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Following potential 2014 draftees

As a Jazz fan and with the team improving enough to be outside the top 5 draft picks, would you be happy with a draft of Aaron Gordon and Doug McDermott? Both players seem to be good fits with this current core. I can also see the Jazz trading up if possible. With Neto potentially coming over next season, I doubt the Jazz will want 4 rookies (including their second round pick)

Burke Neto
Hayward Burks
McDermott Evans
Favors Gordon
Gobert Kanter

nice young core!

No.
 
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1) Joel Embiid
2) Anrew Wuggins
3) Jabari Parker
4) Dante Exum
5) Julius Randle
6) Aaron Gordon
7) Noah Vonleh
8) Marcus Smart
9) Nik Stauskas
10) Doug Mcdermott

Where do I make my monthly payments?
 
If we can't get Wiggins, Parker, or Embiid, I want Aaron Gordon.

Dude is offensively challenged, but with his athletic ability and IQ I have a hard believing he won't improve tremendously on that side of the ball. His defense and intangibles are great.

One exception would be Exum, but I don't really know/seen enough to have much of an opinion on him.

Nah, Randle over Gordon.
 
Nah, Randle over Gordon.


I see Randle as being a lot safer. I just don't see any elite skills. He takes advantage of his size over smaller college guys, but won't have that luxury in the NBA.

Gordon has elite athletic ability, can defend inside/out, and has a high IQ. I see his ceiling as being much higher.
 
When i met spycam in real life, i immediately compared him to brad pitt
 
If we can't get Wiggins, Parker, or Embiid, I want Aaron Gordon.

Dude is offensively challenged, but with his athletic ability and IQ I have a hard believing he won't improve tremendously on that side of the ball. His defense and intangibles are great.

One exception would be Exum, but I don't really know/seen enough to have much of an opinion on him.

Honestly I see MKG and Smove with Aaron Gordon. Smove somehow can stay efficient offensively when he avoids every shot outside of 10 feet. But his ATL teams always were high on shooters and that created space. On Detroit there's absolutely NO shooting and only some bad teams give him the space to operate.
MKG plays on an equally bad shooting team. Kemba, McBob and Tolliver are their only reliable 3 point shooter. MKG doesn't have any space to make a play. And it shows.
The issue I have with Aaron Gordon is that he's both a horrible free throw and 3 point shooter at this point. Can he improve? I don't know! But no previous cases come to my mind who improved significantly on 45% free throw shooting. So for him to have space on the Jazz team, we need Burke and Hayward knocking down a high volume of 3s on a high percentage. The bench(especially Burks) has to improve their shooting abilities and we need a stretch 4. Kanter can hit assisted catch and shoot midrange shots when he's open. Can he expand his range? Can we get Adreian Payne with GSW's pick?
I still don't like Gordon. I'd much rather have Exum or Randle, because I see the ability to create for themselves and others. Randle obviously has to figure a lot out, but I see promise with him. More than with Gordon as an NBA prospect. We don't need another smart Josh Smith, Iggy or MKG type player. We need offense. Instant offense. 48 minutes a game. Hayward can't do it, Kanter can't do it, Burks can't do it. Burke can't. So you gotta go for 1st option potential. Even Marcus Smart I'd rather have than Aaron Gordon on the Jazz squad.
 
The issue I have with Aaron Gordon is that he's both a horrible free throw and 3 point shooter at this point. Can he improve? I don't know! But no previous cases come to my mind who improved significantly on 45% free throw shooting.

Bryon Russel and Jeremy Evans couldn't shoot at all when they came into the league. They eventually became proficient enough. As long as their shooting motion isn't broken.

Karl Malone was a 50% - 60% FT shooter his first couple years, and he got up into the mid 70s. It's doable.

Oh, and Michael Carter-Williams theoretically can't shoot either.


No doubt, it's a risk though.
 
I've said before, I think Vonleh and Exum have solid potential and will be good pros. Exum in particular should be an All Star-caliber player, and Vonleh has the tools to be a LMA-caliber PF.
 
Bryon Russel and Jeremy Evans couldn't shoot at all when they came into the league. They eventually became proficient enough. As long as their shooting motion isn't broken.

Karl Malone was a 50% - 60% FT shooter his first couple years, and he got up into the mid 70s. It's doable.

Oh, and Michael Carter-Williams theoretically can't shoot either.


No doubt, it's a risk though.

Karl Malone shot between 57% and 68% in college from the line. MCW upped his FT shooting from 57 to 70 in college. He also shot a total of 23 attempts in 26 games in his first season. You see his 3 point shot slowly improving but it takes time.
I don't even care for Jeremy Evans, because we're talking 30 min a game guys not replacement level guys.
Aaron Gordon's 42% from the stripe on nearly 4.6 attempts per game is Andre Drummond, Dwight Howard bad. His shot right now is broken to get it off in the NBA(way too slow). He takes too much time to set his feet. I don't know. I just say: Be cautious there's a chance that his eye-hand coordination is simply very bad. I don't think it's a mental thing. If something is mental then you're usually thriving in situations where you don't have time to think(Coming off screens launching it in motion or stepping into shots with defenders half a feet too far in the 2.9). Mental aspects show when you've time to aim like wide open corner threes and free throws.
 
It looks like we won`t get a top 5 pick. So are the others talented enough to try them for reaching the next level? At what point would you consider trade the pick(s) (and for what kind of realistic players)?
 
If we can't get Wiggins, Parker, or Embiid, I want Aaron Gordon.

