Udunka bout to get some-Today 1:00 PM

[jom2003]

Name me some centers that basically sat for 3 years and became solid starters? Not even trying to "trick" anyone here... genuinely curious and would like someone else to do some work here.

Jermaine O'neil. Sat in Portland for four years then moved to Indiana and became an allstar.

Udoka would've been great if he was drafted by a team like Wizards or Nets. Would probably be inserted right into the starting lineup or see solid minutes off the bench. But Udoka situation here is very much similar to Jermaine's situation in Portland, it would require a move away from his original team to see any real PT.

Just a wasted opportunity for both himself and the Jazz.

 

[slc]

I'm still on the Udoka bandwagon
He is arguably biggest, strongest, fastest, most explosive seven footer in league right now,
plus he has incredible vice like hands.
Jazz already have good young prospects at every other position
DL must have some way in mind to use him

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Jermaine O'neil. Sat in Portland for four years then moved to Indiana and became an allstar.

Udoka would've been great if he was drafted by a team like Wizards or Nets. Would probably be inserted right into the starting lineup or see solid minutes off the bench. But Udoka situation here is very much similar to Jermaine's situation in Portland, it would require a move away from his original team to see any real PT.

Just a wasted opportunity for both himself and the Jazz.

Solid... there are some differences obviously. He was straight out of high school so needed time to grow into his body. Could play him at 4/5 back in those days. Even he got more opportunity than Udoka was likely to get... if Udoka was healthy.

 

[infection]

Jeff Withey starting in Korea.

North or South?

 

[jom2003]

if Udoka was healthy.

Thats the thing though. Body-wise I don't think Udoka is any more ready than O'Neil. The kid was 300lbs coming into Kansas and list roughly 20lbs through four years. As things stand he is still 280lbs according to Basketball Reference...... That is simply too much weight for today's NBA. By comparison Boban standing at 7ft4 weighs about 290. And Udoka is 280 in weight versus 6'10 in height. Even if we take his other measurement from another website he is still 270 in 6'11.

The way we require the big men today to constantly make runs& switches& guarding the pick n roll, that's too much pressure put on his massive body and injuries are inevitable.

He could easily become the modern day Shaq in Europe or China, but in the NBA he needs to adjust his body to stay on the floor.

 

[One Brow]

They were all able to be average backup centers early in their career. Many continued to get better. Not sure they were/are near the top of their game. Jokic obviously has continued to get better exponentially.

I see "take longer to develop" as being different from "are good enough to play", although they may be the same for marginal players.

Name me some centers that basically sat for 3 years and became solid starters? Not even trying to "trick" anyone here... genuinely curious and would like someone else to do some work here.

I certainly can't name any off the top of my head.

 

[LogGrad98]

Name me some centers that basically sat for 3 years and became solid starters? Not even trying to "trick" anyone here... genuinely curious and would like someone else to do some work here.

Brad Miller maybe fits that mold. Joakim Noah maybe? idk just spitballing. I generally agree with your take, but there are some examples of centers developing over time.

 

[sip]

I'm still on the Udoka bandwagon
He is arguably biggest, strongest, fastest, most explosive seven footer in league right now,
plus he has incredible vice like hands.
Jazz already have good young prospects at every other position
DL must have some way in mind to use him

The thing about Udoka is that he may have tested out as an athletic freak but when you watched him at Kansas he didn't look super athletic to me. He finished everything around the rim but that was more because he was the biggest player. On most of his dunks he wasn't getting super high in the air and he never impressed me with with way he ran the floor.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I see "take longer to develop" as being different from "are good enough to play", although they may be the same for marginal players.


I certainly can't name any off the top of my head.

Thats fine... this conversation has morphed quite a bit (not blaming you). I'll leave it here I guess:

If your center prospect is not ready to perform as an average backup mid way through year two - then it is likely they aren't all that great. Taking a guy and putting him on the shelf for 3 years unless there is an injury is not the best use of a pick. Even if he is Clint Capela (which is kind of his ceiling imo) if Favs and Rudy are here he will see spot minutes until one is hurt or traded.

After all we did to get Favs here and how big a story it is... I don't see us trading him to dump his salary. Doesn't jive with our "Jazz DNA" and good vibes locker room. Its not an issue if we didn't have a big salary crunch happening next year that will almost surely cost us Mike, Bojan, or Favs. Going cheap on backup center or finding a draft prospect that can fill in a wing role helps us make budget.

Depending on the severity of the injury it likely isn't even fair for me to judge him by how he performs this year or next.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Brad Miller maybe fits that mold. Joakim Noah maybe? idk just spitballing. I generally agree with your take, but there are some examples of centers developing over time.

I think the best examples are Christian Wood and Hassan Whiteside. It was largely about maturity for those guys but also their bodies needed to fill out. The teams that drafted them got zero benefit out of it.

 

[homeytennis]

Wood was a UDFA.

 

[One Brow]

If your center prospect is not ready to perform as an average backup mid way through year two - then it is likely they aren't all that great. Taking a guy and putting him on the shelf for 3 years unless there is an injury is not the best use of a pick. Even if he is Clint Capela (which is kind of his ceiling imo) if Favs and Rudy are here he will see spot minutes until one is hurt or traded.

