AK signing with Utah?

[write4u]

Motown, I really wonder how much you watched the Jazz play and how much you actually have played basketball, because your entire comment shows you haven't done much of either. In fact, you sound like the broken record of AK haters on this site, most of whom have little knowledge of the game.

Not only is AK a good finisher but he is a great passer on the break. In his youth he was lightning fast, and he has lost a step or so, but he still finishes well when he gets the pass. If you watched CSKA you would've seen many backdoor lobs that he converted for dunks. So far as his physique, when AK bulked up, which he did a couple summers, it wasn't to his advantage. He's just a lean, slender person and his great asset is speed and quickness. And he's never been a natural shooter, just not a skill in which he excels, and why he never became a top-10 player. But overall, he's a great team player and if he's healthy all year, he will be worth the money the Wolves are paying him.

 

[write4u]

Name me three opponents who CSKA played this year with top-shelf NBA talent on them.

So, WM, tell me, what standard are you holding AK up to -- the superstar Stock-Malone many of us saw the potential for, early in his career? Or that of a solid NBA contributor, borderline All-Star that AK has been through most of his career? I think because he failed to reach the expectations of most people here and because he had a contract that promised these expectations, people have held it against AK. People's opinions are polluted also because of the Deron crowd that joined the site and supported Deron in everything, including the period when he froze out AK as he asserted himself and replaced AK as the Jazz's best player. People are irrational too, because of the crying incident. This animosity is ridiculous but I guess it's like any prejudice, it's almost impossible to stamp out and my constant nagging on this issue isn't going to change it. I hope AK has a great season and makes all the haters eat their words.

 

[Stifle Tower]

I'm a LP subscriber and watch almost all the Jazz games each year.
write4u...I wonder how much you have watched the Jazz since 2005. AK a "borderline all-star" most of his career? 2005-06 was the last season you could even remotely make that claim when he average 15/8 and 3 blocks, but shot a very pedestrian 46%, 31%. Yes, I'll admit he's a good passer - except when he falls in love with himself and tries to get too fancy. His defense has really tailed off. Mostly, I've seen him play a few steps off opposing SF's and they simply take a step back, wide-open jumper. Then when he tries to play up, they just drive around him. And he bulked up one year? Yeah, I remember when we heard that and pictures were posted on the old Jazzfanz site. It was as hilarious as a snipe hunt, with his supporters saying they could see more musculature and defintion...until someone posted a picture of him from previous training camps. AK never put on much more than what he used tolose during the season (10-15) pounds. AK's problem is that he's a combo forward. He can dominate in Europe because the players, by and large, are simply not as big at PF.

How many years has AK had amazing performances with his national team and then come back as the same inconsistent, poor-shooter in the NBA. AK will have a good season if he comes off the bench. He's still a decent forward. But at this point in their careers. I'd much rather have Marvin Williams or Gordon Hayward. They're both better outside shooters, which is what the Jazz need with the bigs operating inside. It really was amusing in AK's last couple of years to see opponents dropping off so far they were almost playing illegal, just daring him to shot a wide-open 20-footer.

 

[The Jazz Wonderbra]

Let's sign Katherine to our dancer squad. Now that would complete our offseason!

 

[theNBAnerd]

How many years has AK had amazing performances with his national team and then come back as the same inconsistent, poor-shooter in the NBA.

i'm sorry, but this is just revisionist history. AK is a career 47% shooter in the NBA, with a TS% .571. his career PER is 19.1, and it's only that low because of two noticeable dips: 1) 06-07 when the jazz started to completely marginalize him and treat him like a 6th option even though he was probably at worst their third best player, 2) 10-11 when the turmoil season happened.

the real problem with AK happens when people -- including his own coach and teammates -- try to define him in oversimplistic terms, like you are. you can't understand his value by doing a one-dimensional analysis ("AK has a shaky midrange jumper, therefore AK is a bust"). his value is like the lamar odom (LAL version), josh smith, shawn marion (in PHX) mold: guys who can do absolutely every single thing you would ever need to ask a basketball player to do. the thing with all those guys (and AK) is that they don't rebound/score/defend/pass/handle at an ELITE level, so it's easy to look past the absolutely freakish quality that they do all those things WELL and as such are absolute X factors to their teams.

the jazz, from 2006 on, never treated AK that way anymore, so they never got the best out of him. this despite the fact that AK repeated said he didn't need to score 15-20 to be happy. he always said (paraphrase), "as long as i can score around 10 points, i am a lot more happy when i'm making passes, playing defense." this guy understood that his value was different and broader than his peers -- the perfect sidekick because he was willing and able to do whatever it took on a given night so that the stars could focus on being stars and the role players could focus on their 1-2 speciality skills. have a swiss army knife like AK is invaluable, but the jazz mostly ignored that for the last five years he was here. occasionally someone would get injured and they'd amplify AK's role almost by accident, and he'd reward us with another 3-4 weeks of inspired basketball at a higher mental velocity than most guys are capable of. and then for one reason or another -- a solitary mistake, a guy comes back to the lineup, a back spasm -- he'd go right back to being regarded as a bit player.