Dude is offensively challenged, but with his athletic ability and IQ I have a hard believing he won't improve tremendously on that side of the ball. His defense and intangibles are great.

One exception would be Exum, but I don't really know/seen enough to have much of an opinion on him.

I love Aaron, but we need to consider him a longer project that a lot of the top guys. His FT shooting is as bad as Shaqs, but he should be able
to correct it. It's completely killing his game lately as he's getting fouled almost every time he attacks the rim.
 
What I really didn't like about Aaron Gordon in DX's 15 min video was that his touch around the rim wasn't good and he doesn't have an off hand.
At this point with all this stuff about his 6'9 being hoax and his ability to guard perimeter players, I'd say he's a SF. There's no sense of him playing PF when he doesn't have height and muscle and no skills as well.
He lacks postup game as well even though he tries.
So what can he do for you? He can contain ballmovement of SFs, bother shooters(bother, not alter, due to his t-rex arms), and play help defense whenever his position in the 2.9 allows him to do that(Which may be not very often).
Offensively he can't post up SFs yet. He can run the floor in transition. He can cut backdoor and do a play around the rim in halfcourt(to a certain extent only, because everybody will dare him to Josh Smith all his looks)
He can't curl around because he simply doesn't have any feel for the ball yet and would Javale McGee Tragic Bronson all floaters and jump shots. He can't really stay in the corner unless he's being defended by Crymelo because no other wing is giving him 5 seconds to set his feet and let him launch his slow shot. So that's very limited skills he offers. If he's surrounded by 3 sick shooters on the 1,2 and 4 and a skilled 5 then he might just fit in and profit from double teams slashing to the hole. But a team picking in the top10 isn't exactly offering that. Plus you need a smart GM to recognize how much impact his presence might have on surrounding pieces.
Maybe he's getting his shot under control, but really I don't see it. I don't see the needed eye-hand coordination necessary to perform at an NBA level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1MeP9bTv_90#t=675

Just watch the video from the timestamp at that I've copied it. That's like Tragic Bronson supreme. You that ish in Europe, you're benched the rest of the game. And I have a hard time imagining that these moves work in practice. I haven't watched more than 2 partial games of him, highlights and that DX stuff from this season. But the DX guys rarely cherry pick on a young man. They are wrong because a player improves his deficits or the team can cover up for it and highlight strengths. But Aaron Gordon seems like a young man who at this point has only 1 strength. Dunking the ball and defending the ball. 19 year old Aaron in the middle of 22-24 year old Jazz guys is not what I want. If he ever getts it it will take 4-6 years or something. And history indicates that it's very rare to improve that much. You're 1 lacking piece away? Take him! You need a core piece, then take another risk.
 
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What I really didn't like about Aaron Gordon in DX's 15 min video was that his touch around the rim wasn't good and he doesn't have an off hand.
At this point with all this stuff about his 6'9 being hoax and his ability to guard perimeter players, I'd say he's a SF. There's no sense of him playing PF when he doesn't have height and muscle and no skills as well.
He lacks postup game as well even though he tries.
So what can he do for you? He can contain ballmovement of SFs, bother shooters(bother, not alter, due to his t-rex arms), and play help defense whenever his position in the 2.9 allows him to do that(Which may be not very often).
Offensively he can't post up SFs yet. He can run the floor in transition. He can cut backdoor and do a play around the rim in halfcourt(to a certain extent only, because everybody will dare him to Josh Smith all his looks)
He can't curl around because he simply doesn't have any feel for the ball yet and would Javale McGee Tragic Bronson all floaters and jump shots. He can't really stay in the corner unless he's being defended by Crymelo because no other wing is giving him 5 seconds to set his feet and let him launch his slow shot. So that's very limited skills he offers. If he's surrounded by 3 sick shooters on the 1,2 and 4 and a skilled 5 then he might just fit in and profit from double teams slashing to the hole. But a team picking in the top10 isn't exactly offering that. Plus you need a smart GM to recognize how much impact his presence might have on surrounding pieces.
Maybe he's getting his shot under control, but really I don't see it. I don't see the needed eye-hand coordination necessary to perform at an NBA level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1MeP9bTv_90#t=675

Just watch the video from the timestamp at that I've copied it. That's like Tragic Bronson supreme. You that ish in Europe, you're benched the rest of the game. And I have a hard time imagining that these moves work in practice. I haven't watched more than 2 partial games of him, highlights and that DX stuff from this season. But the DX guys rarely cherry pick on a young man. They are wrong because a player improves his deficits or the team can cover up for it and highlight strengths. But Aaron Gordon seems like a young man who at this point has only 1 strength. Dunking the ball and defending the ball. 19 year old Aaron in the middle of 22-24 year old Jazz guys is not what I want. If he ever getts it it will take 4-6 years or something. And history indicates that it's very rare to improve that much. You're 1 lacking piece away? Take him! You need a core piece, then take another risk.

Wait, you say 1 but you list 2 things?

Also, I hate how people act like defending is only 1 skill, but there all these different offensive skills we can categorize. Gordon is skilled in every aspect of defense. He can guard perimeter, he can guard post, and he plays team defense. I would count that as 3 "skills".

He can run the floor, he has tremendous ball handling (coast-to-coast or in the half-court), he can obviously put on a highlight reel, he can pass and wants to, and has lot of intangibles.

Yeah he has some glaring weaknesses right now, but shooting is fixable. Hopefully the touch around the rim thing improves with his strength, which isn't a concern to me because his frame is good.
 
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