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Give Me A Reason
Posted by: drew on May 26th, 2011
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Give me a reason that the Jazz should draft Kanter. We already have a problem with our bigs, and Kanter would probably just add to that. He’d probably think he should start, which won’t be good, like at all.
There are 2 things i hate about the Draft.
1. When we draft (or anybody) drafts Euros, and they dont come over, or dont turn out. that bugs the living crap outta me.
2. getting people we dont necessarily need.
the only way we could draft Kanter is if he would backup Al and play 8 minutes a game, which he wont be good with.
Now tell me why we should draft him and not a SF or brandon knight for that matter. (French Dude, this is your cue)
Replies: 23
Views: 602
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23 Responses
Thank you Drew. You are entirely right. I see no reasons good enough.
thank you bro
@Drew: thank you for the post. I want to start with your second point. If the Jazz have a player they’re absolutely sure about to fill a position of need (like they were with Deron Williams back in 2005), you go with him. In that regard, if the braintrust decides they really like Brandon Knight after all the workouts, interviews, and examination of him on film, they’ll take him. But if Kanter proves to be a superior prospect and therefore more of a sure thing, you have to go with the best player available. That might mean mixing up some different rotations, and might mean trading someone. It might mean trading Kanter if someone team decides they’re absolutely dying for him once you’ve got him locked up and you can get something really good for him. I want to see the Jazz pick a strong point guard, but they’ll have to believe they’re going to get that from Knight. Otherwise, you have to go with the best available player (and maybe that will be Knight after all).
Second, your first point–drafting a guy who becomes a bust is absolutely infuriating, you’re right. But the Jazz have drafted a lot more American busts (Kirk Snyder, Morris Almond, Ryan Humphrey/Curtis Borchardt, Quincy Lewis, Luther Wright) than European busts. A far greater number of American players end up being busts than Europeans. That doesn’t mean we should or shouldn’t take a European. It means management has to do its homework and pick the right guy. Consider, though, that while any of these Europeans could be bust, any of them could also turn out to be Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Andea Bargnani, Mehmet Okur, Andrei Kirilenko (either of whom we’d love to have in their prime), Peja Stojakovic, Detlef Schrempf (I’m dating myself now), Vlade Divac, Sarunas Marciulionis, Drazen Petrovic, etc.
Lastly, consider that Kanter, unlike a lot of other Europeans who get drafted, actually played high school ball in California and was recruited to play at Kentucky. I know he wasn’t able to play last year, but he was certainly more of a known quantity than some of these other European mystery men have been.
So we could trade Millsap.
Kanter’s good, but i’m worried he won’t turn out because he hasn’t played in over a year. I agree Brandon Knight or Derrick Williams should be drafted.
Thanks from me too…
Kind of on point with James, I’m gonna also say that unless they have a trade lined up where we select Kanter and deal him for assets that will address our team needs better than Brandon Knight they wont take him.
But if that were the case we would just be shopping our 3rd pick.
I still think if Minni doesn’t deal that 2nd pick (they are asking a lot for it) they take Kanter over Williams because he helps them compete now and David Kahn said he wants the Wolves to compete now.
Id be celebrating June 23rd if we take Williams/Knight 3rd and Singleton is my man at 12.
@James, that is true, but Kanter most likely wont be a Dirk, or Pau. i think the problem with Euros is that we dont really know much about them; its all a big mystery, like you said in your last sentence. Sure we could draft him and trade him, but i wont get into that.
where was i? ohyeah, European busts. i’ll try to start recent, but not to recent cuz its to early to judge.
Perfect example:Ricky Rubio, 2009 5 pick, Timberwolves, Spain. Good player, not coming over to NBA, probably wasted draft pick.
Alexis Ajinka, 2007 number 20, Bobcats. France. nobody’s ever heard of him.
Andrea Bargnani 2006 number 1, Raptors. shouldnt have been number 1. Solid, but not number 1.
Fran Vazquez 2005 11 pick, Magic.
Yaroslav Korolev, 2005 12 pick, Clippers
Andris Biedrins 2004, 11 pick, Warriors. Not really a bust, just not too good, but not really bad. OK bench player.
Darko Milicic, 2003 2 pick, Pistons. Do i have to explain?
and I bet most of us forgot that the Jazz drafted Alecksander Pavlovic with our 19 pick in 2003. never produced anything. we could have got Boris Diaw, Kendrick Perkins.
