas most recently was playing for FC Barcelona in the Spanish ACB League where he averaged 7.6 points per game. In the 2012 London Olympics Huertas averaged 11 points and five assists per game. The 6 foot-3 point guard has been compared to Pablo Prigioni a lot but he is said to be a much better playmaker than the Los Angeles Clippers point guard and if he were to come over now he is much younger than Prigioni was when he came over.
Huertas would likely fit in as the backup point guard behind Trey Burke if the Jazz could reach a deal with him and being a backup point guard is something he thinks he could thrive doing.
"If you look at NBA rosters, there are unbelievable starting point guards, but maybe not as many guys who can come off the bench able to run the team, score the ball - as well as being able to be a leader for young players, those are things I know I'll be able to bring with me," said Huertas.
As of right now the healthy point guards on the Jazz roster after Burke are Bryce Cotton and Raul Neto which doesn't inspire a lot of confidence for a team with playoff aspirations. A deal isn't imminent between the Jazz and Huertas but he would bring over a lot of experience and likely be a big time upgrade to the Jazz as a backup point guard.
