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Draft Picks, Trade Scenarios, and the 2013 Season
Posted by: gardner on April 5th, 2012
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.There is a still a chance that we make the Playoffs, which I hope that we do. I would prefer playoff experience for our young kids than the 12th-14th pick. Anyways, disregarding the playoffs, here are some thoughts on how to make the team better next year:
1. Trade Big Al & Raja Bell for some 3-point shooting and wing depth. Some players that I would not mind seeing on our team are Dorrell Wright (36% 3PT) and Brandon Rush (44% 3PT). In additional to their shooting percentages, they are both great rebounders for their positions. To make the trade work, we’d have to involve a third team, perhaps Houston or Indy, which would mean that we would receive another piece or picks. (Obviously Big Al is worth more than these two role players; the salaries don’t match either, I’m just not sure who else I would want to show up in Utah to make the deal work).
2. Sign Ersan Ilyasova in free agency. He makes around 2.5 million this year, so he will be relatively affordable. He is a 6′10 Power Forward who shoots 40% from the three-point line and averages 8.2 rebounds a game. He would help to resolve some of our shooting woes and back up Millsap while Favors and Kanter handle the Center position.
3. Re-sign Jeremy Evans, if only because he’s Gordon Hayward’s best friend. He would be a nice and cheap insurance policy just in case one of our PF’s went down with an injury. Also, he can sit on the bench and draw nice pictures for the locker-room.
4. Draft either Damian Lillard or Kendall Marshall to try out at the Point Guard position. Marshall seems to me to be similar to John Stockton, in that he is not athletic, but he has excellent court vision. If he has the work ethic and grit, he can become a quality guard in the league. If we go with Lillard, we have an athletic scoring guard to run the point, which is always helpful in making opposing defenses honest.
With these changes made, our depth chart would be the following:
PG – Devin Harris / Earl Watson / *Potential Draftee (Tinsley’s contract expires at the end of the year)
SG – Alec Burks / Brandon Rush /
SF – Gordon Hayward / Dorrell Wright / *Potential Draftee
PF – Paul Millsap / Ersan Illyasova / Jeremy Evans
C – Derrick Favors / Enes Kanter / *Kyrylo Fesenko! (I wish!)
I love Big Al, he is the best low-post scorer in the league (yes I mean better than Bynum and Howard, who are good, but do not have the moves nor patience that Al has), but Favors is the future, and Big Al is a defensive liability: somehow he does not understand how to put his hands up when opposing guards are trying to take a jumper in front of him (Ridnour, Nash, etc.)
What are your thoughts?
Feel free to rebuke me if you must, but if you do, tell me what you would do instead. I do not actually see any of this happening, but this is what I would do. We get better defensively and we actually get proven shooters that will make us a more balanced team. Nevertheless, in KOC I trust!
Replies: 7
Views: 814
7 Responses
Uhg. dunno. So many changes, when we only need a Starting PG, and a solid SF who has an outside shot.
Marshall may have vision, but stockton was a defensive player which Marshall probably will not be, actually the opposite if you believe what you read and see.
Trade for your guys from Golden State probably would never happen. They have Bogut and Lee, why do they need Al?
Would love to see Jazz front load a Contract and lead Nic Batum from Portland.
The draft, who knows, we may have one pick, we may have a couple. Played with the draft generator and got Barnes and Marshall. Seen it go Lillard and Lamb. Draft net has us taking, Marshall and Rivers. Too many what ifs and ors. Will be an interesting off season for sure.
My reference to the similarities of John Stockton are that Marshall has good court vision, but is not very athletic. Stockton was underrated in the draft because of his lack of athleticism, but he made up for it with hard work in every aspect of the game. I did not say that Marshall would become the next John Stockton, just the two similarities stated above.
You lost me at trade Al Jefferson.
I’d rather have Tinsley than Watson, and I don’t want the lazy clown Festinko back, but the rest of your plan looks pretty good. Ilyasova would be harder to get than you’d assume. He’s well liked in Milwaukee and has been an integral part of their success (when they’ve been successful). I think we need to trade Al and hopefully add another nice asset in the process. His high volume offensive ability isn’t good enough to offset his defensive inability/unwillingness.
I would love to see Nic Batum wearing a Jazz jersey, but sorry Patrick, this is not going to happen, he is a very loyal player with his team(s), so he see his future as a big part of the Blazers reconstruction, and if not because of a loozy management, he will leave them for a bigger team, this is what the Jazz are not, we are too similar with Portland, and he’s not going to pass the next 3 or 4 years to battle for the 8 seed, he want to battle for the ring……. and he clearly will be one of the most sollicited players this summer
I think we need to get away from saying anything like ‘the new John Stockton.’ I wasn’t living in the US when he was playing for the Jazz, so sadly I don’t know that much about his play personally. All I know from John is his stats, and thats all I need to know that there will never be another John Stockton. It would not be fair to expect that from any rookie.
One thing I will agree with is I do think we might need to look at what we might get for Al Jefferson and the TRADE EXCEPTION. I love Al and the fact is he is the best player at the Jazz right now, but he is expensive, he can on occasion bog down the attack, and is a liability in defense and his positioning on the court means that there is no room on the court for Favors and Kanter when he is on the floor. Also with him being the best attacking piece that we have and shooting marginally below 50% I’m not sure we have the luxury of keeping him IF there is something out there that will give this team a better balance. It might be that there is noone out there that is willing to give us what we need in exchange in which case he stays.
DAMN LOOSERS!!!!!!!!!! SEASON HASN´T END IT YET, WE´RE GONNA MAKE PLAYOFFS DAMN. DON´T THINK ´BOUT POST SEASON YET PLEASE!!!!!!!!