2011 draft.....

[kabenac]

So much will change from now until draft night, which is exciting. I remember last year some Jazzfanz posters said Favors wouldn't be a good pick because his stats weren't huge/he played for a cruddy college team/he had limited skill-set. Luckily, KOC was sprung for Favors.

So we have two lottery picks from last year's draft and we'll have two lottery picks from this year's draft. That's pretty cool...

 

[green]

What's a natural scorer?

I don't get the difference between a natural scorer and whatever the opposite is (artificial scorer)?

this is a serious post btw.

I assume someone who can score without help (natural) versus someone who needs to come off screens, curls, or have someone else help him get a shot. Korver vs Carmelo. That would be my guess.

 

[NAOS]

What's a natural scorer?

I don't get the difference between a natural scorer and whatever the opposite is (artificial scorer)?

this is a serious post btw.

I think the better comparison is Granger vs. AK. Put your hate away for a minute and think about it.

 

[Qman]

In my book a natural scorer is someone who naturally and easily flow through different scoring plays. If the defender is overplaying their jumper they can drive. If the 2nd defender comes they can easily make an adjustment.

Other players just develop a skill- a set jumper, a pull jumper and their basic layup. When the defense forces them into something different they are awkward and unable to adapt.

So I guess it is a statement about coordination, balance, basketball IQ and basketball instincts.

Raja Bell is not a natural scorer. Jimmer Freddette is.

 

[Hantlers]

So I'm lazy and don't feel like looking it up, but does anybody know when the lottery order is announced? Also when is the draft?

 

[Hantlers]

I forgot to mention this in my earlier post on Alec Burks, but the player he keeps on reminding me of is Evan Turner. Better scorer, not quite as good of a passer, pretty decent defender/rebounder. Obviously Burks is younger than Turner and performing better at his sophomore year than Turner did, but they just remind me of each other. I also feel that like Turner, Burks will need a year or two to really get used to the NBA....he has a much steeper learning curve than Hayward did, and it took Hayward a solid year.

 

[GVC]

Mid range shot is more important than the 3 point shot.

huh?

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

I forgot to mention this in my earlier post on Alec Burks, but the player he keeps on reminding me of is Evan Turner. Better scorer, not quite as good of a passer, pretty decent defender/rebounder. Obviously Burks is younger than Turner and performing better at his sophomore year than Turner did, but they just remind me of each other. I also feel that like Turner, Burks will need a year or two to really get used to the NBA....he has a much steeper learning curve than Hayward did, and it took Hayward a solid year.

Turner's much longer if I'm not mistaken, more of a 3, while Burks is a 2.

 

[Hantlers]

huh?

I'm assuming he meant that it's easier to develop a 3 point shot if you already have a mid range shot than it is to develop a mid range shot if you already have a 3 point shot.....I think that's what he meant at least.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

I assume someone who can score without help (natural) versus someone who needs to come off screens, curls, or have someone else help him get a shot. Korver vs Carmelo. That would be my guess.

This.

By 'natural' scorer, I mean someone with instincts, the ability to score from different places on the floor and in different situations, a natural shooting stroke and a knack for finishing plays fluidly. The Jazz have been running a system where certain players can score, but only from certain places on the floor and in certain situations. We've also had players who are that gifted athletically that then learn to shoot by repetition and become adequate scoring threats. However, without D.Will setting people up in situations where they could score, the Jazz got stuck moving the ball around unable to do anything, but eventually dump the ball in to Al Jefferson in the post. The Jazz always had the problem of getting their offense disrupted by teams that did their homework. The Lakers were always good at shutting us down. But without D.Will setting people up on a silver platter, it's gotten worse.

Kevin Martin is a natural scorer. Kevin Durant, Paul Pierce, Carmello, Jeff Hornacek, Jamal Crawford, Demarcus Cousins, Hedo Turkoglu, Brandon Roy, etc. are natural scorers. Players like Matt Harpring, Bryon Russel, Raja Bell, AK, Earl Watson, etc. are not and can only score under limited circumstances.

 

[Twin Towers]

I'm assuming he meant that it's easier to develop a 3 point shot if you already have a mid range shot than it is to develop a mid range shot if you already have a 3 point shot.....I think that's what he meant at least.

Thanks man. You said it better than I could of. Guys who can hit the mid range shot consistently are way more likely to develop a 3 point shot.

At the same time something i want to add again is Brewer had no shot. Caron Butler was another guy who had a problem with the 3 point shot when he came into the league. Same with Richard Hamilton. Hamilton and Butler did not develop there 3 point shot until later in there career. But they were both deadly from the mid range.

