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Competing while allowing Dante Exum to develop

Anyone questioning Dante's ability to develop quickly and lead this team to a championship should be banned. Or forced to wear a Lakers jersey.
 
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Not sure why everyone is trying to trade Trey Burke. Not every draft pick needs to be a starter or a superstar. He is still on his rookie contract and he has proven that he doesn't need to be a starter to be effective. Every team needs a solid back-up PG and a potentially volume scorer off the bench and he is both. Plus, if he continues to improve as a player and in his bench role, he will be a valuable member of the team and possibly an affordable piece. Maybe he re-signs for deal in the range of Jamal Crawford, Lou Williams, or JR Smith, around 4 years/ $22m-$25m, which would be a reasonable contract for the role.
Ummm no, he isn't. Burke is NOT a solid backup. He's a chucker. He's inefficient. And when he's in the game, ball movement just STOPS. Virtually every time he gets the ball he tries to go 1-on-3. "Volume scorer" is a hilarious term, IMO. For Trey it means taking 20/shots to score 16 points.

AS for the OP, Burks is NOT a PG, so wipe that off the board right now. He and Hayward would get KILLED defensively at the 1/2. Rondo and Dragic AIN'T coming to Utah, so the only realistic PG we could sign would be Lin. Unfortunately, I think our PG situation is going to remain exactly like it is. Exum is going to start; Trey is going to continue to ignore everyone else when he's on the floor.
 
Lol the best players on the plant.

Wait so your saying that Steph Curry, Damion Lillard, and Tony Parker aren't the some of the best players on the planet at PG? Those are guys he as gone up against since being a starter.

I guess I don't understand your comment
 
Wait so your saying that Steph Curry, Damion Lillard, and Tony Parker aren't the some of the best players on the planet at PG? Those are guys he as gone up against since being a starter.

I guess I don't understand your comment

It says plant, not planet, hence it is funny.
 
You guys are probably correct, just trying to come up with reasonable alternatives as I feel it would be somewhat of a waste to start a project 19/20 yr old PG alongside 3 guys who are all capable of putting up all-star caliber #'s next year. By the time Exum is beginning to truly tap into all of that potential, Hayward/Favors/Gobert will likely be due significant raises. I just think that we have the opportunity to have our cake & eat it too by competing now while still projecting to have an elite starting 5 in the future (given that we somehow acquire that 5th missing piece- maybe Hezonja). I know we have been winning recently (& against playoff caliber teams at that) on the strength of our defense, in no small part to Dante, but I think the offensive improvement that we would gain by inserting an offensively competent player at the 1 would outweigh the defense that would be lost in such a move. I know Burks is not a PG, I just feel that Hayward would be enough to offset his deficiencies at the point. Also, it's not that I want to get rid of Burke, I just don't think there would be enough mins to go around between him & Exum without 1 of them starting or Exum getting a bulk of his playing time at the 2 (which is not be the position we should be looking to develop him at). With most of the obvious options having already been discussed thouroghly, I just wanted to throw out something different. Hayward, Favors, Gobert all strike me as loyal guys, but they also all strike me as guys who will accept nothing less than being on a championship contending team (especially Hayward & Gobert- who is clearly the key to our future. If we stick with Exum as our starting PG from here on out, we could essentially be betting our future squarely on his development. Also, I don't think a slightly reduced role would do much, if anything, to disrupt Exum's development (ie: Trey Burke moving to the bench).

tl.gif
 
Not sure why everyone is trying to trade Trey Burke. Not every draft pick needs to be a starter or a superstar. He is still on his rookie contract and he has proven that he doesn't need to be a starter to be effective. Every team needs a solid back-up PG and a potentially volume scorer off the bench and he is both. Plus, if he continues to improve as a player and in his bench role, he will be a valuable member of the team and possibly an affordable piece. Maybe he re-signs for deal in the range of Jamal Crawford, Lou Williams, or JR Smith, around 4 years/ $22m-$25m, which would be a reasonable contract for the role.

Because based on his play this season, Trey is not worth keeping. Did you see his ranking on Pts-Per-Shot of 118 players in the league -- he was dead last. Hayward was 22 and Favors 24. Either he learns how to pass the ball and play defense, or he has got to go.
 
Question #1: How do we compete while still developing Exum?

13 - 9 as a starter

8 - 2 since the All-Star Break and Trade Deadline.

I think that the simple answer is that the Jazz are very competitive with Dante Exum in the starting lineup while he's developing, despite having to play Jingles and/or Millsap as SG starter for most of those games. . .

. . . imagine how well he might do with 5-10 lbs of muscle, a better grasp of the offensive and defensive schemes, much better conditioning, Burks back and healthy, Tomic/Booker as the 3rd and 4th bigs (respectively), a shiny new rookie drafted 11 or 12, a free agent or two (as needed), Jingles and Millsap playing spot minutes as role players and continued improvement from Gobert, Favors, Hayward, Burks, Hood and Burke?

I think that the Jazz and Exum will be just fine letting him play while he develops.
 
13 - 9 as a starter

8 - 2 since the All-Star Break and Trade Deadline.

I think that the simple answer is that the Jazz are very competitive with Dante Exum in the starting lineup while he's developing, despite having to play Jingles and/or Millsap as SG starter for most of those games. . .

. . . imagine how well he might do with 5-10 lbs of muscle, a better grasp of the offensive and defensive schemes, much better conditioning, Burks back and healthy, Tomic/Booker as the 3rd and 4th bigs (respectively), a shiny new rookie drafted 11 or 12, a free agent or two (as needed), Jingles and Millsap playing spot minutes as role players and continued improvement from Gobert, Favors, Hayward, Burks, Hood and Burke?

I think that the Jazz and Exum will be just fine letting him play while he develops.

I think he is gonna take a huge jump next year
 
I like the idea of finding a good option behind Exum but I'm fine with Exum as a starter while he develops. I have been a bit of a doubter, but his defense is great. He is showing signs on offense... These last games are important for him. One small sign last game he got the switch and had the big on him... He waved off an oncoming pick to go at the big. He ended up shooting a three which you could tell he immediately knew was a mistake but I liked the aggression.

If we were going to go this route we missed on the best player to get... Isiah Thomas. I would have loved to have him and we definitely had the assets to get him. Burke is a homeless mans version of Thomas so I guess he'll do. He's cheap and I don't see many better options out there. Lin... Really? Knight would be great but I'll bet he gets maxed.

Let's see how Exum closes out the year and see what he looks like after an off season of work.
 
We have been competitive with Exum as our starter & we do have huge room for growth next year, but our success is based on a small sample size & internal growth is never a guarantee. Considering our recent success, which is as much of a testament to what a core of GH, DF, & RG is capable of (considering who is around them- especially offensively) as it is to the defensive improvement that Exum has contributed to. I maybe should have suhgested that Burks be our primary backup PG (given that we can acquire an offensively efficient 2/3). This would give us the versatility to be able to play Burks/FA SG/Hayward/Favors/Gobert when we need baskets & Exum/FA SG/Hayward/Favors/Gobert when we need stops. This way Exum doesn't feel demoted & can continue building chemistry with his teammates, while (hopefully) speeding up his development.

I would be fine with:

Exum/Burks/Neto
FA SG/Burks/Hood
Hayward/Hezonja/Hood
Favors/Booker
Gobert/Tomic/Pleiss

Trade #12+Burke for #8 (Hezonja-if he slips that far-if not, add OKC 1st)

I think that is a potentially elite defensive team, with enough offense, depth, & versatility to be more than just the fringe playoff team (next year) that we would likely be should we not make any significant changes.
 
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