I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right – Bennett Stirtz is definitely not one of the Big 3 prospects that the Jazz need to consider with their 2nd overall pick. However, players with Stirtz’s combination of ball handling, shooting versatility, and awareness don’t come around often, and deserve to be scouted in the event that the Jazz fall in love and decide to trade into the later half of the first round. You can count on the Iowa guard to consistently make the correct decisions, and he has the skills to then capitalize on the advantages he created. However, analyzing Stirtz is more complicated than the simple reading of his talents would indicate. His coach at Iowa, Ben McCollum, coached a style of play so unlike anything Stirtz will encounter at the next level, that it takes some real work to understand whether or not Stirtz will be able to provide anything close to his impressive collegiate production.
On The Surface
Team: Iowa Hawkeyes
Height: 6’2.5 (barefoot)
Weight: 186
Wingspan: 6’6
Age on draft day: 22.73
Counting Stats: 19.8 PPG, 2.6 RPG (0.3 ORPG), 4.4 APG, 1.4 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 48/36/85 shooting splits
Strengths
What Stirtz is good at, he is really good at. His shooting provides a skill that he’ll be able to hang his hat on in the NBA, and his aptitude in this regard far exceeds the raw counting stats. While his near 40% clip from downtown in his junior year at Drake better represents the level of shooting prospect that Stirtz is, no stat can properly quantify the otherworldly touch Stirtz has on his shot. His attempts are often remarkably difficult – with very few other ballhandlers or offensive options on the team, a difficult Stirtz jumper was often the most efficient look for the Hawkeyes. His shot is stable in all sorts of circumstances – against type coverage, off of movement, or after a step-back, and a Stirtz look still feels like it’s going in. Due to the unique construction of the Iowa offense, Stirtz shot off-the-dribble jumpers at 97.4 percentile frequency, and somehow maintained elite efficiency despite that heavy offensive load: 83.7 percentile efficiency during his senior season. Simply put, if you need someone to take a shot at the end of the shot clock, Stirtz is one of the best choices in the class. Naturally, he’s even more efficient on catch-and-shoot shots – his efficiency in this play-type was in the 89.5th percentile. However, due to Iowa’s heavy dependance on their star guard, these shots were not a huge part of his offensive diet, with his frequency being in the 29.7th percentile. There isn’t a roster in the NBA that would rely on Stirtz to the same extent that Iowa did, so it’s easy to expect for his overally efficiency to increase as his difficult shot diet of off-the-dribble looks are replaced with his more effective catch-and-shoot opportunities.
However, even if Stirtz is used more off of the ball in the NBA, it would be a waste of his talents to not let him utilize perhaps his defining skill – in my opinion, Stirtz is the best pick-and-roll operator in this draft class. While he lacks the dynamic speed necessary to take advantage of switches, his understanding of angles, timing, and positioning combined with an exceptionally functional handle and his aforementioned shooting touch allowed him to spearhead consistent offensive production, even without high level offensive teammates. Once again, his assist numbers undersell his talent as a passer. While not outstanding in this regard, his vision and accuracy are sound and versatile – if a teammate becomes open as a result of his pick-and-roll probing, it’s likely that he will recognize this and capitalize. And, if he is the one that the defense sags off of, he is a threat to score from all 3 levels, with his rim finishing (70% efficiency) being perhaps his most underrated trait.
No matter the type of offense he is asked to participate in at the next level, Stirtz will be a solid contributor because he simply knows how basketball works. He moves instinctively off of the ball, he understands when to shoot, and he knows when to make the extra pass – basketball comes easy to Bennett, and so I struggle to see a world where Stirtz is not a key cog in a team that wins games. He’s a cerebral player, and that is evident in nearly every aspect of his game.
A smaller skill but an important one – Stirtz has my vote as the player with the most stamina in the draft class. This past season, he played 37.7 minutes per game, and for each of those minutes the entire opposing defense was honing in on him. He’s a true endurance runner, and I would be fascinated to see how that skill is utilized in the NBA where he won’t be playing every minute of every game as the only offensive option. A unimportant but fun fact; in conference play in 2024-2025, Stirtz pulled a Wilt Chamberlain and averaged 40.3 minutes per game, which is more than the amount of minutes in regulation – he literally never came off the court.
