Just depends how you wanna play. The Spurs didn't seem to need a stud wing to win all those Chips.
Following potential 2014 draftees
- Thread starter Dr. Jones
- Start date
Just depends how you wanna play. The Spurs didn't seem to need a stud wing to win all those Chips.
I complain about lack of outlining decisions/evaluations...Triple TK comes and makes a list...W/O OUTLINING WHY. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY KKK WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Ok serious mode now...
Magic will be better...They obtained eventually the best Bucks player in Tobias Harris who instantly led his team in scoring, while not being familiar with their system! He'll probably continue to grow. They have Nik Vucevic. His defensive and offensive stats in his breakthrough season suggest he isn't finished and is already a more proven player than Favors, even if Favors upside is higher. He simply played the bigger role. Add to that the most NBA ready rook on the defensive end, who also shows to be a very smart player in Oladipo and returning promising rookies Mo Harkless and Andrew Nicholson and they have a strong young core. In addition to that they got solid Jameer Nelson, fierce wing defender Afflalo and Glen Davis, who had kind of a breakthrough campaign as well. They added veteran Jason Maxiell this offseason to improve their inside rotation depthwise. After gathering these information I'll completely ignore what happens with Turkoglu and Al Harrington. It doesn't matter. They play in the Eastern Tankference. I just need to look at their division. They play 4 times the Hawks, Horncats and Wizards. I'd be surprised if that alone didn't account for 7+ wins. They'll have 2 or 3 more freewins alone against the Bucks and Sixers. Plus there are some other candidates to shuffle their roster over during the season(Celtics, Raptors) to get even more easy wins. Add to that a bad defense from Cleveland and that's another likely 1 or 2 wins to snag from there. Plus Cleveland is injury prone...A LOT.
If the Magic don't sit their best players with knee tendinitis they won't be in competition for the worst spots likely!
I totally agree with the Sixers being worse and won't elaborate. Their roster is naked.
But everyone else is a questionmark! The Suns have a very deep team. They'll win a couple of games because their bench outperforms the opponents.
PG: Goran Dragic, Kendall Marshall, Archie Goodwin
SG: Eric Bledsoe, Shannon Brown, Malcolm Lee
SF: Caron Butler, P.J. Tucker, Michael Beasley
PF: Luis Scola, Markieff Morris, Marcus Morris
C: Marcin Gortat, Channing Frye
+ Alex Len(who's not signed yet)
That's what hoopsworld suggests. I'd have it different of course, but you can see that's a tough bench mob. There's a guy like Beasley, who can win a game alone once a month when people forget he can only go left and he isn't plagued by suicidal thoughts for a night - That's not meant in a disrespectful way towards him, just as an exaggeration of his headcase status. I actually feel for people who struggle that mightily in their lives. Rooting for Beasley to change his way, and cut loose ends ever since he started to struggle.
They'll probably win a lot of games vs the East at least and are a surprise threat every night in the West as well.
The Bucks will probably suck hard too, but at least they have to fight harder for more losses. On the other hand the Bucks have a central division in which they might go 0-16 easily! But Bucks are imo the biggest contender for the Jazz to be the 2nd worst team, because of their division. No Mayo, no disgruntled "I make everyone around me worse" Jennings on a QO contract can turn that franchise around imo. Best player is Larry Sanders and they'll hope to get quality minutes either for Ilyasova to develop into a more consistent scoring threat or give major burn to John Henson to see what he can do. Their rookie Adetokunbo is also very raw and has a mentor in Delfino next to him.
Bobcats are a tough bunch to evaluate. They have a couple guys who indicate they could scratch on a playoff rank next spring, but there's questionmarks in their frontcourt defense. BigAL and Zeller aren't defensive anchors. Bustyombo alone can't keep their lanes empty. It's also hard to say how Kemba develops as he has deficiences(defense) as well as good signs. He's already 23 though, his improvement will be probably limited.
