homeytennis
Well-Known Member
What's depressing about our young players at the moment is that I can argue that they are no better than Luka S, Frank Jackson, Dok, Yurt 7, Bolmaro, NWG and Trent Forrest.
Which of the Jazz's young players are most likely to be on the team in 3 years?
- Thread starter Ferguson_Mellochill
- Start date
I'm not saying these players are equal. I'm saying that this group of 5 looks like long-term players worth keeping for the Jazz at the moment.
Keyonte was a hit in 2023. Flip was a hit in 2024. Ace is a hit in 2025. That's pretty good drafting. You can't compare these guys to the cast-offs you just mentioned.
Hendricks was always going to be limited by his lack of ball skills. Then his injury really set him back. I've always compared him to Dorian Finney-Smith, and Hendricks can get there within a couple years.
Cody's offensive game hasn't translated to the NBA, but his defense is more or less on track. I think he'll come around, though it may take another year or two. Jerami Grant was a guy who didn't do anything in his first 3 or 4 years in the league, and he's had a long career. Cody can still do the same.
Collier was seen as a change-of-pace guard who doesn't shoot and had turnover issues. That's why he fell to the end of the 1st round.
Brice can still make it too. His role model should be Aaron Nesmith. He just needs to keep working on his body and his defense.
homeytennis
Well-Known Member
Tay Henny's twin brother is just a junior in college. Cody has had moments. Still let's remove Kessler and Key from the question who wins the best of seven: The young guys or the cast offs? The winner gets to keep the court.
HadAnEffectHere
Well-Known Member
I think Ace can be a little better than that (like the 15th best PF in the league), but yes, the Jazz got 0 stars and 2 probably non-NBA players out of three top 10 picks.
Still too early to say anything about the top ten picks.
HadAnEffectHere
Well-Known Member
Cody can't crack the rotation of one of the worst teams in the NBA and he's apparently doing even worse in practice, it's over.
Taylor maybe has a future in the NBA? But it's so unlikely and so many years away that he'll probably have to spend a couple years in Europe or the G-League first before coming back to the NBA as teams won't invest in all the years of development he needs. He just doesn't have enough upside to be patient enough to wait four more years for a potential return.
Ace just is playing so badly right now and played so badly in college that you can probably write off stardom, but he has enough shooting and defensive upside to be a league average starting PF one day.
I think Ace is going to be good. Once his body fills out, his physical advantages will start to take over. Right now, he's 19 and he's less than 10 games into his rookie season. Give him a minute. And in the meantime, go look at what Giannis did as a rookie. Giannis mostly came off the bench, averaged 7 pts & 4 rebs, and shot 41/35/68. I'm not saying Ace is Giannis, but he's nearly as young and physically underdeveloped entering the league.
HadAnEffectHere
Well-Known Member
I mean, possibly, but we just saw Taylor Hendricks put on 30 pounds and get 0% better at basketball and Cody just put on 15-20 pounds while still not being any good at basketball. I think Ace's interior scoring will improve as he puts on weight, but he probably doesn't have the skill or coordination to be much more than a 17/8 guy in his prime.
Taylor probably went too far, but it's also hard to tell how much is coming back from injury. Cody is 100% better based on his increased strength, it's just he needs to get 400% better to be a good player.
(Full disclosure, I haven't been following this discussion, but just reacting to the idea that putting on weight hasn't/won't help players get better)
HadAnEffectHere
Well-Known Member
Yeah, Cody is better, but how much weight gain helps varies a lot player to player. Giannis and Gobert are probably the most dramatic successes from weight gain in modern NBA history (and they aren't that modern anymore, both have been in the league over a decade) as both gained tons of athleticism as they put on weight. Dwight Howard is another great historic example. But we have guys like Derrick Favors that didn't get any better from putting on tons of muscle. I'm hoping that Ace improves by putting on 30 or so pounds, but there should be some concern about his lateral quickness as well. We'll see how it goes. He has a very long way to go in general.
Sorry if this has already been discussed, but strength doesn't always equal weight gain.
Cody is a guy who used to handle the ball from the middle of the floor or out on the wing and beat smaller guards off the dribble to get to the rim. He did it in the NCAA, and he's shown some ability to do the same in the Gleague and Summer League, but that's not going to be his role on offense in the NBA. He's not explosive enough to blow past most NBA wings and finish over NBA bigs. His handle isn't good enough right now for him to be a consistent playmaker. He hasn't shot well off the dribble, unless it's a floater near the rim.
Unfortunately, he's not good enough to do the things that made him a top-10 pick. He needs to fix his body and then rebuild himself in the mold of Toumani Camara or Herb Jones. Whether he's able to do these things, and whether the Jazz care if he does them for the Jazz, remain to be seen.