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The Utah Jazz signed first-round draft picks Donovan Mitchell and Tony Bradley to rookie contracts.
"To say the least we are really excited about their capabilities," said Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey about the two rookies.
Both Mitchell, selected with the 13th overall pick, and Bradley, the 27th overall pick, played important roles in Utah's summer league win Monday.
In the Jazz's victory over the San Antonio Spurs, Mitchell led all scorers with 23 points. Bradley scored eight points and was plus-24 in the plus/minus category.
"I think all of our guys, [Mitchell] has some offensive juice," said Lindsay. "We liked what we saw in scouting, in college, and in the pre-draft process … He had an unbelievable workout that just blew us away and showed something at a greater degree than we knew he could do. And that's held up in training camp.
With the departure of Gordon Hayward, the rookies are joining a young team that is in a stage of rebuilding.
The majority of the Utah core is made up of players in their mid-20s, it's not yet determined whether the leader of the team will be a veteran who can lead the team with experience or if it will be a younger player who energizes the team.
Mitchell and Donovan can surely provide a boost, however, Lindsey is not ready to pinpoint what the rookies will be called on to provide.
"We don't want to put too much [on them] too soon," said Lindsey.
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