The Jazz don't have much young talent...

[fishonjazz]

Look, there are a ton of people paid to project player development. And they are so often wrong. Then there are a ton of guys like you and me who have opinions. We can also be wrong.

In my opinion, Kawhi Leonard was the best player in the late lottery that year. I wouldn't have taken him at Kanter's spot, but we should have at Burks' without any doubt.

Here is why I liked Kawhi:

1. Length
2. Athleticism
3. In Utah, we havent had much length and athleticism. We don't get many "freak athletes". This is why I always want to target guys like Kawhi and Giannis because we are a franchise that needs to take big risks on potential big talents. Burks represented undersized and tweener. Kawhi represented mismatch opportunities for us.
4. Huge hands. I thought rebounder right away.
5. His upbringing - he was more mature and had additional incentive and focus because of a tougher upbringing. He had to earn his way. He was going to work.

Now I realize Pop has been massive for him. In my opinion, Pop made him a superstar, but he was going to be a really good NBA player anyway.

But this is in the past. I'm so glad we got Mitchell. Look forward to seeing Exum and Mitchell together in the coming years.

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Burks wasn't undersized or a tweener. Kahwi has length but doesn't seem all that athletic to me.
Burks was much better statistically in college as well.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Burks wasn't undersized or a tweener. Kahwi has length but doesn't seem all that athletic to me.
Burks was much better statistically in college as well.

Its easy in hindsight to make claims that we should have taken Kawhi. Some people on here probably did want to but the truth is its just a guess. Every team misses. Kawhi had plenty of knocks on him coming out of college. He didnt really have a great offensive game. He wasnt a great shooter and he did have much in regards to ball handling skills. Honestly his defense wasn't even that great coming out of college. He obviously greatly improved his game and became a great player. Burks had a lot of good things going for him coming out of college. A lot of people really wanted Jimmer, Marshon Brooks and others who were big busts.

 

[fallenchicken]

I guess it depends on what you consider "young." Mitchell is obviously incredible. But I would also consider Gobert, Hood to be young talents. Even Rubio is still pretty young, but you forget it since he came in the league so young. Gobert, Mitchell, Rubio and sometimes Hood looks like promising pieces for the years to come. We obviously need more, and while Hood is very good I also worry about his dependability and paying him a big contract. But with a lot of luck (which every team needs) and the continued savvy moves by the FO, we can build this team into something.

 

[TheStormofWar]

Trying to figure out the premise of this thread, but I don't see it. For the sake of argument, let's call anyone 25 and younger as "young talent". This would include Gobert, Mitchell, Neto, Exum, Hood, and Burks. The average age of this roster is 26.6, and Joe Jesus is the one bringing that up as an outlier. Granted, you can't pay everyone, but this is something almost every team deals with. The only players we have potentially under contract past 2019 are Jingles, Gobert, Mitchell, and Bradley. So yeah, we have assets for trades (picks, expirings, and decent contracts). We're not hurting for young talent. We're swimming in it. We're not like the Sixers in that regard, but we're not bad either.

 

[LoPo]

Ron, I like you and your arguments are very scientific and obviously you have experience in athletic training and so on. Simple message I am trying to pass here is that some Exum fans are being very subjective and unrealistic when it comes to Exum's skills and abilities. Would they keep saying nonsense about "player X has unmatched first step" or " probably fastest in the league" or "more athletic then Mitchell" if that player would play for Lakers when his combine numbers would say otherwise? No. That is pure overrating of one our our players without looking at it objectively.
No fans or basketball junkies of other 29 teams in NBA would put Exum at the same throne like some oh his fan boys do here. I get it. I have done it before when I was younger and thought that AK is the best defensive player in the league and that he will become multiple ALL-star or lead Jazz to title. With age you start listening more to the brain then to the heart if you know what I mean. I hope Dante will turn into decent player and will help us down the road, I sincerely do. I just can't support biased fanatism towards him.

Great post. Very true.

I feel the exact same way about Favors that you do Exum. I got so tired of the "if this" or "if not for that" garbage. Some times, a guy just is who is. If he exceeds expectations, then great. But some fans on here need more realistic expectations.

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[LoPo]

Burks wasn't undersized or a tweener. Kahwi has length but doesn't seem all that athletic to me.
Burks was much better statistically in college as well.

In their last years in college, Burks averaged 20.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg and 2.9 apg. Leonard averaged 15.5 ppg, 10.6 rpg, and 2.5 apg. Not much better by Burks at all. If anything, I take Kawhi's stat line.

Burks is 6'6". Not undersized, you're okay here. People did want him to play PG out of college due to his ball dominance.

It doesn't really matter at the end of the day. I was really big on Leonard before the draft, during the draft and after the draft. I was not big on Burks. As it turns out, I was right which sucks because I'm okay being wrong if it works out better for the Jazz.

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