Im not totally aginst Europeans, but there IS more of a question mark above their heads than the players from the US.
if we DO get Kanter, hopefully he’ll translate into in NBA player, and not a Fesenko or Koufos type player, or the ones mentioned above
Kanter is already here. There’s no risk of him going back to Europe. He said in the combine interview that he isn’t even considering going back to Europe even in the event of a year long lockout.
We should draft a SF. If Williams is there or Harrison Barnes changes the rules and enters the draft then we need to draft him. The biggest priority is to replace AK. Paul Millsap is our key to the best possible 3 if Williams isn’t available. We don’t want to draft a 3 with the 12th pick and start the 12th pick. Millsap either needs to play the 3 or be traded for a high quality 3 (I think that trading him might be the way to get an even better 3 than Williams is) Using Millsap at/for the 3 leaves a big gap for our 3rd big, which is a more important position than the backup point guard. I’m big on Jimmer as the 12th pick and back up point guard because Harris is injury prone, and Jimmer is NBA ready.
I wouldn’t say Jimmer is NBA ready… that kids gonna need some time to adjust.
He is currently a better basketball player than Knight by a long shot, and considering how efficient he was with how he was double teamed all season long I think he’s currently better than Walker. Him, Walker and Knight are all going to have to adjust from being scoring point guards (Even though Knight didn’t do much scoring : ) to fascilitating PG’s so they have the same adjustment to make. Only Jimmer’s experience, level of competition and performance up to this point are better Knight’s or Walker’s.
So I’m not amongst the group of people that think we should take Kanter, but you wanted a reason, so here I go:
Our current lineup at center includes Al Jefferson, Mehmet Okur, Francisco Elson, and Kyrylo Fesenko. Jefferson is a stud, but is only 6′10″ and would be best suited at Power Forward if it was a perfect world for the Jazz. Memo may never be the same he once was. Elson did nothing for us this year. Fes is a joke. That’s why Kanter would be a good fit. He’s 6′11″ and 260 pounds. Guys that big and that talented don’t grow on trees. Getting a solid true center is the hardest thing to get in the NBA and the Jazz haven’t had one of those since Mark Eaton retired nearly 20 years ago now. Kanter could develop into the type of center that the Jazz have dreamed of having for years now. In the immediate future, he’d be a killer backup for us and in the more distant future he could end up being our star center. That’s why many Jazz fans want him.
I would prefer Williams or Knight, but I won’t be disappointed if we draft Kanter. He’ll most likely be a very solid NBA player
Kanter actually has contract problems with his old team in Europe from what I’ve heard and could lead to problems and become another Ricky Rubio. He could be drafted and if things don’t work out with his bad contract wouldn’t be able to play for 3 years.
I don’t like the idea of drafting a player who isn’t available immediately and might not even want to be here when it comes time to resign.
Colby, if your going to sling such crazy rumors post a link so we can see where your getting your info.
Reason, Al, Favors starting, Kanter, Okur backup. All are very interchangeable, Al 6′10″, Favors 6′10″, Kanter 6′11″, Okur 6′ll”. We increase in size and depth.
If Millsap doesnt work out at the 3 he could be great trade bait. Danny Granger has been one such trade talk, an NBA read SF. Is it best, I dont know, but it is two very realistic reasons. If not Granger, there are several other options.
Harris, Hayward, Granger, Favors, Al starting
Watson, Bell/miles, Miles/Evans, Kanter/Okur, Okur/Kanter
The reason we should draft Kanter is because if we dont we`ll pick a PG, and wont be able to pick Jimmer with our 12th pick. And we have to pick Jimmer.
Drafting Kanter is following the heritage that the Jazz have enjoyed for years. If we had Deron, Chris Paul, and Raymond Felton, the Jazz would take Knight at 3 and Fredette at 12. Then we’d trade Big Al for a future pick so we could draft another PG.
I honestly do not understand why we always have such HUGE interest in undersized Centers (Power Forwards) unless we actually need a big. If we need a big, then we take a PG or a wing. (Eric Maynor, Gordon Hayward)
@Adam. Kanter 6′11″ = Mark Eaton 7′4″…?
What we need to do is either inform Fes that his NBA career is going to come to and end really soon, or get a legit athletic big. At some point Fes has to realize that he should dominate all but about 6 big men in the league and that he should be working hard to accomplish that unless it’s his goal to go back to computer programming. I still think that some young talent like Roy Hibbert or Deandre Jordan could do very well in Utah.