Because they were good scorers and could move without the ball.....That made up for the lack of 3 point shot. I think Burks could have similar careers as these 2 if he becomes better without the ball. But I haven' seen a ton of his games to know how much more he needs.

The Mid range shot is very important overall. You look at the elite players in the league from the wing position and that is a very important trait. Kobe and Wade are masters at it.

 

[Hantlers]

Turner's much longer if I'm not mistaken, more of a 3, while Burks is a 2.

Turner is 6'7 with a 6'8 wingspan, Burks is 6'6 and I'm not sure what his wingspan is. Turner plays more like a point-forward, but I think Burks is a slightly similar player. And I agree that Burks is mainly a 2, but could possibly play a little 3. I think an important thing that we forget often (especially me) is that while Hayward is a 2 guard on offense, he can guard a 3 without much trouble. So if we draft a player that swing between the 2-3 it's really not a big deal.

 

[Twin Towers]

What is everyone's thought on Travis Leslie? I haven't seen him play. He seems like a dynamic player and seems like he has an amazing skill set and a good all around player besides his 3 point shot.
Has anyone seen him play? Is his shot really bad? and does it have potential?

 

[NCJazz]

What is everyone's thought on Travis Leslie? I haven't seen him play. He seems like a dynamic player and seems like he has an amazing skill set and a good all around player besides his 3 point shot.
Has anyone seen him play? Is his shot really bad? and does it have potential?

Have not really seen him play but no one i have seen is talking about him as a top 12 player even in this weak draft.

 

[Twin Towers]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMMQZB6k3J4

 

[jazzrule]

On a side note - NBAdraft.net has the Golden State's pick at 11 and the Jazz pick at 12 in the 2012 draft, that would give us 2 more lottery picks. Wouldn't it be the pits if the Warriors got Jimmer and he helped Golden State to a better record, and thus giving us a worse pick.

 

[Hantlers]

On a side note - NBAdraft.net has the Golden State's pick at 11 and the Jazz pick at 12 in the 2012 draft, that would give us 2 more lottery picks. Wouldn't it be the pits if the Warriors got Jimmer and he helped Golden State to a better record, and thus giving us a worse pick.

You think Jimmer would play quite a bit over Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry? Seriously, the chances of this are pretty slim.

 

[jazzrule]

You think Jimmer would play quite a bit over Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry? Seriously, the chances of this are pretty slim.

What I do see is he is a great back-up for both players to keep them fresh and to cover for them in case of foul trouble, or allowing them to trade one of them for another need.

 

[jazzrule]

Thanks man. You said it better than I could of. Guys who can hit the mid range shot consistently are way more likely to develop a 3 point shot.

At the same time something i want to add again is Brewer had no shot. Caron Butler was another guy who had a problem with the 3 point shot when he came into the league. Same with Richard Hamilton. Hamilton and Butler did not develop there 3 point shot until later in there career. But they were both deadly from the mid range.

Because they were good scorers and could move without the ball.....That made up for the lack of 3 point shot. I think Burks could have similar careers as these 2 if he becomes better without the ball. But I haven' seen a ton of his games to know how much more he needs.

The Mid range shot is very important overall. You look at the elite players in the league from the wing position and that is a very important trait. Kobe and Wade are masters at it.

Doesn't look like his mid range shot is that good. Read:

Alec Burks

Recent TweetsAll TweetsDraftExpress: Ryan Thorburn (Daily Camera): Alec Burks still weighing options https://bit.ly/hZ4DRX
2011-04-07 11:50:02DraftExpress: NBA Draft Prospect of the Week: Alec Burks https://bit.ly/f18oK5
2011-03-02 09:47:08DraftExpress: Watching last night's Kansas-Colorado game on my DVR. Alec Burks was very impressive. Single-handedly kept his team in the game in 2nd half.
2011-01-26 10:13:23DraftExpress: Top NBA Draft Prospects in the Big 12, part one: https://bit.ly/94XmDT Marcus Morris, Alec Burks, Wally Judge, Jordan Hamilton Elijah Johnson
2010-09-15 05:53:21Malcolm Lee passing very well, as he has all weekend. JaJuan Johnson hitting mid-range jumpers. Alec Burks getting buckets. Good games here.
2010-08-07 19:20:03Top 25s - Full ListRankCategoryTotal20TS%6314Pts/Pos1.2420Ftm/406.622Ftm/40p6.3
Team: Colorado, Sophomore PhysicalsPositionsRankingsMiscH: 6' 6"
W: 200 lbs
Bday: 07/20/1991
(19 Years Old)
Current: SG
NBA: SG
Possible: SG
Round: 1 Pick: 12 in 2011 Mock Draft
Rank 12 in Top 100 Prospects
Rank 4 in NCAA Sophomores
High School: Grandview HS
Hometown: Grandview, Mo.
Basic Per Game Statistics - Comprehensive Stats - Statistical Top 25s YearLeagueNameGPMinPtsFGFGAFG%2Pt2PtA2P%3Pt3PtA3P%FTMFTAFT%OffDefTOTAstsStlsBlksTOsPFs2010/11NCAAAlec Burks3831.420.56.614.146.95.911.650.80.72.529.26.67.982.52.44.16.52.91.10.32.62.3
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NBA Draft Prospect of the Week: Alec Burks
March 1, 2011
Alec Burks was largely an afterthought when he committed to Colorado-- a skinny 6-3 shooting guard with limited range on his jump shot. Now he's a legitimate-sized NBA wing player and one of the best scorers in college basketball, not to mention the leader of a team desperately trying to make the NCAA tournament.

Icon SMI

As an indication of how much he has progressed, Burks now ranks fourth in scoring on a per-40 minute basis amongst the top 100 NCAA prospects in our database,. It's not just the quantity of points he accumulates that intrigues NBA teams, though, but how he gets his offense.

Burks is a shot creator, a skill that is highly coveted at the professional level. Over two-thirds of his offense is generated by himself, be it in isolation situations, in transition or in pick-and-roll opportunities. He ranks in the top five amongst our top 100 prospects in free throw attempts, and (more impressively) is second overall in makes because of the stellar 82.4% he shoots from the line.

Capable of driving in either direction, Burks is a smooth yet explosive slasher with an outstanding second gear. He has excellent speed in the open floor and the body control and ball-handling skills needed to slither his way around opponents and get to the rim.

Burks is not yet a great finisher around the basket, as indicated by his sub-50% 2-point percentage. He must continue to fill out his frame as he struggles to finish through contact in traffic. He's a scorer through and through, though. He uses the glass nicely with reverses and such and has a knack for finding a way to put the ball in the basket, even in tight spaces.

Unlike most big-time scorers from small(er) colleges, Burks is a fairly unselfish player who is more than capable of making the extra pass. Even if he's often asked to be the one creating and finishing shots for his team (particularly late in the shot clock), he's a nice weapon to have in a half-court offense thanks to his solid court vision and good basketball IQ. When Colorado's starting point guard goes to the bench, Burks will man the position, which is a good indication of the versatility he brings to the table.

Defensively, Burks is somewhat of a mixed bag, but he shows good potential on this end of the floor. With his good size, nice length, excellent lateral quickness and solid anticipation skills, he has all the tools needed to guard his position successfully in the NBA.

He generally puts in a good effort on the defensive end, getting low in his stance and often guarding the opposing team's best scorer—and doing so effectively for the most part. He already ranks as the second-best rebounding wing player in this draft class (after Travis Leslie), which has to be considered a good sign.

With his narrow frame and lack of strength, Burks has some issues fighting through screens and will lose his focus occasionally, but based on what we're seeing there's no reason he can't be a good defender at the NBA level.

One area of his game in which scouts surely would have liked to see more progress this season is his jump shot. He doesn't take (or make) many 3-pointers—he's just 21 of 69 on the season from this range--but he is streaky from mid-range too, a place many Big 12 teams have forced him to operate from by taking away the paint with help-side defense. Burks has converted just 54 of 184 (29%) jumpers this season, largely due to his struggles shooting off the dribble (30 of 118, or 25%).

Burks creates good separation from defenders in the mid-range area, but he has a tendency to shoot off balance. He tends to kick his legs out on attempts and not square his shoulders to the basket. His shot selection also leaves something to be desired—he makes just enough bad shots to lead him to believe he should be taking more off-balance, contested attempts, but not enough to lead his team to a better than 7-7 record in the Big 12 thus far.

With his feet set, Burks shows nice shot-making potential, often just throwing the ball in the rim in difficult situations. The minimal arc he gets on his jump shot doesn't leave him very much margin for error.

This is an important factor in assessing Burks' NBA potential, as it's unlikely that he'll have the ball in his hands quite as often as he does at Colorado. If he can find a way to become a more consistent outside shooter, his transition to the NBA will be much smoother—something Evan Turner has learned the hard way as a rookie this season.

