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Will drafting Knight hurt Harris's motivation?

Beantown

Beantown

Well-Known Member
There were talks in New Jersey about Devin Harris basically giving up on the Nets because he knew he was getting traded and he was not part of their long term plans. I just can't see Harris being too happy about this type of a situation. If the Jazz draft Knight at #3 then its a conclusion that Harris is not part of the teams long term plans.

Will Harris really want to spend the rest of his time with the Jazz grooming our next PG? Harris has been with Utah for like 30 games, its not like he has some connection with our team or the city and is passing on the torch to Knight.

Harris is 28 and the next few years are the last of his prime years and I just cant see the situation working out.

I say if the Jazz draft Knight then trade Harris before the start of the season and then resign Watson.

Watson would be cheap and would be a decent starter until Knight can takeover and then have Watson go back to his 2nd unit role.
 
Harris is the bomb.... Harris knows no evil.. he even takes scrubs schooling him in stride. (I do really like the guy, so no offense) [@ 1:25]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysv3v7uXblw
 
I don't think we should give up on Harris.

- He's fast enough
- Athletic enough and can still finish at the rim
- His jump shot & 3pt seemed to have improved when he joined us
- He just needs to slow down a bit and learn to compose himself

Basically - IMHO keep Harris, don't draft Knight.
 
I highly doubt it. Even if Knight is drafted, Harris is still the starter for a couple of years. Throw in on top of that, unless Harris is wanting to retire when this contract ends, he needs to bust his butt off for his next contract. Finally, Harris is from Wisconsin, so I could see him liking it here and wanting to sign another contract knowing he will be the backup. Especially if we are very good then.
 
green said:
I highly doubt it. Even if Knight is drafted, Harris is still the starter for a couple of years. Throw in on top of that, unless Harris is wanting to retire when this contract ends, he needs to bust his butt off for his next contract.
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I agree with this, Plus Harris can see that he has NO backup as of right now. So I don't think he will be mad once the Jazz draft Knight or Jimmer, maybe if Utah drafted both Knight and Jimmer then maybe. And I really thought that Harris did alright in the few :) games he played. I would be totally ok with Utah keeping Harris for the next few years.
 
If it does bother Harris then why wouldn't we trade him. Veterans know guys are going to be drafted so it shouldn't be too shocking if the Jazz draft a PG since they only have one under contract. Every player knows that one day they will be replaced even the great ones know that. If Harris is pissed I hope he uses it as motivation and not as a sign he is not in the team's future.
 
I believe originally the plan to trade for Harris was that he could come in and contribute in a way that the team would make the playoffs last year. But that didn't work too well.

Even if we draft Knight, I believe he will still be the starter at least in the beginning but if he is injury prone and the team loses again, he will be traded.

If we get to draft Irving though, I think we should be fielding offers for Harris and pick the best one.
 
i dont think Knight is the best choice for us at 3, but i think Knight will help us much more than Harris even in his rookie year
 
sepanol said:
i dont think Knight is the best choice for us at 3, but i think Knight will help us much more than Harris even in his rookie year
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This is crazy talk. I really like Knight, but he needs two years of seasoning before I think he'll be in the conversation as a starter. And Harris is already good, just not great.

My read on Knight is that if you give him a system to learn that won't change dramatically outside of little wrinkles here and there, he'll excel. But getting up to speed as such a young kid will require a lot of experience.
 
Knight is a few years away from being a better player than Harris, if he ever is. I don't see why it would bother Harris, I don't know if the plan was to keep him forever, and I don't know if Harris plans on playing the rest of his career out here.

It's not fair to Harris to say he'll lose interest in the season because he might not be here in two years.
 
fallenchicken said:
Knight is a few years away from being a better player than Harris, if he ever is. I don't see why it would bother Harris, I don't know if the plan was to keep him forever, and I don't know if Harris plans on playing the rest of his career out here.

It's not fair to Harris to say he'll lose interest in the season because he might not be here in two years.
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The crazy thing about this is we're talking about a guy who is in the absolute prime of his career. It may be the prime of a guy who's not that great, but he'll be 28 and 29 while he's under contract for us in addition to playing for the last money contract of his career. Even if we draft Knight, we couldn't possibly be in a better situation with Harris.
 
fallenchicken said:
Knight is a few years away from being a better player than Harris, if he ever is. I don't see why it would bother Harris, I don't know if the plan was to keep him forever, and I don't know if Harris plans on playing the rest of his career out here.

It's not fair to Harris to say he'll lose interest in the season because he might not be here in two years.
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I agree. We're drafting mere kids nowadays, not players who have had 3-4 years of college to mature. With Favors, Hayward and perhaps a SF all very young, I think the Jazz will want a veteran PG running the team. The year Harris' contract expires is about when Knight should be ready to take over. Until then, he'd get 15 mins/per as a backup and a few starts when Harris goes down with an injury. I'm not in the mood to look it up, but Devin seems to miss 10 or so games every year.

I think the Jazz could end up with Williams, if they want him. Best scenario for Cavs, IMO is to take Kanter #1. Minnesota would likely have a deal in place to trade the rights to Irving. Jazz take Williams or Knight and the Cavs get the player who's left. That is a great outcome for Cleveland. IMO, better than Irving and perhaps a Euro big.
 
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