It's hard to predict how Henderson will play on a QO. If he's good he'll help with good perimeter defense, if the pressure is too much that'll cost the team wins. Their only alternative is Ben Gordon and while he can be lights out in the fourth quarter he can also get overpowered on defense and sometimes his offense misses as well.
But my gut tells me that their uncertaincies are paying off and they'll end with a stronger record than most anticipate. But my gut isn't right very often, so you can also add them right to the mix competing for a #3 seed.
Next up are the Kings. They'll have Vasquez. That will boost their offense a lot over having heroball midget Isaiah Thomas and Jimmer Bustette playing major minutes. Their starters are mostly solid: Thronton has an above average 3 pt shot. He played well on limited minutes last season. Depending how much opportunities McLemore getts they'll be limited as well. At the 3 spot they have good balance with Mbah a Moute providing defense and rebounding, whilst Salmons and Outlaw(okay he was before he joined the Kings) are more productive on the offensive end in streaks. At 4 they have solid veteran Jason Thompson and a scoring push from Landry. Patterson isn't too shabby either. Plus he can knock down open 3 pointers. In end it will all depend on Cousins. If he's on fire and plays for a new contract that he doesn't seem to be able to command right now, they can play inside out and have very good shooters around him. EVERY player on the 1-3 positions except Mbah a Moute is a good shooter from long range.
Their defense is strengthened on some positions, but they still have liabilities. But that's a trade off most teams have to make. And they mostly have multiple options from the bench to strengthen defense on a specific position. If Cousins finally plays up to his potential and listens to his coach Kings will have wayyyy more Ws than the Jazz imo.
Other questionmark situations I want to add for a long shot on the higher picks are in this particular order:
Celtics - How's Rondo's shape? If he can't lead his team they'll be right up there imo. Plus a couple of their players struggle to stay healthy
Raptors - Major knee tendinitis candidate as well. If Gay's eye correction surgery doesn't spark his production and other guys with questionable health or impact on the game struggle(DeMar, Lowry mainly), I expect them to throw the towels. But if they can stay halthy and even Valanciunas has a breakout season they're right in playoff range. They have a lot of players who are good defender or role player.
Mavs - Yeah pretty much no depth and I expect them to move Carter and eventually Trix if Dirk has bad luck with an injury early into the season. Defense is also a major concern. If even 1 little thing goes wrong it can launch an avalanche.
The last 2 are the T-Wolves and Wizards. Both teams have huge injury history and I guess no one would be surprised if they repeated that pattern once more. While both teams have enough depth to overcome 1 outage, a 2nd important player going down could lead to them throwing towels too.
Summary: Basically the Sixers have the best shot at going first overall. After that it's head to head between the Jazz and Bucks with the Bobcats and Kings having an outside shot to sneak in in case of injury or chemistry issues. A little bit stronger due to Conference or talent are the Suns and Magic. Their depth doesn't hurt either to be more stable. The next group are all fringe playoff candidates. (Celtics, Mavs, Raptors, T-Wolves, Wizards, Kings and Bobcats) They'd have to do a huge spontaneous obvious tankjob during the season, but injuries could lead them to that decision in a Duncan-esque fashion. I expect at least 1 team to have that kind of bad luck and sink their own ship before Christmas. At least 1 more does that strat right at the trade deadline, but that'll be too late to compete with the Jazz and Bucks.
margodydek
Well-Known Member
Perhaps this has been talked about, or perhaps it's common just knowledge, but anyone else get the feeling that an underlying reason to go young this year is to showcase our young talent to the rest of the league in anticipation of trading one of our "Core-5" guys? I think if we get a top 5 pick, then we're going wing or guard, and it's a nice idea to think that, "well if we get Harrison, then Burke can come of the bench, or if we get Wiggins or Parker, then Burks can be our 6th man," but it doesn't usually bode well for a young starter who just started 82 games and really contributed to then be relegated to the bench and replaced in the starting lineup by a rookie.
