Why I'm disappointed with the draft...and a possible way to fix it

[The Fresh Prince]

It's mostly what we didn't get that bothers me. We still need a legit backup center behind Gobert. And we still need a legit 3/4 behind Hayward, unless the plan is to use a combo of Burks, Hood, and Hayward at the 2/3, which I guess would be fine, barring injury. *knock on wood*

Doesn't look like Lyles can be the 3/4 I wanted out of this draft, and he certainly can't be the 5 I felt (and feel) we absolutely need. And why we drafted another point guard, I'll never know. This draft very well could be a shining example of why you don't necessarily take BPA. People love that strategy for some reason but here we are. As far as I'm concerned, you draft for need unless there's a glaringly awesome player that's sliding for some stupid reason.

Anyway, on a more positive note, I have a hard time believing that DL and company would have screwed the pooch this much at the Draft if they didn't have other plans for free agency. To be fair, I think all of the players the Jazz really wanted were all selected before them and trading up was probably near impossible. But I'm hoping the Lyles pick negates any attempt at reuniting with Paul Millsap. It would've been a bad idea before the Draft and now it's REALLY a bad idea.

So hopefully DL can acquire good backup players in free agency to address the two biggest holes on our roster. Perhaps a deal to bring Pleiss over is in the works. I will assume that DL knows what he's doing for now and contain my ire for the time being.

No offense or anything but I don't really think your opinion matters. Dennis Lindsey obviously doesn't give two flying ducks. Fans are gonna fan. Complain no matter what you do for them.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Nylon Calculus (stats nerd website) gave us the 3rd worst score for the draft.

Said Portis and Looney are both better than Lyles and we did a major reach.

Said Hanlan isn't even a NBA player because he isn't athletic enough.

 

[Stifle Tower]

2 Things:

#1- I think you and quite a few members on this board need to make peace with the fact that it might not be possible for Utah to fix each and every issue with this roster this offseason. We're still very early into the grand plan. Not only that, there's legit contenders with roster holes each off season. Its not like you can snap your fingers during the draft and free agency and all of your needs are automatically met.

Agree. It's impossible to build in contingencies for every player. Playoff success often comes down to health. What would have happened with a healthy Irving/Love but an ailing Curry in the NBA finals.

And there's also a flip side to having TOO many guys in a rotation: some eventually become unhappy with P/T. We saw it when we had Kanter and Favors behind Millsap and Jefferson. And tnen with just Kanter/Gobert. The key is to balance youth vs. experience. It also helps to have players who can play multiple positions. And that's exactly what DL is doing. If Gobert goes down? Yes, that's a HUGE loss. But Favors can slide over and there are a couple of PF's who can hold down the fort. If Hayward gets hurt? Well, Hood can start at the 3. And Jingles or another player will back up.

We had three bigs on the roster before the draft and five wings. Three of the wings could be capable starters. Only two of the bigs are starting quality. PF/C was a bigger need and DL felt Lyles was the best player available. I'm still not 100% sold on Lyles, but it was a good match to balance need vs. BPA. Also have a PG to potentially replace Burke. If we can upgrade over Jingles/Millsap, fantastic. If not, I'm pretty comfortable having them as the 4th/5th guys in the rotation. Also believe Saunders might be a good find.

 

[seattlejazzfan]

Nylon Calculus (stats nerd website) gave us the 3rd worst score for the draft.

Said Portis and Looney are both better than Lyles and we did a major reach.

Said Hanlan isn't even a NBA player because he isn't athletic enough.

That's funny especially for stats nerds site.

The stats say Hanlan is at least equal to, if not more athletic than Delon Wright who Nylon Calculus called an "excellent value pick at 20".

Wright vertical - 31", Hanlan 34". Wright (who is taller) max vert reach 11'.5", Hanlan 11'2". Wright lane agility 11.21, Hanlan 11.36. Sprint Wright 3.29, Hanlan 3.25.

Basically, Wright can run around cones faster, but Hanlan can jump higher and run faster. But Hanlan isn't athletic enough to play in the NBA, while Wright is an excellent value 22 spots earlier in the draft. lol.