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Devin Booker

2014-15 SL leaders:
Points: Glen Rice Jr., Tim Hardaway Jr., Jordan McRae, C.J. McCollum
Rebounds: Cole Aldrich. Jerrelle Benimon, Miles Plumlee. Josh Davis
Assists: Russ Smith, Tre Kelly, Matt Dellavedova, Lazeric Jones

Disclaimer: Past summer league performance is no indicator of future NBA success.
 
This is who I wanted (aside from trading down/out) of the options still on the board. I don't believe he will be as good as Klay, but I do think he will be more than just a spot-up shooter. I understand why we went with Lyles & believe that he has as much, if not more, long-term potential than Booker, but I prefered Booker due to the fact that he would have actually had an opportunity to eventually start in the future (as well as compliment the starting 5 with his outside shooting), while Lyles will always be a 3rd big at best (on this roster). Summer league games mean nothing though & we are still a long ways away from finding out if we made the right decision. Imo, drafting Lyles over Booker was more of a reflection on the team's confidence in Burks/Hood (& obviously Lyles) than it was on the team not having confidence in Booker.

Agree with this. Lyles' ceiling is still a #3 big on our team. Booker's ceiling could have been a starter on our team alongside hayward. I still don't have confidence in Burks and don't believe he is the greatest fit on the jazz... Oh well. Add this to the list of kawai Leonard and Paul george, and move on
 
Agree with this. Lyles' ceiling is still a #3 big on our team. Booker's ceiling could have been a starter on our team alongside hayward. I still don't have confidence in Burks and don't believe he is the greatest fit on the jazz... Oh well. Add this to the list of kawai Leonard and Paul george, and move on
Now you are falling into positional need vs. BPA. Why is Lyles' ceiling our #3 big? Because you think he cannot outplay Favors and he's certainly not a 5. And you think Booker could be a starter because you think we have a greater need at SG and he MIGHT eventually beat out Burks or Hood.

I agree Booker might be more NBA ready right now. Jazz management believes Lyles is the better choice long-term. And here's the thing: in a couple of years Favors is an UFA. If he leaves is it harder to find a great big or a SG? Even if he doesn't, Lyles can STILL get 30 mins as a 3rd wing because Favors is a perfect "small-ball" center. Heck, the Jazz even talked about Lyles playing center in a small line-up!

And Booker, starting or coming off the bench could get 30 mins. You don't have confidence in Burks, but DL and QS sure do. He was given that contract extension because they like his ability to drive and score or draw fouls. And in limited action - with a bad shoulder - he upped his 3PT accuracy to 38% percent. Other than outside shooting, what has Booker shown that he can do better than Alec?
 
Now you are falling into positional need vs. BPA. Why is Lyles' ceiling our #3 big? Because you think he cannot outplay Favors and he's certainly not a 5. And you think Booker could be a starter because you think we have a greater need at SG and he MIGHT eventually beat out Burks or Hood.

I agree Booker might be more NBA ready right now. Jazz management believes Lyles is the better choice long-term. And here's the thing: in a couple of years Favors is an UFA. If he leaves is it harder to find a great big or a SG? Even if he doesn't, Lyles can STILL get 30 mins as a 3rd wing because Favors is a perfect "small-ball" center. Heck, the Jazz even talked about Lyles playing center in a small line-up!

And Booker, starting or coming off the bench could get 30 mins. You don't have confidence in Burks, but DL and QS sure do. He was given that contract extension because they like his ability to drive and score or draw fouls. And in limited action - with a bad shoulder - he upped his 3PT accuracy to 38% percent. Other than outside shooting, what has Booker shown that he can do better than Alec?

I think that the jazz need to surround a center like Gobert with outside shooters. Having favors and gobert out there tens to clog up the lane for players like Burks who attack the rim. We'll see over the next few years I guess.
 
I think that the jazz need to surround a center like Gobert with outside shooters. Having favors and gobert out there tens to clog up the lane for players like Burks who attack the rim. We'll see over the next few years I guess.
I think Hood is >>>> Devin Booker so if Burks doesn't fit with the starting group, you have Alec come off the bench. Then he's playing with guys like Trevor Booker (or Lyles), Pleiss, Ingles, Cotton, etc. who AREN'T going to be clogging the lane.
 
I will say it now. I was disappointed on draft night when I saw that Booker fell and we didn't grab him. I see the reasons why we went for Lyles more and more and I trust DL and Dr. Quin, but I have plenty of doubts. I fear that 2 of the next 3 players drafted after Lyles are going to be really fine players and that Lyles will peak out at role player.

I always hear BPA and it sure didn't feel like we followed that path. I suspect we went for operation 'my kids are longer than yours' vs. operation 'my kids shoot better than yours'. And balancing the two, we preferred length, character, and flexibility to shooting. But Booker will shoot the lights out in the NBA have no doubt.
 
I am willing to wait 2 years before I really try to draw any conclusions about our draft pick. I like a lot of what Lyles can do. Have yet to get fired up about him though.
 
Most everything I saw from Lyles was impressive. Yes he did shoot a low %. But a lot of that was due to this being summer league. He took a lot of shots that he probably doesn't take in the regular season. Summer league is about playing the the way he will three years from now without the production do to being 19 and under developed. This is a big reason %'s at so low usually in summer league.

Basically there is much to be excited about with Lyles.
 
I was rooting for Booker. He was probably my first choice. I love his shooting especially since Hood breaks his body every 3 games.

However, I understand why DL took Lyles and admit I think he probably made the right choice.
 
Lyles will never score 31, not even in next years summer league. We should have drafted Booker or Portis.
 
If I remember correctly, Booker was never an option for the Jazz. If there had not been a Trey Lyles available, the Jazz would have just traded out of the draft. They worked him out, and that information, coupled with really good scouting information made the Jazz pass. Of course Trey can score 30 because he gets to the line. There are guys like Booker in every draft, we got a "better Booker" in Rodney Hood at 22. But 6'10" who can handle the rock and distribute are relatively rare. The issue is that it will take a lot of development time and patience to get Lyles to where he needs to be. But the Jazz are in a position to give him that. I'll bet the Trailblazers are wishing that they had drafted a development big a couple of years ago.

All that said, yes there were better players in the draft, we just didn't have a shot at any of them.
 
Tonight with;

31 pts, 9 reb, 5-9 on threes.

Klay Thompson comp looking pretty solid. Discuss?

Booker is going to get abused defensively for the next several years, if not his whole career. Phoenix will be back in the lotto while we're in the playoffs. Lyles was the no-brainer pick to make.
 
Lyles' ceiling is pretty high, imo. If he can really shoot well enough, get stronger and put in effort on defense, he could be a really really impressive player by his 21st birthday. Maybe like a Lamar Odom with better IQ.

Depending on how well the Jazz switch on defense, Lyles could conceivably play some significant time as a big-SF, a bit like Donyell Marshall, Andrei Kirilenko or Odom. It's all about his shooting and reactions on defense. It's not perfect, but with Gobert, Favors and Exum on the floor, there wouldn't be major holes in our defense. ...And our rebounding could be really special. Then you could play Hayward or Hood as the other wing.
 
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