I guess it's possible that our top 5 pick would come off the bench at the start, but I really think Lindsey's showcasing these young guys to perpetuate his strategy of collecting assets.
Think if Burks has a solid year (12/5/4), and looks promising, then we have a chance to get Wiggins, Randle or Parker (all who could realistically shine at the SF spot). You could either turn Burks or Hayward + a future pick into something else special (heck look at what OKC got for Harden), and then either slide Hayward to the 2, and our rookie stud at the 3.
Everyone's talking about other teams' models to use to rebuild, I think Lindsey is using a hybrid between what Morey did in HOU (accumulate assets to be in a position to pounce on a star), OKC (go young and get high picks) and SA (scout the hell out of foreign guys and find economical/efficient role players).
I guess it's possible that our top 5 pick would come off the bench at the start, but I really think Lindsey's showcasing these young guys to perpetuate his strategy of collecting assets.
Think if Burks has a solid year (12/5/4), and looks promising, then we have a chance to get Wiggins, Randle or Parker (all who could realistically shine at the SF spot). You could either turn Burks or Hayward + a future pick into something else special (heck look at what OKC got for Harden), and then either slide Hayward to the 2, and our rookie stud at the 3.
Everyone's talking about other teams' models to use to rebuild, I think Lindsey is using a hybrid between what Morey did in HOU (accumulate assets to be in a position to pounce on a star), OKC (go young and get high picks) and SA (scout the hell out of foreign guys and find economical/efficient role players).
I've stated this many times, but I think it's this simple.
The FO knows we have some nice players on the roster.
They know we are set up very nicely in the '14 draft.
They know we have the cap space in a very good upcoming FA.
We will use this year to get the young guys playing time, see who can play at an elite level, see who has chemistry with teammates and the organization, and trade those that don't to move up or whatever. My word for this season is EVALUATION. Then it will come down to using all our assets to plug holes.
Stifle Tower
Punch Bowl Re-Filler
Give me some good reasons why Boston, Orlando, Philadelphia and Phoenix will be worse than the Jazz? AS free agency progressed, I made a tracker of all the non-playoff teams and their additions/subtractions. There are some teams that were in the 20-30 win range that I've moved ahead of the Jazz such as Charlotte, New Orleans, Sacramento and Washington based on off-season moves. The core4 of Utah was a terrific unit last season, often digging the Jazz out of deep holes. And that was with a huge hole at PG. Will they struggle against starting units? Definitely. But on a comparative basis, I see several teams that have worse overall starters and are not much better in terms of their bench. 20 and 21 wins represented the 2 worst records last season; 30 wins would have been 9th worst. As hard as I try, I have a very difficult time seeing the Jazz win less than 25-30....unless there are significant injuries.
Scroll a little bit up, and there's an in depth prediction based on SWOT analysis. You'll find out I just see Philly worse than the Jazz clear cut, see the Jazz competing with the Bucks for 2nd worst record. That's simply my conclusion. And regarding the hole at PG, I think that stays the same. I'm not saying by this that Burke isn't the real deal, but he'll probably struggle heavily as a rook.
But he didn't have the minutes. This year he plays more vs starters as opposed to bench players, we'll see what happens. But as of now Vucevic is the more productive player in total numbers.
It's very possible that he will look better this season, because Favors will be a higher priority for opposite defenses to eliminate in comparison with Vucevic, who has more options at his side and is a good passer. I even wrote Favors has the upside, but has to prove it more. Vucevic can simply continue where he left.
Stifle Tower
Punch Bowl Re-Filler
Great post. I think the plan is to bring Alec Burks off the bench. It's been mentioned a couple of times by Corbin. And I don't think Alec will have a problem with it if he's getting 25-30 mins/game. He can be the #1 option and the playmaker with the 2nd unit. It's an easy sell. All Lindsey has to do is mention his time at San Antonio and ask Alec if he's ever heard of some guy named Manu. That opens up a starting spot for a SF or SG next year depending on where Hayward is slotted.