 

[m3at]

i'm sorry, but this is just revisionist history. AK is a career 47% shooter in the NBA, with a TS% .571. his career PER is 19.1, and it's only that low because of two noticeable dips: 1) 06-07 when the jazz started to completely marginalize him and treat him like a 6th option even though he was probably at worst their third best player, 2) 10-11 when the turmoil season happened.

the real problem with AK happens when people -- including his own coach and teammates -- try to define him in oversimplistic terms, like you are. you can't understand his value by doing a one-dimensional analysis ("AK has a shaky midrange jumper, therefore AK is a bust"). his value is like the lamar odom (LAL version), josh smith, shawn marion (in PHX) mold: guys who can do absolutely every single thing you would ever need to ask a basketball player to do. the thing with all those guys (and AK) is that they don't rebound/score/defend/pass/handle at an ELITE level, so it's easy to look past the absolutely freakish quality that they do all those things WELL and as such are absolute X factors to their teams.

the jazz, from 2006 on, never treated AK that way anymore, so they never got the best out of him. this despite the fact that AK repeated said he didn't need to score 15-20 to be happy. he always said (paraphrase), "as long as i can score around 10 points, i am a lot more happy when i'm making passes, playing defense." this guy understood that his value was different and broader than his peers -- the perfect sidekick because he was willing and able to do whatever it took on a given night so that the stars could focus on being stars and the role players could focus on their 1-2 speciality skills. have a swiss army knife like AK is invaluable, but the jazz mostly ignored that for the last five years he was here. occasionally someone would get injured and they'd amplify AK's role almost by accident, and he'd reward us with another 3-4 weeks of inspired basketball at a higher mental velocity than most guys are capable of. and then for one reason or another -- a solitary mistake, a guy comes back to the lineup, a back spasm -- he'd go right back to being regarded as a bit player.

Nailed it like a mother ****ing baus.

 

[carolinajazz]

....and then we have this report NBC Sports: "He can hit the outside shot, play inside and he will block shots and cover defensively for other bigs who many not be consistent on that end."

So, what highlight reel did this come from??? I don't remember Klinko hitting many outside shots or covering for anybody defensively! I do remember him turning the ball over at an ungodly rate, missing more bunny shots than anyone in recent memory and committing stupid fouls at the most inopportune time! Oh, and cashing game checks of about $180,000, while sitting out half the season with an ingrown toenail!

 

[TroutBum]

....and then we have this report NBC Sports: "He can hit the outside shot, play inside and he will block shots and cover defensively for other bigs who many not be consistent on that end."

So, what highlight reel did this come from??? I don't remember Klinko hitting many outside shots or covering for anybody defensively! I do remember him turning the ball over at an ungodly rate, missing more bunny shots than anyone in recent memory and committing stupid fouls at the most inopportune time! Oh, and cashing game checks of about $180,000, while sitting out half the season with an ingrown toenail!

You do know he's white, right?

 

[PrinceJL]

more importantly, was that Fesenko in that video too???

 

[write4u]

....and then we have this report NBC Sports: "He can hit the outside shot, play inside and he will block shots and cover defensively for other bigs who many not be consistent on that end."

So, what highlight reel did this come from??? I don't remember Klinko hitting many outside shots or covering for anybody defensively! I do remember him turning the ball over at an ungodly rate, missing more bunny shots than anyone in recent memory and committing stupid fouls at the most inopportune time! Oh, and cashing game checks of about $180,000, while sitting out half the season with an ingrown toenail!

CJ, you have a VERY SELECTIVE memory when it comes to AK

 

[nightmare3983]

....and then we have this report NBC Sports: "He can hit the outside shot, play inside and he will block shots and cover defensively for other bigs who many not be consistent on that end."

So, what highlight reel did this come from??? I don't remember Klinko hitting many outside shots or covering for anybody defensively! I do remember him turning the ball over at an ungodly rate, missing more bunny shots than anyone in recent memory and committing stupid fouls at the most inopportune time! Oh, and cashing game checks of about $180,000, while sitting out half the season with an ingrown toenail!

Weren't most of his blocks coming over to help? He definitely covered for people in that regard. He should have been a better shooter IMO, but I'll give him credit for his help defense.

 

[write4u]

He never was a good shooter, but was a good foul shooter, and could make the clutch three when it was needed -- that was something that used to surprise me, that he wasn't hitting anything from outside the whole game and then he'd a hit a crucial three at the end of the game that was a difference maker.