I have been cursed by a witch to repeatedly travel back through time to relive every NBA draft. Fortunately, her spell sends me directly to the Utah Jazz war room on draft night and all the executives magically know I’m from the future and will do whatever I say. Unfortunately, the curse prevents me from seeing how my advice altered the future, as I am sent back to the previous year as soon as draft night ends.
June 23, 2011 – Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey
Previous season:
This was the year it all fell apart for the Jazz. Carlos Boozer left and was replaced with Al Jefferson. Mehmet Okur was injured and only appeared in 13 games. Utah’s starting lineup of Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Andrei Kirilenko, Raja Bell and Deron Williams made sense on paper — but only on paper. This was Bell’s second stint with the Jazz, and he was nowhere near as dynamic as he was on his first stint. Kirilenko was in the final year of his massive contract and was a big emotional, psychological mess. But the biggest problem was Williams’ growing discontent, which ultimately led to Jerry Sloan’s shockingly abrupt retirement, followed shortly by a surprisingly good trade that sent Williams to the Nets. Tyrone Corbin took over for Sloan, went 8-20, and saw the Jazz become the first team in NBA to fail to make the playoffs after starting 27-13.
The draft:
Utah’s poor record earned them the 12th pick. But thanks to the Deron Williams, that also brought in Devin Harris and Derrick Favors, the Jazz had New Jersey’s first-round pick, which ended up being No. 3. Utah used that pick on one of the most tantalizing prospects in the draft — a big man from Turkey named Enes Kanter. With the 12th pick, the Jazz grabbed Alec Burks, a shooting guard from Colorado.
The Jazz also would have had the 43rd pick, but Kevin O’Connor sent it to Chicago as part of a sign-and-trade with Carlos Boozer in exchange for a trade exception. That second-round pick reportedly had some protection on it, but obviously not a very strenuous protection. The Bulls used the 43rd pick on UCLA’s Malcolm Lee and immediately traded him and Norris Cole to Minnesota for Nikola Mirotic.
Analysis:
Enes Kanter (now Enes Freedom) turned out to be one of Utah’s most disappointing picks. Sure, his great size helped him score and rebound at a decent rate, but his defense was truly atrocious. His sour attitude certainly didn’t help matters either, leading the Jazz to dump him off after three and a half seasons for essentially nothing. Alec Burks was a better pick for the Jazz, but he, too, left me wanting. Inconsistency and injuries limited his career (in seven seasons with Utah, he only played in more than 64 games once).
We can definitely do better. And the solution is pretty simple this year: Klay Thompson and Kawhi Leonard. Leonard is the more accomplished player, having won two Finals MVPs and two Defensive Player of the Year awards. But since he wasn’t drafted until No. 15, and Thompson was picked at No. 11, I’m going to take a slight risk by advising the Jazz to take Thompson first. I assume that Cleveland would then take Kanter at No. 4 and everything would mostly play out the same, leaving Leonard available for the Jazz at No. 12. But if something crazy happened, and I missed out on Leonard, I would be happy to take Jimmy Butler as a consolation prize.
Of course, this plan does kind of stifle Gordon Hayward’s development, but I don’t really care too much. Thompson, Leonard and even Butler are all much better than Hayward ever was. And Utah’s frontcourt will be much better without Kanter clogging things up.
My advice:
1. Use the No. 3 pick on Klay Thompson.
2. Use the No. 12 pick on Kawhi Leonard.
I have just added one of the greatest shooters of all time and one of the best all-around talents in NBA history to the Jazz. However, in real life, both Thompson and Leonard benefitted from two of the best coaches around — Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich. In Utah, they would have to put up with the frankly terrible Tyrone Corbin. But maybe their natural talent could overcome this and they’d give the Jazz a few years of greatness? At least until Leonard got sick of Utah and bolted for a bigger market.
So that’s it for the 2011 draft. I can already feel the witch’s curse pulling me back to 2010 … No! Wait! I forgot about Jimmer! He would have totally crushed it in Utah! We need to get Jimmmmmmeeeeeeeeeerrrrrr ………
No comments:
Post a Comment