Jerry Lundegaard
Banned
First off, for the insufferable, loud faction of Jazz fans who wanted a big instead of Hayward - Look at Patrick O'Bryant. He was a big guy plenty of Jazz fans wanted when he was in the draft. Long center with shot-blocking ability who had words like "raw" and "upside" next to his name on all the predraft reports. I could run off a list of 50 over the past several years of big men in the same boat.
We already have two centers on our roster, each of whom are two years into our organization. Why take another question mark who will be two years behind them?
With Korver and Boozer as an UFA's and AK approaching the end of his contract, taking Hayward was the perfect pick. AK was playing the best he had in years before his injury. C.J. has come on as a reliable wing. Wesley has shown tremendous value for how we got him in his role. However, he is limited to that role. Hayward has the versatility to play a couple positions, and be brought along slowly. He's much more athletic than Korver, and create for himself or others off the bounce 1000x better.
Hayward will be able to provide spot minutes this season, but grow behind AK, CJ, and Wesley over the next couple seasons.
I can't project what trades were available for us to move out of the 9 considering none of the impact or "sure thing" bigs (even though im not sold on any of them) were available when we picked.
All that being said, drafting Hayward is a small reason I'm so optimistic about this upcoming season... The mix of our team is finally starting to shape up. At first glance, Boozer's numbers are as impressive as any power forward in the league. But as well all know, it's fools gold. He get's stripped a lot, a poor and unwilling defender, and relatively useless against length.
Millsap, as he proved when Boozer was out, is more than capable of being a very good starting power forward. His mid range shot has come along each year, as well as his handle. He's a willing defender, and got great instincts blocking shots. While he clearly struggles against longer defenders like Boozer, he's not as useless because of his defense. He also doesn't get stripped nearly as much as Boozer did.
While Millsap most likely won't score as many points as Boozer, its not like we'll be losing any offensive firepower. Deron is more than capable of increasing his scoring average, as is C.J... Both can score in a variety of ways, and can more than make up for the lack of Boozer's points.
I am confident Fesenko and Koufos are both improving - but I think it'd be huge if we could pick up a Center in free agency like Brendan Haywood. Even if Memo is fully healthy and starts, I think Haywood would be huge to have against certain teams.
Another key to the offseason is scooping a consistent back up point guard. Someone who only needs to play, in normal circumstances, 10-15 min a game. As long as they can get in the lane consistently, take care of the ball, and knock down an open shot -we'll be fine. Price cannot do any of the aforementioned things consistently.. As we saw several times last season, any lead or momentum we built with Deron in the first quarter, was immediately reversed when Ronnie came in.
Getting role players at Center and backup PG are realistic given this free agency class, that is why I'm so confident.
This season we will have an all-world point guard leading a team with a great mix of role players. It's time for Millsap to earn his money - and I know for a fact he will.
We already have two centers on our roster, each of whom are two years into our organization. Why take another question mark who will be two years behind them?
With Korver and Boozer as an UFA's and AK approaching the end of his contract, taking Hayward was the perfect pick. AK was playing the best he had in years before his injury. C.J. has come on as a reliable wing. Wesley has shown tremendous value for how we got him in his role. However, he is limited to that role. Hayward has the versatility to play a couple positions, and be brought along slowly. He's much more athletic than Korver, and create for himself or others off the bounce 1000x better.
Hayward will be able to provide spot minutes this season, but grow behind AK, CJ, and Wesley over the next couple seasons.
I can't project what trades were available for us to move out of the 9 considering none of the impact or "sure thing" bigs (even though im not sold on any of them) were available when we picked.
All that being said, drafting Hayward is a small reason I'm so optimistic about this upcoming season... The mix of our team is finally starting to shape up. At first glance, Boozer's numbers are as impressive as any power forward in the league. But as well all know, it's fools gold. He get's stripped a lot, a poor and unwilling defender, and relatively useless against length.
Millsap, as he proved when Boozer was out, is more than capable of being a very good starting power forward. His mid range shot has come along each year, as well as his handle. He's a willing defender, and got great instincts blocking shots. While he clearly struggles against longer defenders like Boozer, he's not as useless because of his defense. He also doesn't get stripped nearly as much as Boozer did.
While Millsap most likely won't score as many points as Boozer, its not like we'll be losing any offensive firepower. Deron is more than capable of increasing his scoring average, as is C.J... Both can score in a variety of ways, and can more than make up for the lack of Boozer's points.
I am confident Fesenko and Koufos are both improving - but I think it'd be huge if we could pick up a Center in free agency like Brendan Haywood. Even if Memo is fully healthy and starts, I think Haywood would be huge to have against certain teams.
Another key to the offseason is scooping a consistent back up point guard. Someone who only needs to play, in normal circumstances, 10-15 min a game. As long as they can get in the lane consistently, take care of the ball, and knock down an open shot -we'll be fine. Price cannot do any of the aforementioned things consistently.. As we saw several times last season, any lead or momentum we built with Deron in the first quarter, was immediately reversed when Ronnie came in.
Getting role players at Center and backup PG are realistic given this free agency class, that is why I'm so confident.
This season we will have an all-world point guard leading a team with a great mix of role players. It's time for Millsap to earn his money - and I know for a fact he will.
