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Following potential 2015 draftees

Cy said:
The knock on Porz is that he has low effort and IQ on defense...
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Doesn't strike me as having low effort on defense. He's got good length, long arms, and looks committed and focused. If you say he's too slight to defend in the NBA, I might buy it, but I don't think he has low effort. (He averages 1.5 steals and 2 blocks per 40 min.) IQ on defense you can improve on it if you're a willing learner.


Stitches - what do you think bro?
 
Lots of interesting conundrum in this draft:

Towns vs Okafor
Russle vs Mudiay
Winslows vs Johnson vs Hezonja
Kaminsky vs Porzingis

Should be interesting to look back and see how those "match-ups" have fared.
 
ONE LOVE said:
Doesn't strike me as having low effort on defense. He's got good length, long arms, and looks committed and focused. If you say he's too slight to defend in the NBA, I might buy it, but I don't think he has low effort. (He averages 1.5 steals and 2 blocks per 40 min.) IQ on defense you can improve on it if you're a willing learner.


Stitches - what do you think bro?
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I am not sure it's an effort issue(although keep in mind their team is in management disarray and from what I've heard is absolutely dysfunctional right now, so I wouldn't be surprised if the effort of the team as a whole is not to the max). From what I've seen it's more of a lack of understanding and awareness as well as lack of concentration. He gets caught ball-watching(Otto Porter style), he's late on help rotations. I think it was in the DX report - it looks like the game is too fast for him. That might improve with experience, but in general for me lack of effort is more fixable than lack of understanding of defensive schemes. His individual stats are not bad, he's relatively quick for a 4 and he's long and athletic enough that if he bulks up and gets stronger his individual defense will probably be above average. I am still not sold on his ability to play above average team defense.
 
Cy said:
Vezenkov looks super slow and unathltic sharing the floor with average athletes. I just don't see him being able to make the jump.
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I hear you... his lack of athleticism and quickness are red flags and there are questions about his ability to translate his scoring on the next level. The thing that can make you optimistic about him being able to make the jump is the way he's been playing against the best of opposition. He's been killing not only the bottom feeders, he's been amazing against any opposition you put in front of him. He's had some of his best games against Euroleague level teams - Olympiakos and Panathinaikos, he had a double double against CSKA Moscow(which is one of the strongest teams in Europe right now). He killed Omri Casspi last summer in the Bulgaria vs Israel games and averaged 20/10 against him(Casspi averaged high numbers too, so that tells you about his defense). But yah... I kind of have hard time not taking him seriously when he's hardly ever had troubles scoring against pretty much anybody. His defense on the other hand... I don't know... I wonder if it's worth taking somebody who you KNOW with 100% certainty that you will have to hide in defense, even if they are an efficient scorer and shooter.
 
Crocodile Dante said:
The thing is I think the Jazz are past developing players and more into players that con contribute right away. Hnce the talk of trading the pick. Jazz need the playoffs next year and contending the next. That is the only knock on Hezonja right now is he is not ready right now and 1 to 2 years away. Winslow can contribute day one as can Johnson. Oubre is development player. Kaminsky can play day one.
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No 19 year olds contribute from day one, not on a playoff team at least. A select few superstars have done it in the past, that's it.
 
Jazz4ever said:
No 19 year olds contribute from day one, not on a playoff team at least. A select few superstars have done it in the past, that's it.
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Depends on your definition of contribute. Problem is, most of the 19 year olds ready to contribute, end up going to teams so bad, they aren't ready to make the playoffs. Are you saying Andrew Wiggins or a healthy Jabari Parker wouldn't be able to contribute to a playoff team today?
 
sgjazzfan said:
Depends on your definition of contribute. Problem is, most of the 19 year olds ready to contribute, end up going to teams so bad, they aren't ready to make the playoffs. Are you saying Andrew Wiggins or a healthy Jabari Parker wouldn't be able to contribute to a playoff team today?
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Eh, maybe a 7th or 8th seed, but in general no, not if you trust the RPM stat. Minny plays at a fast pace and with that comes box score stats. But Wiggins .513 TS isn't even third option worthy on a playoff team. It is why Cleveland traded him for Kevin no defense Love.
 
stitches said:
I am not sure it's an effort issue(although keep in mind their team is in management disarray and from what I've heard is absolutely dysfunctional right now, so I wouldn't be surprised if the effort of the team as a whole is not to the max). From what I've seen it's more of a lack of understanding and awareness as well as lack of concentration. He gets caught ball-watching(Otto Porter style), he's late on help rotations. I think it was in the DX report - it looks like the game is too fast for him. That might improve with experience, but in general for me lack of effort is more fixable than lack of understanding of defensive schemes. His individual stats are not bad, he's relatively quick for a 4 and he's long and athletic enough that if he bulks up and gets stronger his individual defense will probably be above average. I am still not sold on his ability to play above average team defense.
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If he is as good on the offensive side as touted I could live with average defense. We have Favors and Gobert so i would like a guy who can come off the bench and score.
 
I definitely underestimated Winslow. I still think Hezonja is the better fit for us long-term, but agree that Winslow (& Johnson) will be more NBA ready to begin their careers (which is why I think they will both be drafted higher, especially due to the fact that Hezonja is getting less pt- which I think is a ploy by his team to lower his draft stock & discourage him from declaring). I also agree that the FO will make a concerted effort to be competitive next year, but considering how difficult the WC is (& will be), I think that we will do what we attempted to do last year by putting a still developing team in the position to potentially compete (given that certain things workout in our favor) without straying from it's long-term plan.

Towns, Okafor, Russell, & Mudiay will all certainly go higher than Hezonja. WCS, Johnson, & Winslow also all likely get drafted ahead of him, not to mention a few other players who have the potential to go ahead of him (Porzingis, Kaminsky, etc). Best case scenario (given that we don't get lucky & jump into the top 3) is that we end up picking #9 & he falls to us, in which case, I could envision the FO changing it's off-season strategy & targeting a quality backup PG (along with a backup C- depending on what happens with the Tomic situation) instead of a starting wing, especially because Burks was given a lucrative extension & management will want to see if they have a starting quality player at a discount price.

PG Exum/FA (who can shoot)
SG Burks/Hezonja/E.Millsap
SF Hayward/Hood/Ingles
PF Favors/Booker
C Gobert/(Tomic/FA)

This may not be a surefire playoff team, but with improvements from Exum & Burks (as well as the continued contribution of Hood), it could be a team just good enough to sneak in & essentially position itself for a legitimate playoff run the year after (assuming that Hezonja progresses as predicted- although he may need another year or 2). I agree that developmental timeline should be taken into consideration, but given the fact that we have made a clear long-term commitment to Exum (who is still at least a year or two away), we should build towards our projected timeline of being a championship caliber team in 2-3 years by drafting the player that best complements the other 4 players who we have decided to build our team around (a #1 option on offense, who has the length & athleticism to even contribute defensively).

As much as I'd like to speed up that timeline, cutting a corner (by drafting an NBA-ready player, who will be able to make more of a contribution in the beginning, over a player who, while may be more of a project, ultimately fits the long-term plan better) could be the difference between being a playoff regular rather than a championship caliber team- which I truly believe is a possibility, given that we make the right personnel moves & show the necessary patience. Imagine drafting a potential #1 scorer (regardless of how far away that potential may be), signing a backup PG who can actually facilitate an offense, & finding a serviceable 4th big. This really is going to be a pivotal off-season for this team.
 
After our recent issues with Kanter, Hezonja worries me a bit. I don't want anymore selfish a-holes.
 
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