August 20:Big Match Turkey&Germany-Enes Kanter&Dirk Nowitzki match is starting now:) live Link here

[GVC]

kanter's defense is somewhat underrated by many imo. he can guard the perimeter a little bit, too. he has quick hands on the defensive end, holds his ground, plays solid one on one defense and will become a better help and team defender. he has been an average shot blocker as well, more due to his timing than his athleticizm.

I thought he was terrific defensively the last two games (I was unable to watch the previous games). Judging from posts from those earlier games, however, I'm guessing his team D has improved dramatically, as he seemed to rotate very well against6 Germany and Belgium (stopping a couple easy buckets in the process). And yes, yesterday he defended a lot out on the perimeter (with Semih Erden inside for some strange reason), and did an admirable job. He may be the best rebounder on the Jazz right now, as well. And he does a good job getting back and picking up his man, which, if he continues to do so in the NBA, will be a nice change from Boozer, Memo and AJ. His Turkish teammates didn't return the favor at one point in today's game when, after Kanter saved the ball to Germany trying to get an offensive rebound going out of bounds, Kanter's man sprinted down court unimpeded for an easy layup (it looked like Jazz basketball). He'll never be a shot blocker, but so what?

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

I forget where I saw them but Kanter's passing numbers have always been horrific. Worse than Jefferson's if I'm not mistaken. Granted, I guess everyone's point here is that that could be the result of playing for a bunch of hacks but it's still a concern. Isn't Millsap's assist per touches number (or whatever that stat is) bad too?

 

[GVC]

I'm not sure if it's been posted yet, but here are his combined stats v. Belgium and Germany:

27:27 Minutes
6-12 FG
7-9 FT
19 Points
12 Rebounds (5-7-12)
0 Assists
1 Steal
0 Blocks
2 Turnovers
2 PF (7 Fouls Drawn)

 

[GVC]

Isn't Millsap's assist per touches number (or whatever that stat is) bad too?

A misconception championed by Pearl, among others. Millsap's passing (both via stats and the ol' eye test) has been fine the last two seasons IIRC.

 

[underKANTER]

I'm not sure if it's been posted yet, but here are his combined stats v. Belgium and Germany:

27:27 Minutes
6-12 FG
7-9 FT
19 Points
12 Rebounds (5-7-12)
0 Assists
1 Steal
0 Blocks
2 Turnovers
2 PF (7 Fouls Drawn)

even though enes kanter has been great, he does not get as much playing time as he deserves. turkey's coach might be the worst coach i have ever seen and the guards even don't deserve to be on the floor.

 

[Dr. Jones]

The coaching is absolutely the worst, ever.

GVC: The 7 fouls drawn vs. 2 PF's is impressive, nice stat.

 

[Dr. Jones]

I didn't see this game, but if the biggest concern we have for our newly-turned 19-year-old not-even-rookie (on national team with bad coaching) are passing and setting good screens and he's STILL producing like he is, then we have a lot to be excited about.

I know you have to be wary about extrapolating production from limited minutes, but holy crap.

That said, my biggest complaint with Jefferson has been his absence of anything resembling a passing game. So hopefully these two problems are just symptomatic of his lack of knowledge of the system they're running (or lack thereof?) and general lack of experience on the court. I think it would be fair to say that is the case at this stage.

Something about his screening that I don't think has been mentioned is that he is CONSTANTLY screening, non-stop, and it becomes more of a focal point of discussion.

 

[sepanol]

I hadn't seen Asik play very much (I may have seen him in spot minutes for the Bulls last year) before yesterday. His dives to the basket and hammer dunks are really fun to watch, and I was surprised how crafty he is with his back to the basket. I wouldn't be surprised if he supplants Boozer in the Bulls' rotations sometime in the next couple years (although his free throw shooting looks pretty bad, and his skill set duplicates Joakim Noah's more than a little bit).

Omer Asik has a big phsycal advantage over Noah, and if he starts to add some offensive plays to his game, he may take his place. But he is still too raw on the offensive end

 

[orangello]

Kanter's more of a 4 than a 5, and, despite my post above, somewhat duplicates Big Al. JV is a prototypical 5, and has HUGE defensive potential. For whatever reason, despite his gaudy per-minute numbers in Europe the last few years (in U-18 tourneys, in the Euroleague, etc.), JV wasn't in the conversation at #3, but he would have made a lot of sense. If the Jazz FO view Favors as #1 on the 4/5 depth chart moving forward, however, Kanter perhaps is a better fit.

If you believe that Favors is the future for the Jazz at PF the drafting JV doesn't make sense. They are more similar than people might believe. Both are better defenders than offensive weapons. Both are limited offensive players that will never be an offesive juggernaut. Both have great wing spans. Both have good to great athleticism.

Kanter and Favors are a much better combo the JV and Favors.

 

[sepanol]

Hedo? I think hes just insisting on playing veterans for whatever reason, or perhaps as someone mentioned, simply lineup testing. If hes smart he'll realize the impact players like Ilyasova, Kanter and Asik had on this game and will play them together in the Eurobasket. These games are meaningless, after all. I mean the Turkish coach cant possibly be THAT stupid, I haven't coached a lick of basketball and I am noticing this, I am expecting him to see it as well. Quite frankly I cannot wait till the actual tournie starts, we'll see how the coach performs legitmately then.

Last year in world champ. Ilyasova was the best player and Asik, Hedo , Erden, Tunceri was the other players to have great performance. But we were good as a team, playing very good defense. Right now, i dont have much hope for semi final, but at least i hope to see Kanter getting enough mins. Because he is obviously much better than other Centers except Asik and Erden, and these 2 guys recently recovered from injury. So i think after this game Kanter got a lot more confidence and his chances to get major mins increased.
Btw Hedo is a guy encouraging young players all the time so he would help them even more in the tourney

 

[GVC]

...but at least i hope to see Kanter getting enough mins. Because he is obviously much better than other Centers except Asik and Erden

Erden hasn't impressed me at all these last two games.

 

[GVC]

Omer Asik has a big phsycal advantage over Noah

Really? Noah seems quite a bit stronger than Asik.