And if we were to get Randle? PKM knows college players better than I do, but challenge him to beat out Favors. Chances are in year 1 he doesn't, but he'd still be able to get 30 mins at PF. Then you make a decision to trade one or pitch one of the two as being a dominant 6th man. You could do the same at PG. Many teams use two PG's at times. I'll bet Harrison could play off the ball to get extra mins. He certainly has the size. Top picks don't necessarily need to start right away - just give them 25-30 mins. and let them dominate off the bench for a season or two. Pitch it to the team and the media: "We've got 8 starters on this team. Obviously only 5 can play at any given time. But they'll all get starter's mins. And that let's us play the same quality of basketball for 48 mins. Other teams just don't have that kind of depth." Winning will take care of attitudes. And if it doesn't, then you make a trade.
Last edited:
Stifle Tower
Punch Bowl Re-Filler
A-Train (old)
Well-Known Member
Just to tell you why I think the Jazz are that bad: They lost their best (current, not upside wise) player in Millsap. That's a huge gap to close. Which they can't do adequately for starters(yet,14/15 they'll be prolly better at starting PF) and even less depth wise. They have no 2nd unit...That's estimate I see the Jazz so weak. Burke will probably need a long time to transition. He's no Lillard! If opponents can focus their defensive effort on Hayward, Kanter and Favors, at least 2 will probably be very streaky at the beginning struggling with the attention.
But Jazz analysis is something done so often, so I didn't wanna repeat myself at first.
One team I forgot are the Hawks. But I don't see the Hawks that bad, maybe even close to sneaking into playoffs, due to their depth of proven veterans(Horford, Millsap, Teague, Korver, Lou, DeShawn)
Who knows. As we talked about earlier I think he's worth a look at our 3. His form on his shot looks fine to me.
Watching all the work out videos, and Nike practice footage. Let's see how he shoots this year in college.
He projects as a good defender in the NBA. I get wet just thinking about him with Favors and Kanter.
As it stands right now I think it's a fine plan B if we miss out on the big 4 guns in the draft. He might be around 5-7 which we very well
maybe drafting at. Right now he looks like a great consolation prize.
I hate the idea of him on the floor with Favors and Kanter.. all at the same time. Scouting the Jazz.. pack it in.
A-Train (old)
Well-Known Member
Just for fun (not relevant and not suggesting any of this translates..) I thought I would share the stats of this year's incoming freshman (stats from last year);
Andrew Harrison
Points - 15.8
Rebounds - 7.1
Assists - 7.2
Aaron Harrison
Points - 25.2
Rebounds - 6.3
Assists - 4.4
James Young
Points - 27.4
Rebounds - 14.8
Assists - 5.9
Julius Randle (he only played a handful of games)
Points - 34.1
Rebounds - 15.3
Assists - 4.8
Dakari Johnson
Points - 17.8
Rebounds - 11.4
Assists - 2.1
Blocks - 4.3
Marcus Lee
Points - 17.7
Rebounds - 19.5
Assists - 2.2
Blcoks - 6.7
Andrew Harrison
Points - 15.8
Rebounds - 7.1
Assists - 7.2
Aaron Harrison
Points - 25.2
Rebounds - 6.3
Assists - 4.4
James Young
Points - 27.4
Rebounds - 14.8
Assists - 5.9
Julius Randle (he only played a handful of games)
Points - 34.1
Rebounds - 15.3
Assists - 4.8
Dakari Johnson
Points - 17.8
Rebounds - 11.4
Assists - 2.1
Blocks - 4.3
Marcus Lee
Points - 17.7
Rebounds - 19.5
Assists - 2.2
Blcoks - 6.7
Yes.. I would dare so-so shooters to beat me from the outside.