I agreed with a lot of your post. My only thought is that Azubuike could easily have been ready to play as a backup later this year or next, and still sitting most of the time. If you feel we have genuine needs that more immediate and more pressing, you might see it as a bad pick.

I see genuine athletic talent at center as still being a very rare commodity. Unathletic centers are, and always have been, easy to find. Athletic centers always have been, and still are, the hardest things to find.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I agreed with a lot of your post. My only thought is that Azubuike could easily have been ready to play as a backup later this year or next, and still sitting most of the time. If you feel we have genuine needs that more immediate and more pressing, you might see it as a bad pick.

I see genuine athletic talent at center as still being a very rare commodity. Unathletic centers are, and always have been, easy to find. Athletic centers always have been, and still are, the hardest things to find.

And I would not have as hard a time with the pick if we had given Favs a one year deal... or at very least given him less this year to avoid the tax. The combination of moves is a problem.

We basically can't avoid the tax this year without trading Bojan, Royce or Favs. Next year we are deep in the tax if we bring back Mike... the following year we'd be in the repeater tax if we bring back Mike and that amount of money isn't something we can do. Honestly the 50M in tax next year may be too much... we aren't the KD/Steph Warriors.

There was enough smoke to the Favs to Utah thing for me to believe it was absolutely in the works when the draft happened. I think Dok is a better prospect than TB... but if our FO believe in him so much why bring in a backup on a long term pricey deal? Will Favs have enough trade value to dump his salary? Will the front office have the balls to do it? Or will Dok be buried on the bench in perpetuity and will we have wasted another pick?

 

[homeytennis]

The Yogi show today with 29 points. Hughes with a DNP/CD. Our two loaned players from the Mavs looked good. Naz looked absolutely dreadful for the Mad Ants. An easy win for the Stars.

 

[framer]

And I would not have as hard a time with the pick if we had given Favs a one year deal... or at very least given him less this year to avoid the tax. The combination of moves is a problem.

We basically can't avoid the tax this year without trading Bojan, Royce or Favs. Next year we are deep in the tax if we bring back Mike... the following year we'd be in the repeater tax if we bring back Mike and that amount of money isn't something we can do. Honestly the 50M in tax next year may be too much... we aren't the KD/Steph Warriors.

There was enough smoke to the Favs to Utah thing for me to believe it was absolutely in the works when the draft happened. I think Dok is a better prospect than TB... but if our FO believe in him so much why bring in a backup on a long term pricey deal? Will Favs have enough trade value to dump his salary? Will the front office have the balls to do it? Or will Dok be buried on the bench in perpetuity and will we have wasted another pick?

If Dok develops faster, Jazz could slot him in for more playing time. by next year I can see Favors getting "load managed" Andre Iguodala style. It could be argues that we have been playing him a little too much as it is.

 

[The Thriller]

If Dok develops faster, Jazz could slot him in for more playing time. by next year I can see Favors getting "load managed" Andre Iguodala style. It could be argues that we have been playing him a little too much as it is.

Yikes.

How much money do we have locked up between those 3 players?

 

[jom2003]

The Yogi show today with 29 points. Hughes with a DNP/CD. Our two loaned players from the Mavs looked good. Naz looked absolutely dreadful for the Mad Ants. An easy win for the Stars.

Getting DNP/CD in the ****ing G league? Forget about Dok. We may have to worry about Hughes here. Thought this guy was gonna bring the much needed offense and kill it in lesser competition.

 

[jom2003]

If Dok develops faster, Jazz could slot him in for more playing time. by next year I can see Favors getting "load managed" Andre Iguodala style. It could be argues that we have been playing him a little too much as it is.

Forget about next season. If last night's loss in NO has shown us anything, it is the fact that we need to start load managing guys like Favs, Conley, Bojan and even Ingles at some point THIS SEASON. It was the third game for them in four nights, and the energy level clearly wasn't there. It was especially obvious paying against a young team like New Orleans. They ran out of gas.

 

[framer]

Forget about next season. If last night's loss in NO has shown us anything, it is the fact that we need to start load managing guys like Favs, Conley, Bojan and even Ingles at some point THIS SEASON. It was the third game for them in four nights, and the energy level clearly wasn't there. It was especially obvious paying against a young team like New Orleans. They ran out of gas.

Yeah, the all star break is going to be key. One thing that is important though is that our top 8 get as many reps together as they possibly can. Our window is right now and we are behind the 8 ball with deep playoff experience. I think Oni definitely needs some more time, but pretty much our top 8 are the show.

 

[jom2003]

Yeah, the all star break is going to be key. One thing that is important though is that our top 8 get as many reps together as they possibly can. Our window is right now and we are behind the 8 ball with deep playoff experience. I think Oni definitely needs some more time, but pretty much our top 8 are the show.

To me, playing guys with fatigue isn't any better than playing guys like Oni &Morgan. Favs and Ingles were both horrendous last night. We need to get more guys involved if we want to secure our top spot.