The suggestions of moving Al to PF, Millsap to SF and Williams (if drafted by Utah) to SF are not ideal positions for either player. DJ and PK had a guest sport analyst on this morning from an Arizona sports station and he mentioned that Williams wants to try and improve his game to play the 3 spot but will have a tough time defending the Lebrons, Kobe’s and Durrants of the league out on the perimeter. I’d be interested to see if Williams is even going to be AS GOOD as Millsap in a few years. If they stay the same size and Williams lacks the heart and work ethic of Millsap, he may not be anything more. So my question, do we need 2 undersized PF’s or 2 (3’s) in the making? Let’s not forget Favors. How about we draft Williams and one of the Morris brothers and have a starting lineup of
Williams(6′9″) – Morris(6′10) – (6′9″) – Favors(6′10″) – Jefferson(6′11″)
I’m feeling you Kevin!
The 3rd (6′9″) was Millsap. BTW, Okur could sub in if if one of the big lugs gets winded…
1. He’s good.
2. He would be on a rookie salary scale for 4 years.
3. Opens up trade possibilities with our other bigs
4. Young talent to grow along with the other young guys to create a future core
5. Good skilled big men are hard to come by
Those are the reasons I see to draft Kanter.
Fes 7′1″, is out played by Millsap at 6′8″. Not under contract.
Elson 7′0″, is out played by everyone. Not under contract.
Okur 6′11″, may never make it back to 50% or at all. He is getting old. Under contract for one yr, lets hope he doesnt sit the bench eating up another 10 mill.
Al 6′10″, one of the top 5 centers in the league!!! Even though he is supposedly undersized.
Favors 6′10″, will be able to assume some center roles, but is undersized at 246 lbs, and being groomed for PF.
Kanter 6′11″, 260 lbs. Young, can move and play. Already Okurs size, and has some room to grow at 19 yrs of age. Already bigger than AL and Favors, can play both center and PF. He is already better than Fes and Elson, expecting him to be better than Okur. With AL, Favors starting and Kanter coming in to give them both some rest, thats size and ability that could actually be huge. For a kid who sat for an entire season, coming into the combine with 5.9 % body fat, Kyrie Irving had 10 % body fat, that shows some work ethic and desire..
If Millsap makes it a logjam, and cannot make it at the 3, then you trade him and Miles for Danny Granger. Problem solved. I love Millsap, but I think one day Kanter will be better at the position, because he has the size and tools to make it work at both PF and Center positions..
Pick up Singlton with the 12th pick. Sorry Fredette fans, but we need perimeter defense, and this guy is it.. Since he can play defense for multiple positions, it just makes sense. We have plenty of shooters. You can always bring Fredette in, and bring back AK… But we were talking Kanter..
With 2 centers no longer under contract and another nearing the end of his contract, I think that Kanter is a big man you cannot pass on. I would after watching some things, take him over Williams.. Williams gets lazy coming back on defense. Kanter shows no laziness in his game, and can improve his game.. Look at lockes reports and see if your minds dont change a little.
I like Knight, but Kanter is the better player. If you take best available, Kanter is it. There are lots of PG’s in the league, there are few big guys who can play in the league. We know that watching Elson and Fes last season, size is not everything, but Size and talent are.
Kanter is not the only solution, but he is one we have available. We could always look to dump Okur and get Gasol, but what are the chances of that? DeAndre Jordan is available, but will he be better than Kanter? I have watched guys whine about having a decent big guy, passing this one will probably be a mistake.
He is not an undersize PF, he would actually be the biggest guy on the team just with normal growth in the next yr. But go ahead and pass on him and take Fredette and Knight, or Burcs and Knight. Maybe small and quick will win games.. It hasnt worked for us in the past but who knows. Kanter may be average sized when comparing him to other Centers, but when comparing him to anyone on our team, he is huge… Is that enough reasons? lol
@James: Ryan Humphrey is no longer a bust. He is a big part of the Nets team now and as a free agent is in demand. Yes he was a bust to the Jazz, Raptors, and Mavs.
Just hold out for this kid next year from Duke
http://www.nbadraft.net/players/mason-plumlee
You can wish, hope, pray if you like but in the end the Jazz brass will make the call. Williams, Kanter, or Knight would all fit the bill. Somethin that hasn’t been brought up. How about trade the 12 pick to the Bulls for 28,30 picks??