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KOC: Poker-faced or not thrilled with the draft?

Stifle Tower

Stifle Tower

Punch Bowl Re-Filler
Maybe it's just me, but I'm not so sure KOC was happy with this draft. When the cameras cut to the jazz draft room, he was the only guy NOT clapping at the Kanter pick. I know it might be a silly habit - after all, everyone in the room already KNOWS who the team is taking at that point, but people generally clap.

And in his interview about the Burks pick, he talked about Walker, Knight and Fredette all being ranked higher than Burks on the Jazz board. That just seems weird to me. Generally you want to really hype YOUR guy. Sound excited about what he brings. O'Connor just didn't sound all that happy. Or maybe he was just tired.
 
GlassEater said:
Maybe it's just me, but I'm not so sure KOC was happy with this draft. When the cameras cut to the jazz draft room, he was the only guy NOT clapping at the Kanter pick. I know it might be a silly habit - after all, everyone in the room already KNOWS who the team is taking at that point, but people generally clap.

And in his interview about the Burks pick, he talked about Walker, Knight and Fredette all being ranked higher than Burks on the Jazz board. That just seems weird to me. Generally you want to really hype YOUR guy. Sound excited about what he brings. O'Connor just didn't sound all that happy. Or maybe he was just tired.
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Tired of the Jimmer questions.
 
He's looked unhappy after the draft the for the last three years. I'm willing to give the guy a little slack, last night was the end of a very busy month. He and the other staff have worked long hours, traveled all over the US and to Europe and then has the prospects of facing an emotional and under-informed fan base and pestering by the media. I might be a little stone faced too if all the questions I got were about guys you didn't or couldn't draft.
 
Also, considering he just spent the last month making (up) deals and postulating to other GMs he possibly needs to keep the Gameface for sometime longer. It is possible he made all this hype (if you can possibly think of KOC hypin' it up) about Knight, Kemba, Jimmer, etc so that BURKS was available at his pick. If that is the case, he has to be 'sad' afterward.
 
GlassEater said:
And in his interview about the Burks pick, he talked about Walker, Knight and Fredette all being ranked higher than Burks on the Jazz board.
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Where did he say Jimmer was ahead of Burks? He said Jimmer was "top 10", but he never said where Burks was, afaik.
 
You should be glad he's not smiling.

The last time he looked happy was when The Jazz traded for Borchardt on draft day and he was try to pass off **** for gold to the fans.
 
colton said:
Which interview was that? It's not this "O'Connor on Burks" interview,
https://www.nba.com/jazz/video/2011/06/23/oconnorburksMP4-1743003/index.html

which is the only such one I see listed here:
https://www.nba.com/jazz/2011_draft_central.html
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I couldn't find the clip, but here's a quote from O'Connor in the Deseret News.

"I'm gonna make one statement and I won't say another thing about it. And if you ask me, I'm gonna get grouchy on it," O'Connor said of Fredette. "We had him in our top 10 on our board. But it's something we feel would be taking away from Kanter and Alec Burks."

The clip I was looking for had one of the media guys asking him if the three-team trade affected the Jazz draft board. KOC got a little testy and said, "why would it?" Then he turned again towards the reporter and said (in effect) he wasn't trying to be difficult, but could the reporter tell him why a trade would affect the Jazz' draft board. The follow up was then that Knight, Walker, Jimmer all went of the board in succession and did that surprise O'Connor. He then said no, it wasn't a surprise because he had all of them in the top 10.
 
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KOC is trying to give Burks another 'chip on his shoulder'

This may result in Burks pulling a Bimbo Coles on KOC - that would be fun to watch...
 
GlassEater said:
I couldn't find the clip, but here's a quote from O'Connor in the Deseret News.

"I'm gonna make one statement and I won't say another thing about it. And if you ask me, I'm gonna get grouchy on it," O'Connor said of Fredette. "We had him in our top 10 on our board. But it's something we feel would be taking away from Kanter and Alec Burks."
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This doesn't say anything to me other than I'm tired of all the ****ing Jimmer questions... It certainly doesn't say we ranked Jimmer higher than Burks.
 
