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The Jazz traded Enes Kanter for Ricky Rubio, so how could anyone not endorse this deal?

All of this stuff is more complicated, especially when everything the Jazz are doing lately is supposed to impress Gordon Hayward. Nobody's sure if the promise of having Rubio as the Jazz's point guard is worth more than the possibility of the team re-signing George Hill, when it comes to the Hayward sweepstakes.

All I know is Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey had to make Friday's move. Imagine the reaction in the coming days if the Jazz had lost Hayward and Hill in free agency, without anyone to replace either of them. So Lindsey covered the Hill contingency with a 26-year-old player who blistered the Jazz in two appearances at Vivint Smart Home Arena last season and just might give this franchise a permanent solution at point guard.

Rubio presumably will become the Jazz's 12th starting point guard since the trade of Deron Williams in 2011. And wouldn't you know, all of this fits together. The draft pick the Jazz turned into Kanter was part of the Nets' package for D-Will, and then the Jazz sent Kanter to Oklahoma City in a 2015 deal that included the Thunder's first-round pick in 2018. And that pick is all the Jazz needed to acquire Rubio from Minnesota.

Of all the point guards the Jazz have gone through in this century, Rubio comes the closest — in style, anyway — to John Stockton. He's a pass-first point guard, which is a nice way of dodging the issue of his shooting. He's not remotely comparable to Stockton as a shooter, and the Jazz will miss the offensive punch Hill gave them in big moments such as Game 7 vs. the Los Angeles Clippers.

Exactly two months later, the Jazz replaced Hill. Lindsey hopes Rubio is an upgrade. What's clear at the moment is Rubio is better than any other point guard on the Jazz's current roster, and Lindsey didn't have to trade Rodney Hood or Derrick Favors to get him — or to move up and pick rookie guard Donovan Mitchell in last week's draft.

This was a case of using available salary-cap space and putting a future asset into play. About time, right? Hill became a one-year rental for the No. 12 pick in the 2016 draft, which makes him a steal. Rubio is under contract for two seasons and he cost the Jazz a less valuable pick than Hill did, considering OKC's 2018 first-rounder is lottery-protected.

So the only way anyone could criticize this trade is to say confidently that Hayward was convinced that Hill would re-sign with the Jazz, and then Hill actually would do so, and then Hill would remain healthy at age 31 in 2017-18 and for years to come, unlike last season. That's connecting a lot of dots.

And why wouldn't Hayward like Rubio? He's a true point guard who will set up his teammates, and he looked good in Salt Lake City twice last season. In the Timberwolves' 107-80 victory in March, he posted 11 points and nine assists against Hill, Dante Exum and Raul Neto. Minnesota lost by seven points in April in a game Hill missed, but Rubio produced 26 points and 12 assists against Exum and Shelvin Mack.

Rubio shot a combined 11 of 21 in those games, far above his standard performance. So coach Quin Snyder and his staff will have some work to do with Rubio's shooting, and maybe it can't be fixed at this stage. If not, the Jazz will have a passing point guard, something this market always has valued.

My history with Rubio dates to 2008 in Beijing, where the 17-year-old guard helped Spain reach the Olympic gold medal game vs. Williams and the United States. The version of Rubio that I watched against Neto and Brazil in Rio last summer appeared oddly disengaged, playing only 16 minutes and not even recording an assist. But then he shredded the Jazz in April, looking like a player who will fit in nicely here.

Rubio's challenge is to outperform Hill's 2016-17 season. Really, though, he just has to play better than Hill's potential replacement in free agency — whoever that guy was going to be.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com Twitter: @tribkurt