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Knight in, Harris out?
Posted by: Jason Crannell on June 17th, 2011
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.If the Jazz in fact draft Brandon Knight, like most mock drafts are suggesting, what happens to Devin Harris? Do they keep Devin around for one season to mentor the young buck until he’s really ready to assume the starting job? Do they switch Harris over to shooting guard, and have him assume a “Jason Terry” type role backing Hayward up at the two-spot? Or perhaps, do they trade Harris to fill a hole at another position?
If I’m Harris, I’m a little anxious right now wondering what my future role, if any, will be with the Jazz. My own feeling on the matter is that I would like to see Harris and Knight play together before deciding on another course of action. Neither player is a “pure” point guard, and as a result, either could swing over and play some shooting guard. I think the combination of the two on the court at the same time could be lethal for opponents. They are both very quick, can penetrate the paint, shoot the ball, and pass. If you put them in the backcourt together, you could always play Hayward at small forward. I’m just wondering what you guys feel the best course of action might be. It’s entirely possible this scenario becomes a reality in less then a week.
We would probably win more games this coming season with a veteran like Harris starting, then we would with a rookie. But, if we draft Knight, it would become clear that he is our leader for the future. It could turn into another situation like what we have at power forward with Millsap and Favors. The present and the future. I’m all for depth. That’s how Dallas won the title. You can never be too deep, especially if you don’t have that one “star” player.
Replies: 11
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11 Responses
Totally agree with the last part. But I still hope that Williams will be our pick for 3rd. To fill up the hole. If he’s not available then I go with knight than Kanter.
Very slim chance that Williams falls to three. I pray it happens though.
You hit it right on the head,
Harris/Knight/Hayward/Favors/Jefferson
With a small backcourt like that we would probably have to start Favors instead of Millsap at PF (We would have enough offensive firepower with Jefferson and that backcourt that I think we could reserve Millsap’s offensive abilities for the second unit), but I think that Knight at SG is the most likely scenario at this point.
For the record, Dallas had depth because they spent money. Highest payroll in the NBA last year. Over $20 million more than the Heat, to provide one example. Good luck with that plan for the Jazz =/
I think it makes more sense to play Knight at SG than Harris. I’m still not even convinced that Knight can become a bona fide NBA Point Guard.
I should correct myself – the Mavs only had the second-largest payroll in the NBA (Fakers were #1 at $95 million). Sadly we were sixth-highest and have no results to show for it, but still had $15m less on the books than the Mavs.
Too bad we can’t find a way to get Williams. He’s clearly the class of this draft by a country mile. We could replace Deron Williams with Derrick Williams – it’s the same guy with extra letters yay
I really, really like Knight. I think he’ll be a better pro than Kyrie Irving.
Harris at SG? No thanks. He doesn’t even shoot the ball that well. Although I do enjoy watching him take it to the basket.
Even if the Jazz take Knight they still need to keep Harris. Knight is too raw of a PG and is not a true PG. He is a shoot first pass second PG. He only averaged 4.2 APG last year. People are down on Freddette, but Jimmer averaged the same ammount of assists and almost doubled him in PPG. I still say pass on Knight, take Kanter or Vessley who can help the Jazz improve on their rebounding problem, and get Freddette at 12. Harris at least averaged 7+ APG last year for the Jazz, I think that the Jazz are fine where they are at and if they take Freddette they are adding what the mavs had in JJ Barea and Jason Terry combined, a fast PG who can drive the lane and shoot all over the place, frustrating defenses and opening up the floor for the rest of the team.
Freddette may have doubled Knight in PPG, but I would bet he also tripled him in shots per game.
Not to mention Knight’s teammates were much more productive than Jimmer’s. That’s just a bad comparison.
Start Knight all year so he gets experience. Trade Harris for pieces near the deadline and hope we get a high lotto pick.