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The need for a point guard.
Posted by: Ryan Martinez on December 29th, 2012
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.In February, Golden State traded Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Andrew Bogut. They then proceeded to let Bogut and Stephen Curry get ankle surgery, ending their respective seasons. At the time of the trade, the Warriors were on pace to finish in the lottery getting either the 9th or 10th picks. Their pick was top-7 protected to the Jazz, they tanked so hard, that they were able to get down to that 7th spot and keep their pick.
At that time, many Jazz fans weren’t worried, many said that the Warriors would be bad this year, that we would get a lottery pick this year. Well with the core of Curry, Bogut, David Lee, Klay Thompson, and number 7 pick Harrison Barnes, the Warriors are 20-10, 5th in the west, and 2nd in the pacific ahead of the Dwight-Kobe Lakers. So much for that pick.
The Jazz on the other hand are 15-16 11th in the west, and 5th in the Northwest, and the major teams that are showing that they are the teams of the future out west all have good point guards. OKC (Westbrook), LAC (Paul), Denver (Lawson), and Golden State (Curry). The only exception is Memphis (Conley) but they have Rudy Gay, a guy who would be a superstar if Durant, LeBron and Melo didn’t play his position.
People can talk all they want about trading Al, Paul, and all of the other guys, but the fact of the Jazz is that we need a point guard, a young one, who has the talent to compete with the others in the west. The only current players who fit that description are Kemba Walker, John Wall, and Kyrie Irving. All are franchise centerpieces for their teams.
So we look to the draft. Now, we all think that the Jazz can make it into the playoffs. But, to get a talented player that could eventually be a top competitor, you need to be in the lottery, so, a trade must happen. The teams, who are unlikely to be able to avoid being in the Library are Orlando, Toronto, Detroit, Charlotte, Cleveland, Washington, Dallas, Phoenix, Sacramento, and New Orleans.
Of those teams, virtually all are in rebuilding mode, which makes Draft Picks a better investment than a trade, most of the time. This makes a trade unlikely, but not impossible, especially when offered valuable pieces that speed up a rebuilding process. Now, the Jazz do have one piece that could easily speed up a rebuilding process in Al Jefferson. He is a piece that could make nearly any lottery team be able to have some optimism for their near future.
I believe that a Package of Al Jefferson and the Jazz and GS picks would be enough to pry away the probable lottery pick from any of these teams, throw in some role players to balance everything out and the Jazz get a lotto pick.
The other option is to keep playing the way that the Jazz are, and they will stay under 500 and be a lotto team on their own.
So, now that we know how to get into the lottery, the question becomes who to draft? The top PG prospect in the draft this season is Michael Carter-Williams. He is ranked anywhere from 9th to 15th on draft boards as of right now. But he will likely rise to a surefire lottery pick as he is leading a 10-1, 9th ranked Syracuse team. He is 6′5″ 175 lbs. and in 32 mpg, he averages 12.4 Points, 10.3 assists, .9 rebounds, and 3.4 steals.
He has good size, is excellent offensively, good defensively, and definitely would be a guy that would fight constantly to become better.
I’m a guy that likes looking to the future, I’m the guy who would start Favors, Kanter, Hayward and Burks if I could just for the purpose of experience, so it’s natural for me to look for ways that the jazz could be good in the future, I’m not saying that this would necessarily work, and I’m not saying that anyone will agree with me. All that I’m saying is that I do not agree with the continuance of minutes going toward the veterans when we have young guys that are supposed to be the future of the team. Also, I’d be completely fine with missing the playoffs for a few years if our young guys got the minutes necessary to develop.
Just my 2 cents.
Replies: 8
Views: 517
8 Responses
Just what we all have been saying.Let’s hope the Jazz FO listen..
GSW dumps a high volume shooter that dominates the offense in order to develop young talent, and now they are in line to grab homecourt in 1st round after having the 7tha worst record a year ago…..when GSW’s FO is working better than Jazz FO and Marc Jackson (who looks like the co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon when piloted by Lando) is a better coach than the Jazz’s coach—thats a problem.
Honestly all jazz fans. I think what the FO has envisioned to this point is good. I dont think they predicted Corbin to be such a lousy in-game decision maker. Or at least they felt that C4’s potential would rise to the top and force play time. Well we are at that point now. Corbin really hasnt helped the team for growth into the future. Hes not much of a teacher during games , so most likely he is the same in practice and game prep. Corbin isnt working out.
C4 have proved themselves. The extra experience and learning for Enes and Favors against Al and Millsap in practice, I think has really helped their offensive games. It has been successful for Enes and Favors to learn in this environment up til now. But Now they can hold their own. FO knew this was coming. Hell the whole basketball universe knows this. But now is the time to make trades in the front court and drop some Vet baggage.
With the Jazz’ track record, our point guard of the future will be Andre Miller.
The problem is we have waited and waited and waited and now instead of getting a good deal we are stuck with crap if we want to get rid of someone because there is not much out there!! I saw this coming clear in the off season. Every bit of this and I was shut down time after time after time and how I did not know what was going to happen. I had no idea what I was talking about and the Jazz had a plan. Ya they had a plan that NO ONE ELSE WOULD DO!! And guess what? IT HAS FAILED
We aren’t privy to what deals the Jazz were offered for Al and Millsap this past year and half. There is no point taking a deal that makes us worse without giving us the chance of getting better. You wait for the right deal to come along and then let them go at the end of the contract if you don’t find the right deal and you find something better in free agency if there is something better out there – you do not deal just for the sake of a deal and make yourself worse. How this decision is handled is what is going to make or break the Jazz future for the next few years. We have 8 players contracts up at this season’s end. We are in desperate need of one player, or failing that a few players that can take the talent and potential of the the remaining players to the next level.
Everyone knows we need a top tier PG to make the next jump, unfortunately every other team in the league wants that too, and no-one gives them up without a fight. Look where the Clippers are today with Chris Paul, take him out of that team and where would that team be? As good as the rest of the individual players may be that team may still struggle to be in a playoff position without someone of Paul’s talent and steading influence to guide them but right now with him there they have one of the best records in the West.
As much as Wall is supposed to be special I’m not sure I rate his leadership qualities. The Jazz need not only a a great PG but are in need of a good leader. Players such as Chris Paul, Irving, and Derrick rose are the calibre of player that would transform the Jazz organisation but those are the types of players that almost impossible to get as long as they are under contract. Other PG’s are available around the league but because of the position they play are comparatively overpriced, and they aren’t guaranteed to have the same effect on your teams future success. Most middle of the road PG’s have as many flaws in their game as they have good parts.
Even waiting to draft the right PG at the end of the season is a risk. There was one great PG in last years draft that most teams around the league would have wanted. Portland were the lucky team that was able to do so, and they weren’t giving up that opportunity for any trade. Can we risk waiting to the draft? Can we gamble the future of this team’s potential on a rookie PG untested in the NBA? Can we try and persuade Paul to move on from the Clippers in the summer and build a team around him? Can we even make that play when we have Corbin as coach? So many questions, so many frustrations have to be addressed between now and this summer.
@Omar, about your coment on the GSW, I hope you’re not implying that tanking in order to get the draft pick is good FO management.
I will never consider tanking good team policy. Just like Jazzaholic last year, if I have read another post about the ‘ping pong balls’ I would have puked… This doesn’t mean I agree with the way our coach is performing. I’ve read about how sacrificing wins today for the young players’ development should be the way to go. I say playing the young ones more is what will bring us more wins! That’s where the main problem is.
Here’s to wishing we get Deron back – but only at a discount.