Okur to the Suns

[framer]

Love me some Memo but I can't forgive him for this defensive effort...Even if the Jazz got screwed by clock starting way later than required by rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIUy86Klr0Y

It looked to me like Okur was the fastest player to actually move to the other side of the court. He may not have been stellar on that play, but 4 other Jazzmen were still celebrating on the other end, putting Okur in a bad position. The film is blurry, but I place most of the blame there on Fisher (that is Fisher, right?) Screw that guy.

 

[r_u_s_t_b_u_c_k_e_t]

Judging by his style of play, I don't thing Okur really has much to teach. His only discernible skill was shooting, after all, and he didn't have a particularly high basketball IQ either. I wish him well, though.

He was a pretty good passer. For example, in the 05-06 season he made 194 assists, managing to assist 12.8% of every Jazz basket while he was on the floor. That was good enough to rank 7th league-wide for everyone that played meaningful minutes at center that season:

https://bkref.com/tiny/QyBU4

But his basketball IQ (wtf that means) wasn't "particularly high", right?

 

[r_u_s_t_b_u_c_k_e_t]

It looked to me like Okur was the fastest player to actually move to the other side of the court. He may not have been stellar on that play, but 4 other Jazzmen were still celebrating on the other end, putting Okur in a bad position. The film is blurry, but I place most of the blame there on Fisher (that is Fisher, right?) Screw that guy.

Not only that, but the Jazz absolutely had to avoid a foul in that situation. Could he have played it closer and still not fouled? Sure, he deserves some blame for that. Was he slower and less agile than Marbury was? Duh. Anyway, it's just one play.

 

[r_u_s_t_b_u_c_k_e_t]

Judging by his style of play, I don't thing Okur really has much to teach. His only discernible skill was shooting, after all, and he didn't have a particularly high basketball IQ either. I wish him well, though.

He was an excellent rebounder, finishing in the top-13 league-wide in both total rebounds and offensive rebounds in 05-06. He also ranks 10th all-time for the Jazz franchise in both rebounds and offensive rebounds. Those offensive rebounds numbers are indicative of his effort on the court. You have to get past the other team to get those.

 

[r_u_s_t_b_u_c_k_e_t]

Judging by his style of play, I don't thing Okur really has much to teach. His only discernible skill was shooting, after all, and he didn't have a particularly high basketball IQ either. I wish him well, though.

Okur was ahead of his time. The most three point shots he attempted per-36 minutes with the Jazz was 4.5 during the 06-07 season (the same season he made the all-star game). Last season 100 players attempted more than that, and 67 of those guys made lower than his 38.4%.

 

[r_u_s_t_b_u_c_k_e_t]

1. I didn't see the effort either.
2. He often seemed out of shape.
3. The Jazz should've recognized the gravity of the problem and either not extended him, or better, traded him in order to try and seriously address their lack of anything approaching rim protection in their primary unit.

I don't care if you have Gary Payton, Ron Artest, and Scottie Pippen all in their primes at the other positions, a team with interior defense like that can't win a championship. Can't. This team probably won't be as successful as that era of teams, but I could hardly handle the reality that those teams stood no chance because they couldn't stop a nose bleed, and I could hardly handle the reality that either the organization also recognized that and simply didn't care enough, or they were somehow too dumb to recognize it.

Hopefully the organization isn't too dumb to recognize that the team has a new problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SBEOmavjmM

 

[framer]

Also, freakin' Okur would beat the damn Spurs almost singlehandedly. How many Jazzmen since Stockalone have been able to do that?

 

[addictionary]

Cool info flood rustbucket

 

[MVP]

Not only that, but the Jazz absolutely had to avoid a foul in that situation.

Why? How is not fouling in that situation was better? I would take a contested shot and foul ( you still have a chance to win if he misses at least one free throw) vs turning your back to easy uncontested layup.

 

[addictionary]

Why? How is not fouling in that situation was better? I would take a contested shot and foul ( you still have a chance to win if he misses at least one free throw) vs turning your back to easy uncontested layup.

Do you really think Memo did not want to stop the opposition in that position?

It sure looks bad but thinking anything other than he would have done anything his skillset possesses leads to the result that he sold the game, you know.

 

[cnavk]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=73UfatzlF5Q

What about this one?

 

[ghsartin]

He was a pretty good passer. For example, in the 05-06 season he made 194 assists, managing to assist 12.8% of every Jazz basket while he was on the floor. That was good enough to rank 7th league-wide for everyone that played meaningful minutes at center that season:

https://bkref.com/tiny/QyBU4

But his basketball IQ (wtf that means) wasn't "particularly high", right?

You picked Okur's best passing year to make your argument, r_u_s_t_b_u_c_k_e_t. For his career, Okur assisted on 10.1% of his team's baskets while he was on the floor - which can be either decent or good depending on how you looked at it, but certainly not great. We have to remember that Okur had the ball in his hands relatively often, taking 13.1 shots each 36 minutes while dishing 2.1 assists to go along with 1.9 turnovers - decent or good numbers, depending on how you looked at.

Besides, since he had good size (6'11) and a very good shooting touch, he could have become a much better scorer if he was really smart and creative. Look at Larry Bird for instance, who was 6'10 and unstoppable. Someone probably will scream "But Bird was a SF and Okur was a C". My point, though, is that if you have a very good shooting touch, you have good size and you are very smart you are going to be very difficult to defend. That wasn't Okur's case at all. Okur wasn't a dumb player for sure - and I certainly didn't mean to imply that -, but he didn't seem particularly smart - at least to me. That is what I meant by "he didn't have a particularly high basketball IQ".

And since Okur most positive attribute was clealy his shooting I'm not sure what else he could really teach the big men around the league. Passing? He certainly wasn't great at it. Defensive positioning? Footwork? Post moves? By the way, what do you think is going to be his forte as a coaching? Besides shooting, of course. I'm really curious about it.

 

[MVP]

Do you really think Memo did not want to stop the opposition in that position?

I love Memo, don't get me wrong. But sometimes his defensive instincts were just not there. Which is weird because here he did great job together with AK to preserve the win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73UfatzlF5Q

 

[addictionary]

I love Memo, don't get me wrong. But sometimes his defensive instincts were just not there. Which is weird because here he did great job together with AK to preserve the win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73UfatzlF5Q

And I agree. I just don't think that not reacting fast enough on defense and bad help defense does not necessarily mean that he does not give his best.

 

[Cappy_Smurf]

Hopefully the organization isn't too dumb to recognize that the team has a new problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SBEOmavjmM

I love me some Memo, and I was about to applaud you for sticking up for him, until this stupid post. If Rudy Gobert is a problem, he's a problem every team in the league wish they had. As much as I liked Okur, I'll take elite defense over 3 point shooting from my center all day every day and twice on Thursday.

 

[colton]

Judging by his style of play, I don't thing Okur really has much to teach. His only discernible skill was shooting, after all, and he didn't have a particularly high basketball IQ either. I wish him well, though.

He was a pretty good rebounder as well.