Asked during Saturday’s shootaround a few hours before that night’s preseason opener how he expected his role to change this season, Royce O’Neale was his typically low-key self.
“I don’t,” he said. “Just play hard every night, be a defensive guy, make plays on offense, and shoot the ball when I’m open.”
He’s correct insofar as he will definitely continue to do all those things for the Jazz. But suggesting that his role will not change is either naiveté or, more likely, his trademark humility.
Even with Utah’s additions of the likes of Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic, O’Neale will be one of the team’s most important players in 2019-20.