As we learned with Turner, whichever team drafts Burks will need to put him in a role that suits his strengths, alongside teammates that complement him. The learning curve Burks has shown over the past two years is intriguing, though. There's a pretty good chance he's nowhere near his full potential at the moment, especially given his late growth spurt and the fact that he's one of the youngest members of his draft class, not turning 20 until July.

In a draft that looks increasingly shallow at the wing position, Burks stands out with his shot-creating skills and scoring instincts. If he can convince a team that his long-range shooting won't be too much of an issue in the NBA, he'll be a popular name during the pre-draft process.

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adidas Nations Highlight Reel: Alec Burks
September 3, 2010
Highlight Reel


Around the Key Dunking Drills

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NCAA Weekly Performers, 2/10/10
February 10, 2010
Matthew Kamalsky

An unheralded recruit from Grandview, Missouri, Alec Burks has been one of the biggest revelations of this season’s freshman class. After signing with Colorado in the November signing period back in 2008, Burks went on to win the Gatorade Player of the Year Award in Missouri, and has parlayed the development he showed that season into an extremely productive rookie campaign for Jeff Bzdelik’s Buffaloes. Not ranked by any of the major high school recruiting services, Burks is amongst the leading freshman scorers in our database and has emerged as a legitimate long-term draft prospect.

From a physical standpoint, there’s a lot to like about what Burks brings to the table. He stands 6’6 with a rangy frame that complements his long strides and solid leaping ability extremely well in the open floor. An exceptionally smooth athlete, Burks definitely needs to add some weight to his still skinny frame to improve his defensive potential, but already shows some promising physical tools that will only improve if he takes the time to develop his explosiveness during the offseason.

Burks’ physical profile and ability to play with pace have helped him make an immediate splash in fast break situations. With nearly 30% of his offense coming in transition according to Synergy Sports Technology, Burks’ combination of length, assertiveness, and ability to side step defenders make him adept at filling the lane in transition, creating an angle, and initiating contact. Burks gets fouled quite a bit in transition, and his willingness to take contact at the rim despite his skinny frameranks him 25th in our database in free throw attempts per-40 minutes pace adjusted.

When he isn’t leaking out to exploit defenders in transition, Burks finds his way to the rim in a variety of other ways. Capable of putting the ball on the floor in one-on-one situations to position himself to jump into his defender and get to the line, Burks needs to shore up his ball-handling ability to better exploit his body control and natural scoring instincts in the lane. He’s good at using subtle changes of pace and direction to create scoring opportunities, but needs to add some things to his game to prepare himself for the next level. A capable one-on-one player, Burks doesn’t work extremely hard moving around the perimeter on a play-by-play basis, but seems to understand spacing, crashes the glass well, and often finds himself in the right place at the right time around the basket.

While Burks has found instant success scoring at the rim, as evidenced by his 27 and 21-point efforts against Missourri and Texas respectively, he lacks the outside shooting ability that would make him a truly dynamic offensive threat. Capable of hitting shots when he can string together a few rhythm dribbles in place, Burks lacks fluidity in his long, slow release, doesn’t elevate well on all of his attempts, and subsequently isn’t a major threat to attempt or make many three pointers, hitting just 31%. Though he does show a high release point and compensates with a decent floater, which he often turns to in favor of stop-and-pop jumpers from the midrange, his ability to improve his shooting form will be key to future success.

Defensively, Burks is able to help his team on the glass and in the passing lanes with his big wingspan and pesky hands, but is very much still learning the game. Clearly not well versed in the aggressive type of defense Jeff Bzdelik wants from his players, Burks doesn’t get low on the defensive end, fails to make crisp rotations, and lacks the physical strength to keep his man away from the basket consistently. Burks definitely has his moments defending the ball one-on-one, flashing some lateral quickness on occasion, his fundamentals limit his ability to make the impact that he’s capable of having on the defensive end.

Displaying excellent body language on the court for a true freshman, Alec Burks has come a long way from the days when he was struggling to garner high major attention as a prep. If his improvement in the last year and a half is any indication of the trajectory of his career, there’s no question that he’ll improve his outside shooting and defensive intensity. If Burks can shore up his scoring from the midrange and perimeter, he’ll have the chance to climb up draft boards. Considering that he’s a true freshman, he’ll have all the time in the world to take those steps, making him a player worth keeping an eye on for the future.


From DraftExpress.com https://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Alec-Burks-5819/#ixzz1K6wl4NsM
https://www.draftexpress.com ​

 

[NUMBERICA]

Concise.