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Nazr Mohammed

It seems highly unlikely Okur could be traded due to his career-threatening injury.
Nazr Mohammed will be 33 in Sept. Last season he averaged 17 minutes a game, 5.2 boards, .7 blocks, and 7.9 points. At 6'10" 250 he's a little ligher than Al Jefferson.
Mehmet Okur is 31, and his averages last season were: 29 minutes a game, 7.1 boards, 1.1 blocks, and 13.3 points. We all know neither of these guys are defensive stalwarts.
To his credit Okur does body up well down in the paint vs. big guys like Yao Ming, but doesn't deal well with smaller, quicker C and PF's.
I've always liked Nazr's game, and the age differential isn't significant, but I don't think he would handle big guys as effectively as Okur, as he's 2" shorter. He isn't very mobile
either, so who could he guard? Small, slow PF and C's, but against bigger or more agile ones, he'd be an even bigger defensive liability. At least Okur can guard the bigger C's.
Offensively, Nazr's a good offensive rebounder and can hit the medium range jump shot. We all know Okur's offensive game is mostly at the 3 point line.
I am actually eager to see Okur paired with Jefferson, as Boozer wasn't nearly as aggresive at getting low-post position, mostly settling for the medium-range J.
That put him closer to Okur on the court, making it easier for defenders to rotate from Boozer to Okur. With Jefferson in a lot deeper in the paint, the spacing
should be much more difficult for defenders to cover.
And what if Kendrick Perkins decides to go to any team not named Utah? Heck of a gamble; just ask New Jersey and a few other teams in locales with less appeal...
 
The most realistic chance of us getting a center may be by hoping Okur returns to form and we trade his expiring next summer to the Magic for Gortat.
 
KhaOZ said:
Not trying to hate or anything man, but your reply had nothing to do with my question. My question is, with all this demand for a "shot blocking big", if we got one, who would he replace? Who would we get rid of to add him on the floor? Would we dump Al Jefferson? Millsap? How does this "Shot blocking big" get consistent play time to be worth it?
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My point was, that Memo would be more valuable on offense than a shot blocking center would be on defense.
 
KrazeeEyezKilla said:
The most realistic chance of us getting a center may be by hoping Okur returns to form and we trade his expiring next summer to the Magic for Gortat.
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Since the Magic's Stan VanGundy never met a 3-point shooter he didn't like, he just might go for that trade! I was hoping we'd be able to trade them Boozer, as that seemed a great fit for the Magic.
 
On defense, position is more important than height.
Bill Russell, perhaps the greatest defensive Center in NBA history, understood this. No way he could physically outreach the gigantic Wilt Chamberlain, but he consistantly outplayed Wilt come playoff time by keeping Wilt just out of position from where Wilt wanted to be.
Hey, Ben Wallace is all of 6'9"!
Yep, Okur reminds me of Jerry Lucas when the Knicks won an NBA championship. He started for the injured Willis Reed, who had a few years earlier won a chamionship. Oh, and Jerry was only 6'9", played so-so defense, but had a sweet high-arcing jump shot he lauched from far out on the court before there was a 3-point line...
 
KhaOZ said:
Ah, which I would agree with for sure.
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We need a bi-center. You know, one who goes both ways. Seriously, we've seen where one-dimensional players get us. Boozer is one of the BEST offensive weapons in the game. But he SUCKS on defense. AK used to be a great defender (and shot-blocker), but his shooting, even after working with Horny, is still terrible. Jazz will not win a championship if they have a LIABILITY at one end of the court.

Bring in this elusive "shot-blocking" center and you sit Millsap or Okur, correct? Then how many touches do you think Jefferson gets? Team X will just leave our center unguarded to go double on Al, or better yet, double Deron and take away his passing lanes. I don't disagree that we could use an upgrade at the 5. But it has to be a guy like Marc Gasol or Joakim Noah, someone that has at least a rudimentary offensive game. Otherwise our offense grinds to a halt.
 
Adding to that, our offense is based on passing the ball; Jerry does NOT care for all the one-on-one stuff that other NBA offenses spend most of the 24-second clock doing. We especially need all 5 guys participating offensively!
 
Kyoto said:
My point was, that Memo would be more valuable on offense than a shot blocking center would be on defense.
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A center that shoots 3s is not the focal part of any offense, a center that protects the rim is the focal part of EVERY successful/championship/elite defense.

Try again.
 
I would love to clear cap space and get rid of Okur's contract at any cost. But I do not want Mohamed if we are talking about how players fit in with the Jazz.

He isn't that good of a defender or offensive low post player. He is a black hole on offense. Once he gets the ball he tries to score and doesn't care about anybody else. Jefferson is at least good enough to be a black hole. And he is young and he is willing to learn from the interviews I have watched.

Mohamed has an attitude problem and he isn't willing to play within a system. That is why the Spurs let him go. And every other team isn't willing to give him starters minutes.

I think we should hold onto Okur until he boosts his value come the trade deadline. We are better off keeping Okur (no matter how much I hate him) and hoping he is healthy come playoff time. If he is healthy at the trade deadline and we aren't putting up the wins like we thought than trade him. If we are playing well against the elite teams with the 3 man rotation than keep him.
We are better off keeping him. He has no value after the injury right now. Too many question.s

We need to be realistic and think about how the Jazz front office is thinking about this. I promise you they won't trade him unless its for similar talent. Its the way we have always done things. Why would it change now?
 
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