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Dante Exum is back and bigger. Already.

fishonjazz said:
I predict a ranking of best (most valuable) jazz players next year like this

Gobert
Hayward
Favors
Burks (would not be surprised at all if he is higher on this list by the end of the year..... I would be shocked if he is any lower though)
Hood
Booker
Jingles
Dante
Draft pick
Trey
Click to expand...

Gobert
Hayward
Favors
Hood
Burks
Exum
Booker
Ingles
Burke
Millsap
Evans

I expect big improvement from Gobert, Hood and Exum.
 
fishonjazz said:
Ya I'm sure I'm too hard on Dante. Last year I thought he was like a poor mans rubio.
Next year I hope he can be a middle class rubio.

I just don't value perimeter players that are only effective on the defensive end. I have never been a big fan of Tony Allen, matt barnes, elijah millsap types. Im fine with bigs who are only effective on defense (Ben Wallace, eaton, deandre, gobert, etc) but I think perimeter players need to be better offensively before I value them much
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Let's put it this way, his style of play was good enough to start him over Burke which resulted in wins. Can't argue with Ws. I think we all'd like to see him turn into a better offensive player, but yeah, he's being underrated as a player by a lot of people. His defense is a positive and he's smart enough to know his limitations on the offensive end so that he doesn't hurt the team there. It's not like we were beating the bottom feeders either. Utah was whooping dat *** on everybody, and Dante was a big part of that league best defense. The rest of the NBA should hiding in a corner, shivering at the idea of Dante taking the ball to rim consistently, cuz when that happens, Utah gonna run them bishes right under. As someone who is always somewhat conservative in my expectations for the team, I honestly believe that Utah is going to have the best year of basketball since John and Karl. It's all about that road record, baby.
 
fishonjazz said:
I think saying his outside shot is good is being very generous.
32% from three.
35% from the field
Rarely gets to the line and when he does he shoots 62%.

And he mostly only shot the ball when he was wide open.

I would say that shooting is still one of his weaknesses
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I'm not disagreeing with you. I do agree with you. BUT, my expectations were that last year was Dante's redshirt year...I had zero expectations. I thought he'd be a 5-10 min a night guy who was destroyed when he was on the floor.

He ended up being a solid role player. Way above my expectations.

So, even though he wasn't great last year, he exceeded my expectations. In fact, everyone did. I thought we'd be another top 5 pick team this year. Just about everyone exceeded my expectations. I'm not even too down on Burke. I've said all along that anyone who ever thought he'd be a passing PG is nuts. I posted before Burke ever played a game for us that I saw him being top two in shots taken per game. That is just who Burke is. He is a shooting PG. I'm disappointed in his percentages, but I'm not surprised by his play. He is who he is.

Anyhow, my grades:

Gordon Hayward - A - I've never thought he was All Star material. His numbers were close this year. Exceeded my expectations. The crazy thing is, he may end up being our fourth best player. We have potential on this team. Hayward has met his. Can Gobert, Exum and Favors meet theirs?
Derrick Favors - B+ - He has a potential. He shows it some games. He misses some games. If a C is an average season, an B+ is an above average player that is ascending to All Star level or descending from All Star level. I think Favors is ascending.
Booker - B- - I thought he was a B player coming in. He started for Washington and helped them make the playoffs. He is still that same solid player.
Dante Exum - I'm going to give him two grades: B+ when compared to my expectations. I always said this was his redshirt year. He played waaaay above that. Solid defense, has potential as a shooter, very good passer. Overall, I give him a C+. Is he a more valuable player than Booker right now? No. Would I trade him for Booker? No way. That is why I gave him two grades.
Alec Burks - I - Incomplete. He is a solid player. So, maybe a C+? Anyways, didn't see him enough to give him a real grade.
Trey Burke - D+ - I think Burkes is a C to C+ potential. His shooting is not good enough right now. First player I was disappointed with. Not surprised, but disappointed with.
Evans - D - Dude isn't an NBA player. Never was. Still isn't. Maybe should be an F.
Hood - C+ - His grade could be a lot higher if he had played more. Wouldn't shock me if he is a B or B+ next year. Super excited for him.
Gobert - A - Holy cow. Like Exum, improved a lot quicker than I thought. I really haven't had any expectations for him. I'll be honest, I never really thought much about him. I've always thought he is just another big guy who will play some, then bounce around the league...Then I saw his athleticism early in the year. Then you see his drive. Holy. Freaking. Cow. Special player. I expect him to be in the A to A+ range for a really long time.
Rest of the team - Who cares. They will all be gone within a year or two. Irrelevant. I do like Ingles though. Fun guy.
 
green said:
I'm not disagreeing with you. I do agree with you. BUT, my expectations were that last year was Dante's redshirt year...I had zero expectations. I thought he'd be a 5-10 min a night guy who was destroyed when he was on the floor.

He ended up being a solid role player. Way above my expectations.

So, even though he wasn't great last year, he exceeded my expectations. In fact, everyone did. I thought we'd be another top 5 pick team this year. Just about everyone exceeded my expectations. I'm not even too down on Burke. I've said all along that anyone who ever thought he'd be a passing PG is nuts. I posted before Burke ever played a game for us that I saw him being top two in shots taken per game. That is just who Burke is. He is a shooting PG. I'm disappointed in his percentages, but I'm not surprised by his play. He is who he is.

