It’s hard to imagine everything that goes into a front office’s decision on draft night, the exhaustive film sessions, background gathering, workouts, and interviews that lead a general manger and his staff to Player A over Player B. In the case of Trey Lyles, the Utah Jazz’s lottery pick (12th overall) in Friday night’s draft, the analytics and testing dug deep.
Two examples:
1. Concerned some about Lyles’ rebounding rate (just average for a collegiate power forward), the Jazz dissected the 19-year-old’s games, comparing his rebounding during the times he played out of position as a small forward (which he did often for a stacked Kentucky squad) and when he was in his natural spot at power forward.
The findings?
"He was an above average rebounder in defensive rebounding and he was top 20 in the nation in his offensive rebounding rate," Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey told reporters late Thursday.
2. As they have upgraded equipment around the arena and practice facility, the Jazz are now testing proprioception ("just a fancy word for balance," Lindsey said). Of the 101 prospects who worked out for the Jazz this some, none tested better than Lyles.
"His body control when you’re watching him play, it made sense when we were doing our testing," Lindsey said.
In addition to grabbing Lyles with the 12th pick, the Jazz got Boston College point guard Olivier Hanlan with the 42nd pick. The team’s third pick in the draft (54 overall) was traded to Portland for cash. After the Jazz had wrapped up their draft night dealings, Lindsey spoke with reporters for about 25 minutes.
Here are a few extra notes from the general manager:
• Lindsey said, "We had multiple teams that were presenting us multiple firsts to move into 12. What it did was it validated the value that we felt was there."
• Lyles and Hanlan were in the same workout group, which also included Texas’ Myles Turner, Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant, UMASS’s Cady Lalanne. Only French center Mouhammadou Jaiteh went undrafted from that group.
"That was arguably one of our most talented groups, [former Jazz GM Kevin O’Connor] was saying, that we’ve ever had in," Lindsey said. "Coach Sloan was saying the same thing."
• Lyles measurables were intriguing. He has a 7-1 wingspan and a 6-10.5-foot frame that looks like it could support even more than the 243 pounds it does currently.
He also had some of the biggest hands at the NBA draft combine, where his paws measured 9.25 inches long and 10.25 inches wide.
Only players to have longer hands: Robert Upshaw, 10; George de Paula, 9.5; Cliff Alexander, 9.5; Kevon Looney, 9.5; Bobby Portis, 9.5; Willie Cauley-Stein, 9.5.
Only players to have wider hands: Upshaw, 11; Christian Wood, 10.75; de Paula, 10.5; Dakari Johnson, 10.5.
• The Jazz liked that Lyles played out of position at Kentucky, often guarding faster small forwards on the perimeter, but don’t expect to slot him in at the 3 very often — if at all — as a pro.
• Jazz execs think he could one day turn into a decent corner-three shooter one day, but it’s his playmaking now they value more.
"I don’t want to use Boris Diaw," Lindsey said, "but there were a couple of our coaches who said, hey, his ability to drive a gap and dish off and play unselfish basketball was intriguing to us."
• The rookies and most of the non-guaranteed contracts will participate in summer league. Assistants Alex Jensen and Mike Wells will do the coaching.