GlassEater said:
I couldn't find the clip, but here's a quote from O'Connor in the Deseret News.

"I'm gonna make one statement and I won't say another thing about it. And if you ask me, I'm gonna get grouchy on it," O'Connor said of Fredette. "We had him in our top 10 on our board. But it's something we feel would be taking away from Kanter and Alec Burks."
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That still doesn't mean Jimmer was higher. It means I am going to talk the guy we did draft, not the guy we didn't.
 
I am so glad we didn't draft Jimmer. Every headline- Jimmer blah blah blah. Every question- Jimmer blah blah blah. It would have been a mess
 
Chad Feldheimer said:
That still doesn't mean Jimmer was higher. It means I am going to talk the guy we did draft, not the guy we didn't.
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Well, I guess it could be taken that way...if the Jazz had Burks in their top-10. That's always a possibility. Perhaps Thompson and Biyombo weren't in the jazz' top-10 and Burks was in there at #9 with Fredette 10th. If that makes you feel better, then go ahead.

KOC also stated, "I think the key is we felt comfortable with him at 12." To me, if they had a guy in their top-10 and he slipped, there would be a little more excitement, as in "we're excited he was still there when we picked. We had him higher on our board and we're happy he was available at #12."
 
GlassEater said:
Well, I guess it could be taken that way...if the Jazz had Burks in their top-10. That's always a possibility. Perhaps Thompson and Biyombo weren't in the jazz' top-10 and Burks was in there at #9 with Fredette 10th. If that makes you feel better, then go ahead.

KOC also stated, "I think the key is we felt comfortable with him at 12." To me, if they had a guy in their top-10 and he slipped, there would be a little more excitement, as in "we're excited he was still there when we picked. We had him higher on our board and we're happy he was available at #12."
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Does it really even matter at this point?
 
Plus, I actually think Burks may have the most upside of any player in this draft. If he becomes a good perimeter shooter (not that he can't score well already), he could be absurdly good within 2-3 years.

Super athletic, his floor is probably Ronnie Brewer with a better handle and worse defense, his ceiling I don't want to discuss for fear of being called a homer.
 
GlassEater said:
Well, I guess it could be taken that way...if the Jazz had Burks in their top-10. That's always a possibility. Perhaps Thompson and Biyombo weren't in the jazz' top-10 and Burks was in there at #9 with Fredette 10th. If that makes you feel better, then go ahead.

KOC also stated, "I think the key is we felt comfortable with him at 12." To me, if they had a guy in their top-10 and he slipped, there would be a little more excitement, as in "we're excited he was still there when we picked. We had him higher on our board and we're happy he was available at #12."
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I'm not going to hunt down a link, but I though KOC said that he didn't think Burks would still be available at 12. Everything points to the Jazz having Burks rated quite high, potentially in the top 8 picks.
 
GVC said:
I'm not going to hunt down a link, but I though KOC said that he didn't think Burks would still be available at 12. Everything points to the Jazz having Burks rated quite high, potentially in the top 8 picks.
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KOC was flat out asked if he was surprised if Burks was available, and he did not say that he was. Jimmer, Kemba, and Knight are difference makers. They actually helped their teams get ranked, and move far in the tournament. Walker and Knight reached final 4, with Kemba winning it all. Jimmer was player of the year. KOC had them in top 10, and they all went in top 10. He was not surprised Burks was available at 12, but he was comfortable with the pick. To me, it means he had them higher, and quite frankly it is a no brainer that they are better picks. But ... KOC had #12, and he though he picked a solid guy for #12. Let's not make it any more than what it is. We did not get a steal here. Better guys (Kemba, Knight, Jimmer) were gone, and we took the next tier guy, who is solid for 12, but not great by any stretch of imagination.
 
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