The Udoka pick is the worst in team history

[Handlogten's Heros]

When drafting in the very late first or 2nd round, I look for guys with an elite trait. Herb Jones is an elite defender. Not many other guys in the 2nd round showed me an elite skill like that. I don't think a team can have too many wing defenders these days so I don't think taking him was as much "drafting for need" as much as "drafting for what every team needs".

Butler might end up being a solid pro, but I don't think he has any elite traits.

I generally agree with the first paragraph... I draft wings/perimeter guys in spades and figure it out. And yeah... focus on what a guy can do.

JB has a ton of skill... he might have the most elite trait which is creating offense for himself and others. Quin wanted to sit him in the corner and have him play like Royce. The guy can get separation on his jumper, has a slick handle and moves well so he can get where he wants. He's a good passer as well. He was the best college player on the best college team... he is elite. Only reason he wasn't a mid first round guy was health concerns (which are/were legitimate). When he's been on the court he's been productive and has shown some ability to be a good enough defender.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Completely inexcusable in every way.

Giving away all the assets for Conley when CP3 was basically free is another killer.

If you had told me during Mitchell's rookie year, that he would become a legitimate top 10 player in the league, but I'd still be completely checked out on a Jazz season....

I won't say they are a terrible front office on a league wide level. But it cannot be disputed that at the critical moment(s) they absolutely choked. This era is going to fizzle out soon, and there will be some turning point moments to look back at. And for each one of them, I'm not sure our FO could have done a worse job. Any rando on this board given power in those moments, and the team is in much better shape right now.

Shame.

The FO ****ed up in a lot of ways, but health is still the main killer of this era of the Jazz. Two straight playoff runs greatly hampered by multiple starting lineup injuries.

I dont know if any rando could have done better tbh. The Jazz still got Conley and Bogey and that's a big part of why the Jazz have been an elite regular season team.

They just sucked at the final moves. I wonder how much that has to do with all the FO/Ownership upheaval. We all use to think the Jazz were a pretty elite scouting team with how they found a lot of great draft picks and hidden gems in free agency. Then we just got a flurry of *** moves and there seemed to be no communication/plan between the FO and Quin.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I think the biggest hindsight error currently (that is realistic, not draft the right guy and have him develop the exact same way he has that he did on the worse team that drafted him) is not using draft picks to trade for a player better than Gay/Niang for that 7th/8th man spot. Someone you know for a fact is good, isnt going to fall off in the next year or two, and someone you know Quin actually wants to play and fits how the team plays.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Also, RIP to Rodney Hood's career. That would have been another big game changer if he continued his improvement arc after that stellar 2nd season.

 

[LogGrad98]

And obviously Burke over Giannis is the worst pick of all time for teh Jazz.

To be fair, 13 other teams passed over him too. It wasn't as big a whiff as Exum imo, simply due to prevailing opinion at the time and actual draft position.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

To be fair, 13 other teams passed over him too. It wasn't as big a whiff as Exum imo, simply due to prevailing opinion at the time and actual draft position.

At least with Exum you were drafting a lot of potential. He just could never stay healthy and his wrist doesnt know how to bend on jump shots.

It's probably one of the picks I'm least mad about tbh.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Also imagine if Utah waited a year on the drafting a center thing during the Tony Bradley era and instead got Robert Williams the following year.

 

[LoPo]

Udoka isn't the worst draft pick in team history, but it was a severe gut punch considering how close we were to building a contender. Missing on a guy like Exum when we were rebuilding doesn't hurt as much as wasting pick when so many useful guys were there to help us.

Overall, I think the worse draft decision was taking Burks over Kawhi. It was such a poor decision. Kawhi was the freak athlete we always wanted.

 

[LogGrad98]

Udoka isn't the worst draft pick in team history, but it was a severe gut punch considering how close we were to building a contender. Missing on a guy like Exum when we were rebuilding doesn't hurt as much as wasting pick when so many useful guys were there to help us.

Overall, I think the worse draft decision was taking Burks over Kawhi. It was such a poor decision. Kawhi was the freak athlete we always wanted.

Then we could have been the team to watch him go to Toronto to win a ring. We definitely didn't have the team around us like SA did to win much more than we did anyway.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Udoka isn't the worst draft pick in team history, but it was a severe gut punch considering how close we were to building a contender. Missing on a guy like Exum when we were rebuilding doesn't hurt as much as wasting pick when so many useful guys were there to help us.

Overall, I think the worse draft decision was taking Burks over Kawhi. It was such a poor decision. Kawhi was the freak athlete we always wanted.

He also couldnt shoot and Utah had a two big lineup and already had their SF in Hayward. Obviously a bad pick, but Burks was also a freak athlete who fit the team (theoretically) very well as they badly needed someone who could develop into a primary scorer (no one saw that coming for Kawhi). So while with hindsight it was awful, at the moment of the draft it was a defendable pick.

The Udoka pick is one of the worst ones because there really was no way to justify it. The only thing that made Udoka seem kind of intruging was his vertical numbers, but the moment you look into that, it's clearly obvious he flubbed his standing reach number to get a bigger vertical.