Weaknesses
With that offensive profile, we can be sure that it isn’t talent that is limiting Stirtz’s high-end upside. Unfortunately, Stirtz’s athleticism can sometimes impede his productivity on both ends of the court. He isn’t immobile or ground bound by any means, but he does lack the strength of a Darius Acuff, the vertical pop of a Mikel Brown, and the end-to-end speed of an Ebuka Okorie. While his shooting projection is solid, it’s worrying how much he had to rely on difficult jumpers. This is a symptom of lacking top-end speed or quickness – without being able to separate consistently from his defender, he is sometimes forced to settle for contested shots. He’s exceptionally skilled at those shots, but no one is so skilled as to make these shots more efficient than an open jumper or attempt at the rim. While I still have high hopes in his offensive projection, his highest-end upside is certainly constrained due to his lack of dominant physical traits.
This athleticism deficiency extends to the defensive end as well, although the analysis on his translation is once again made difficult due to his unique collegiate situation. He isn’t a glaring negative like Acuff was this year – he moves his feet well and knows where to be – but you wouldn’t mistake him for a defensive difference-maker either. He was often stationed on the least intimidating offensive option and recuperated in the corner while watching the action go on around him. However, in especially pivotal moments, he showcased some high level processing and quick hands. You would hope that once he reaches the NBA and shoulders a less all-encompassing offensive load that he would be able to maintain that higher-level defensive production, but expecting him to be anything more than a net-neutral in a playoff context is unrealistic.
While concerns about age are sometimes overblown – if a guy can play, he can play – it is worth mentioning that Stirtz is about 3 years older than many of his peers in the 2026 guard class. At this moment, I think Stirtz is a better basketball player than any non-Darry Peterson guard in the draft, and that he has accessible areas of improvement, but his overall room for growth is lower than some of his younger counterparts.
Conclusion/Fit on the Jazz
For all watching the playoffs, it is clear that the Jazz need additional ball-handlers. The Spurs and Thunders have an abundance of riches in regards to their stalwart perimeter defenders, and once the postseason comes around, those defenders are allowed to be more physical than ever. While a projected starting lineup of Keyonte, Peterson, Markkanen, Jackson Jr., and Kessler is intriguing for a number of reasons, that is a lot of playmaking burden resting on George’s shoulders – I would say that lineup features 2 good dribblers and 1 good passer, and it’s not like all of these high-level creators are sitting on the bench either. Bennett Stirtz would provide much needed offensive resilience for when the going gets tough, with his enviable combination of on-ball creation (likely relegated to his minutes with the bench) and off-ball savvy (more useful when playing alongside Keyonte or our pick at #2). Think of all of the strong off-ball options that the Jazz already have – they will be given so many more opportunities for success with another strong passer on the roster who can fit with the singular strong passer we already have (Keyonte George). No matter who we draft at 2 or pick up in free agency, our offense will be able to make room for Stirtz because he’s just good enough at everything. Need a pick-and-roll partner with Kessler? Stirtz is your guy. A movement shooter to capitalize off of Markkanen collapsing the defense? You can count on Bennett. A cog in the blender, or a late-shot clock creator, or a recipient of Nurkic’s top-of-the-key passes? While he won’t replicate the huge offensive usage of his time at Iowa, Stirtz can do all of these plays and more. He won’t be fixing any of our defensive issues on the perimeter, but with a more subdued offensive load and two huge safety nets in the paint, we can hope that he won’t be a complete sieve on that end. Stirtz is a player I would’ve been happy to take at 8 had the Jazz slipped in the lottery, but now could be an elite value play for the Jazz to make a move for in the later half of the first round.
Current Draft Projections (most recent big board/mock draft)
No Ceilings: 18
ESPN: 19
Bleacher Report: 21
CBS Sports: 18
ClutchPoints: 23
What would be some feasible ways to attain Bennett Stirtz? There are two options that immediately come to mind. There are reports that the Thunder are planning to wheel and deal with their 4 picks – they simply don’t have the roster spots to keep them all. Would they be interested in a future pick for #17, in the name of continuing to spread their wealth of assets into the future? Another team that comes to mind is the Detroit Pistons, currently sitting at #21. This seems to be near the back-end of Stirtz’s draft range, but if the Jazz feel like they can get their guy at this spot, I would suggest calling with an offer of their choice of bench piece (Svi and Filipowski in particular could be interesting to Detroit) along with a less-valuable draft pick than the one we would offer to OKC. If I were Detroit, I’d be happy to snatch up Stirtz myself, but after a disappointing postseason run as the #1 seed, I could see there being pressure coming from the top to shore up the rotation with win-now moves.
Is Stirtz a draft sleeper that you would want the Jazz to acquire? What are some trades you can put together to sneak the Jazz into the back-half of the first round? Let me know in the comments!
