Meet
Travis Leslie
Posted by: Christon Rigby on March 8th, 2013
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.When they sign Travis Leslie, who do you think they will cut? Raja Bell or Kevin Murphy? I hope for Raja..you guys? Any news on the matter? And why do they call up someone from the D-League now when Mo just got back after 30+ games? Anyone?
Replies: 11
Views: 416
0 Votes
11 Responses
Don’t get why it would be Murphy I’m hoping tinsley or watson
Since Burks is still in rotation, I imagine Corbin needs to satisfy his thirst for DNPing young guys, so I imagine hes getting called up so Corbin can hit his quota of DNPed young players.
haha good call Omar.
When we last checked in on Travis Leslie back in the preseason, we had lofty expectations for the rising junior. Teaming with Trey Thompkins to form a potent combination in Georgia’s frontcourt, Leslie seemed ready to take the next step as a NBA prospect. Though he’s helped Georgia to a 13-4 record, we have yet to see the gigantic leap forward that would propel his stock up draft boards and solidify his candidacy for the 2011 draft.
One of the more unique prospects around, Travis Leslie could easily be called the best athlete in college basketball. He plays way above the rim whenever he has a chance to and does so effortlessly, despite standing just 6′4. Extremely strong and possessing elite explosiveness, Leslie is still the same largely raw forward in an undersized two’s body that we wrote about last season.
Able to play significantly bigger than his 6′4 height, Leslie’s most notable development this season lies in the way he’s able to score inside the arc. Often struggling to get all the way to the rim as freshman, but doing a much better job going up strong around the basket last season, the Georgia native has developed an improved comfort level and slightly better touch in the paint this season. According to Synergy Sports Technology, he’s shooting 58% in finishing situations this season. Accounting for more than half of his shots both this and last season, that’s a significant improvement over the 50% he shot last year. At this point, he’s backing up his one or two highlight reel dunks every game with rock solid efficiency, even if he’s not getting to the free throw line quite as often as he did in the past.
Away from the rim, Leslie is largely the same player that he was last season. He’s seeing fewer touches in transition this season and more in spot-up situations, which has limited his productivity to some degree. However, he is still extremely efficient in catch and finish situations resulting from cuts and offensive rebounds, which account for a large portion of his offense. His ball-handling and shot-creating abilities both appear slightly improved, but remain limited. He is able to rely on his lightning quick first step at this level to get his shot off, but his perimeter shooting has not taken a sizeable step forward as evidenced by his 16.7% shooting from three point range on a little over one attempt per-game.
Leslie is capable of knocking down some shots off the dribble from 17 feet, and has shown some flashes of potential pulling up driving left this season, but lacks ideal polish away from the rim. His mechanics seem a bit more consistent than they did in the past, and that has paid dividends from the foul line (83%), but the results just haven’t been there in catch and shoot situations, where he’s shooting just 24.2%. Much like we noted in our last report, if Leslie can consistently knock down spot up jump shots from the wings, he instantly becomes an extremely intriguing prospect.
Defensively, Leslie has all the tools to be successful on the NBA level, even if he is undersized. He shows active hands and solid lateral quickness, making him quite a pest in the college game. At this juncture, he needs to gain experience guarding the perimeter full time, as he still spends some time defending power forwards depending on who UGA is matching up with. With additional coaching, Leslie should become a very solid individual and team defender, only adding to his merits as a terrific rebounder for his size on both ends of the court.
A hard worker with a unique physical profile, Leslie remains a very likely future NBA player. If he improves his perimeter skill level and guard play, he’s going to have the full attention of NBA decision-makers. It is really that simple for the young forward. He has the tools to be a NBA contributor down the road, but the timing of his development as a shooter will play a key role in how soon he takes that step.
[Read Full Article]
Top NBA Draft Prospects in the SEC, Part One (#1-5)
From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com#ixzz2MzQPWZim
http://www.draftexpress.com
Jazz would have first rights on him for next year. I would be surprised if anyone but Bell would be let go. No one wants him anyway and he is ineligible for the playoffs..
Fast and Furrious lineup: PG Burks, SG Leslie, SF Hayward, PF Evans, C Favors…. Go full court pressure (they all D) and fast-break-lob-city. Ty would just love it
This dude can jump … i mean JUMP! Very explosive athlete.
Check this out
“OHHHHH MY!!!!!” haha
http://youtu.be/agKZmXamgF8 haha
That dunk was filthy. I love the fact it was over Cousins. I think the Jazz just want him because he was picked 47th, haha.
Thanks guys for the info, and what a dunk!
Also sometimes it takes a couple of years in the NBA for some of these kids to develope. Jazz picked up JYD off waivers last year and he has been a pleasant surprise..