 

[LoPo]

Then we could have been the team to watch him go to Toronto to win a ring. We definitely didn't have the team around us like SA did to win much more than we did anyway.

You never know. Kawhi could have been our alpha right from the start. We know he would have been the man over Gordon (who we eventually made the man before he left).

 

[LogGrad98]

You never know. Kawhi could have been our alpha right from the start. We know he would have been the man over Gordon (who we eventually made the man before he left).

Oh he would have made us better, no doubt. But we did not have the pieces at the time that even the Clippers have now and he can't drag them to the title. We would have been better, still would not have been contenders. He would have eventually left for brighter lights anyway. Seems that is what he wanted all along.

 

[LoPo]

He also couldnt shoot and Utah had a two big lineup and already had their SF in Hayward. Obviously a bad pick, but Burks was also a freak athlete who fit the team (theoretically) very well as they badly needed someone who could develop into a primary scorer (no one saw that coming for Kawhi). So while with hindsight it was awful, at the moment of the draft it was a defendable pick.

The Udoka pick is one of the worst ones because there really was no way to justify it. The only thing that made Udoka seem kind of intruging was his vertical numbers, but the moment you look into that, it's clearly obvious he flubbed his standing reach number to get a bigger vertical.

We can always make any pick "defendable". Even Udoka at the time was defendable because he was viewed as Rudy off the bench and maybe even future Rudy.

If we would have gotten Kawhi, maybe we would have moved on from the stupid "two big" lineups quicker than we did. We could have played Gordon some at SG and some at SF. Kawhi could play some SF and some PF.

 

[LoPo]

Oh he would have made us better, no doubt. But we did not have the pieces at the time that even the Clippers have now and he can't drag them to the title. We would have been better, still would not have been contenders. He would have eventually left for brighter lights anyway. Seems that is what he wanted all along.

2010 Drafted Hayward
Early 2011 traded for Favors
2011 Could of drafted Kawhi
2013 Drafted Rudy

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Also imagine if Utah waited a year on the drafting a center thing during the Tony Bradley era and instead got Robert Williams the following year.

Which I would understand. If you are drafting a center they need to be an elite rim protector or they need to do some of the center things while stretching the floor. It isn't just the position (though it should get less priority) but also the prospect. Doke was a better pick in a vacuum because at least he had ELITE measurables and was a good athlete for that size. But when you have already seen the issues we've had at backup center and are planning on throwing a big deal out there... then it makes no damn sense. If they had decided we will play Udoka right from the start then I would be slightly less negative on it... hell sign a minimum vet just in case. But throwing a 3 year MLE offer out at a center, when you already have a max player at center, sending a first out to take another center (none of which can shoot at all) is soooooo dumb.

We essentially invested two first round picks and our best FA cap asset for one year of Favs and Udoka... the second first is to offload Favs deal the next summer.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

We can always make any pick "defendable". Even Udoka at the time was defendable because he was viewed as Rudy off the bench and maybe even future Rudy.

If we would have gotten Kawhi, maybe we would have moved on from the stupid "two big" lineups quicker than we did. We could have played Gordon some at SG and some at SF. Kawhi could play some SF and some PF.

Did you think Udoka was the future Gobert or are you just saying stupid **** to argue?

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Which I would understand. If you are drafting a center they need to be an elite rim protector or they need to do some of the center things while stretching the floor. It isn't just the position (though it should get less priority) but also the prospect. Doke was a better pick in a vacuum because at least he had ELITE measurables and was a good athlete for that size. But when you have already seen the issues we've had at backup center and are planning on throwing a big deal out there... then it makes no damn sense. If they had decided we will play Udoka right from the start then I would be slightly less negative on it... hell sign a minimum vet just in case. But throwing a 3 year MLE offer out at a center, when you already have a max player at center, sending a first out to take another center (none of which can shoot at all) is soooooo dumb.

We essentially invested two first round picks and our best FA cap asset for one year of Favs and Udoka... the second first is to offload Favs deal the next summer.

That's the thing about Doke though, he wasn elite lmao. He just flubbed his numbers to look elite and he had enough vertical pop to make it seem slightly believable. In reality the guy is actually a terrible athlete. Maybe it's just conditioning, but for a young dude he looks like he's pushing early 30's with the way he move. I'm guessing when the coaching staff got him in, they quickly saw that. DL just fell in love with a big lob target who had decent vertical ability and probably blindly fell hook line and sinker for his flubbed numbers.

 

[LoPo]

Did you think Udoka was the future Gobert or are you just saying stupid **** to argue?

I didn't think he was going to be that but people were defending the pick making claims that he had that potential. At the time of the pick, people weren't nearly as upset as they are now.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Burks is another guy who should have been way better than he was. Crazy now that's lost most of his athletic ability, he's actually become a very good shooter and solid defender.

HE's a dude that I wonder if he went to a different team if he would have had a much better career. Him and Snyder never clicked.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I didn't think he was going to be that but people were defending the pick making claims that he had that potential. At the time of the pick, people weren't nearly as upset as they are now.

Yeah, after the pick was made. We both know as fans we do this thing called coping. Pre the pick everyone would have **** on the idea of drafting him.