Roster Building From Here - FA and Summer of 2023

[NUMBERICA]

Was Dirk a better “shot creator” than Lauri?

Yes.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Was Dirk a better “shot creator” than Lauri? I don’t exactly remember him going iso very often. He very much played like Lauri and was efficient and didn’t dominate (and kill) ball movement.

Seems to me that we have a top tier talent already. The issue is with the rest of the roster. A roster that starts KO, has the 2023 version of Rudy Gay playing significant mins instead of a 2010 like version, and a bunch of rookies that need more experience. Replace Gay with Jaden McDaniels and add just Desmond Bane and this team is a top 5 team in the league. This team has a solid core to build around.

Dirk's signature shot is literally an iso

 

[NUMBERICA]

Dirk's signature shot is literally an iso

And basically unguardable when he had it going. The championship he won in 2011 is only second to Hakeem in ‘94 in terms of the degree that a champion relied on an individual.

 

[Deleted member 365]

Dirk's signature shot is literally an iso

And he shot those maybe a handful of times a game. The rest were set up by Nash, Harris, and later Kidd. He was devastating because he was so accurate and his shot was unblockable. Dirk benefited by having great systems and great point guards. He’s not exactly a great iso player in my view.

 

[infection]

Finally doing the responsible thing and putting TU on ignore. Just an absolute donkey's ***

And the great thing is, is that he’s presumably a Finn, but the way he talks about Lauri it’s more like how a Spaniard would talk about Carlos Arroyo or how a Puerto Rican would talk about Raul Lopez.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

And the great thing is, is that he’s presumably a Finn, but the way he talks about Lauri it’s more like how a Spaniard would talk about Carlos Arroyo or how a Puerto Rican would talk about Raul Lopez.

It's clearly trolling

 

[NUMBERICA]

And the great thing is, is that he’s presumably a Finn, but the way he talks about Lauri it’s more like how a Spaniard would talk about Carlos Arroyo or how a Puerto Rican would talk about Raul Lopez.

Sounds like I missed some incredible battles.

 

[infection]

Sounds like I missed some incredible battles.

I believe the Puerto Rico vs. Spain issues were probably the most contentious in the history of the forum.

 

[LogGrad98]

DFS has been struggling hard in Brooklyn. He may be a product of playing with a super-star. A guy who doesnt need the ball, but does need very clean looks. It creates an interesting buy low for a guy who was considered one of the better "pure" 3&D players in the NBA.

Could the Jazz trade Sexton for DFS + PHX 2023 1st? IF you can do that and sign FVV you can go into 2023/2024 with a rotation of:

FVV/THT
Ochai/Clarkson
DFS/Simone
Lauri
Kessler/KO

You'd also almost certainly package or move some combination of the 4 picks in 2023 for improved depth, moving up the draft, or moving out the draft into another draft.

I would say that trade makes sense for both teams as Utah needs wing defenders and Brooklyn needs some kind of PG prospect and they have an abundance of wing defenders.

Yes, but would you say they have a plethora of wing defenders?

 

[LogGrad98]

And basically unguardable when he had it going. The championship he won in 2011 is only second to Hakeem in ‘94 in terms of the degree that a champion relied on an individual.

Yeah both of those were perfect examples of having the absolutely spot-on perfect roll players around a single super-star player who was capable of taking over games.

That is really one thing Lauri needs to develop, is a better ability to "turn it on" when he needs to take over games. I get that there haven't really been that many players that had that ability, and the list reads like a who's who of super-stars (Jordan, Kobe, Magic, Bird, Malone, Olajuwon, Dirk, Steph, Giannis, KD, Duncan, etc.) but that is really his next step. To figure out that one unstoppable thing in his game and exploit it to gain the upper hand when needed. Malone had the P&R and back to the basket in the post, Duncan was a master of the mid-range banks he could get off against about anybody, Jordan and Kobe probably the 2 best iso players of all-time, Dirk with the mid-range fade-away that was unstoppable, Hakeem with the dream shake, Kareem with the sky-hook. I really think that Lauri would benefit from watching a lot of film of players like Dirk, who are more fundamentally like Lauri is right now, and figuring out what he can do that just cannot be stopped without a full-on defensive assault. Doubles on Malone lead to kicking back to Stock or finding a player rushing the rim for an easy shot, Jordan drew multiple defenders so he was able to set people up well. Dirk was the same way and was a good passer from the high post when he drew the double team. Lauri needs some of this.

If I were to rank the 3 things he needs to develop more to be the killer first option we need I would say:

1) Develop the signature move. Without this he will always be just a player that has to be set up to score.
2) Learn to reliably draw the fouls. Getting to the line is critical for a super-star.
3) Become a better passer out of the post or even on the move. Giannis is a good example of this where earlier in his career he was just a bully to the rim kind of player, but as he developed a better passing game he became a lot more dangerous. He went from averaging around 3-4 assists per game to nearly 6, and that opened things up and netted him MVP honors and a championship.

In fact this is a common trend in super-star players. They take a huge step when they learn to set others up more effectively. Malone doubled his assists even playing with the single best play-maker of all time, from around 2 to well over 4 in his prime years. Even Steph, who was a good playmaker from the start, amped this up in his game to from 5 apg to 7-8 in his prime and through their championship years. Olajuwon doubled his from less than 2 to about 4 apg in his prime years. Durant went from 2-3 apg to well over 5 in his years with GSW.

If Lauri even develops a couple of these things he will be lights out for us, especially considering he is already a plus defender. He could be one of the all-time greats if these things get added to his game. I would already rank him as even if not a bit better for us than Mitchell was. And frankly he will likely be much better, even if just because he is a true 2-way player, where Mitchell phoned his defense in at best.

Man it is a fun time to be a Jazz fan!

 

[infection]

Yes, but would you say they have a plethora of wing defenders?

 

[NUMBERICA]

I think both JC and THT opting out is possible.

I think one of the main reasons the Jazz kept Clarkson (and part of why they’re holding him out) is to have him at peak value for a sign and trade.

I think THT could also opt-out, especially if they keep putting the ball in his hands and resting players in an effort to tank.

What I’m wondering is what might be in play for the Jazz in a sign and trade scenario for JC/THT.