Anyhow, my grades:

Gordon Hayward - A - I've never thought he was All Star material. His numbers were close this year. Exceeded my expectations. The crazy thing is, he may end up being our fourth best player. We have potential on this team. Hayward has met his. Can Gobert, Exum and Favors meet theirs?
Derrick Favors - B+ - He has a potential. He shows it some games. He misses some games. If a C is an average season, an B+ is an above average player that is ascending to All Star level or descending from All Star level. I think Favors is ascending.
Booker - B- - I thought he was a B player coming in. He started for Washington and helped them make the playoffs. He is still that same solid player.
Dante Exum - I'm going to give him two grades: B+ when compared to my expectations. I always said this was his redshirt year. He played waaaay above that. Solid defense, has potential as a shooter, very good passer. Overall, I give him a C+. Is he a more valuable player than Booker right now? No. Would I trade him for Booker? No way. That is why I gave him two grades.
Alec Burks - I - Incomplete. He is a solid player. So, maybe a C+? Anyways, didn't see him enough to give him a real grade.
Trey Burke - D+ - I think Burkes is a C to C+ potential. His shooting is not good enough right now. First player I was disappointed with. Not surprised, but disappointed with.
Evans - D - Dude isn't an NBA player. Never was. Still isn't. Maybe should be an F.
Hood - C+ - His grade could be a lot higher if he had played more. Wouldn't shock me if he is a B or B+ next year. Super excited for him.
Gobert - A - Holy cow. Like Exum, improved a lot quicker than I thought. I really haven't had any expectations for him. I'll be honest, I never really thought much about him. I've always thought he is just another big guy who will play some, then bounce around the league...Then I saw his athleticism early in the year. Then you see his drive. Holy. Freaking. Cow. Special player. I expect him to be in the A to A+ range for a really long time.
Rest of the team - Who cares. They will all be gone within a year or two. Irrelevant. I do like Ingles though. Fun guy.
Click to expand...
Ya I get it.... My expectations were too high for Exum I guess.
I kept hearing words like superstar, explosive, kobe-like, maybe should go #1....... Then the season came and he didn't look like he belongs in the league.

I'm too hard on him and he should get more credit for playing in all 82 games (that was unexpected) and playing really good defense despite going up against the western conference point guards (a bunch of juggernauts) night in and night out.
 
Jingles will stick. He's buds with our other hopeful star player, won't cost much, likes it here and played out of his mind for a late pick up off waivers. He's our glue guy moving forward. He was the guy who stepped up the team chemistry factor once Novak was traded. Don't underestimate his value. Hoping like hell that he does the junior Jazz stuff this next year. Kids won't even be able to understand him and I'm sure he'll drop a few F bombs.
 
fishonjazz said:
I predict a ranking of best (most valuable) jazz players next year like this

Gobert
Hayward
Favors
Burks (would not be surprised at all if he is higher on this list by the end of the year..... I would be shocked if he is any lower though)
Hood
Booker
Jingles
Dante
Draft pick
Trey
Click to expand...

I really like your list, but after the performance Hood put on toward the end of the season, which far surpassed anything we saw in Burks' rookie season, it is Hood I could really see climbing that list. Dude had it together. May give Hayward a run for his money as our best wing. Here's to seeing Burks and Hood fighting for that 3rd best spot. Holy crap I am excited for this season to start. Bring on October already. Damn you summer!!
 
fishonjazz said:
Ya I'm sure I'm too hard on Dante. Last year I thought he was like a poor mans rubio.
Next year I hope he can be a middle class rubio.

I just don't value perimeter players that are only effective on the defensive end. I have never been a big fan of Tony Allen, matt barnes, elijah millsap types. Im fine with bigs who are only effective on defense (Ben Wallace, eaton, deandre, gobert, etc) but I think perimeter players need to be better offensively before I value them much
Click to expand...

Spot on. Key is the word "perimeter".
 
fishonjazz said:
Lol
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I am tho. Last year I expected another tank year with 34 wins tops. I also expected Exum to take a few years before he was ready for any kind of real playing time. Not only did He play a lot more than I expected, we actually won a lot in the process. Even when Utah was in the WCF with Deron and friends, I argued against Utah being a serious contender, because they never could get over the hump winning on the road. Like I said, all about the road record, and I believe we'll be looking at our best squad since S&M. Utah gonna shock the world.
 
Cappy_Smurf said:
I am tho. Last year I expected another tank year with 34 wins tops. I also expected Exum to take a few years before he was ready for any kind of real playing time. Not only did He play a lot more than I expected, we actually won a lot in the process. Even when Utah was in the WCF with Deron and friends, I argued against Utah being a serious contender, because they never could get over the hump winning on the road. Like I said, all about the road record, and I believe we'll be looking at our best squad since S&M. Utah gonna shock the world.
Click to expand...
I thought you were the one who started a thread about us making the playoffs when we started playing well after the kanter trade.
Also thought you were really high in trey Burke at one time or another
 
fishonjazz said:
I thought you were the one who started a thread about us making the playoffs when we started playing well after the kanter trade.
Also thought you were really high in trey Burke at one time or another
Click to expand...

Nope. I'm the one who likes to point out we were still in tank mode with the Kanter trade, or we could have brought back win now pieces. Never was a Burke fan. I wanted to start the rebuild sooner, when those 2 picks could have been a lot more valuable. If not for Rudy, I'd probably still be stewing in bitterness over it.
 
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