Taj Gibson

[...] In the returning [hypothetical] package, Utah gets Kirk Hinrich, an incredibly Jerry Sloan-friendly player. Hinrich rarely makes mistakes, plays tough defense (using all the tricks of the trade in the process), is a good citizen, quiet but authoritative, confident without having embarrassing swag, and tries to kill anyone who pushes him over. He can shoot, defend and run the pick and roll, and he even hit some clutch jumpshots last year, which was unexpected and thoroughly welcome. There are not many better backup point guards in the league. They also get Taj Gibson, one of the better draft steals of the 21st century, a strong interior defensive player with a good quality mid-range jumpshot that we weren't aware he had before. Gibson is a pest defensively, undersized for the bigger players at his position but a man who can win possessions with his shotblocking and endless deflections, a sub par defensive rebounder but a strong offensive rebounder, a man who can't catch but a man who can finish around the basket.

[...] The prize to the deal for Utah, moreso than Hinrich, is Gibson. This is not like including Ian Mahinmi or Oleksiy Pecherov in a deal, because Taj can play. He's slender and short, but he can defend those both bigger and quicker than him to good effect, and has some touch both around and away from the rim as well. Millsap is better than him, and by enough for the Bulls to want to swap the two; however, since we're talking about backups here, the gap is not significant enough to matter for Utah.

(It's also of note that, when we said it was a two player draft, we meant Rubio and Blake Griffin. Not Tyreke Evans and Taj Gibson.)