Well, the draft is 10 days away, and the Utah Jazz officially start their workouts today. The Jazz worked out Jaycee Carroll last week, but he withdrew from the draft. I’d like to either see the Jazz move up into the lottery or acquire an early second-round pick, but here are my picks for the Jazz at #25.
1. Arron Afflalo
One requirement to be on this list of five players is that the Jazz need to work the player out at least once. Arron Afflalo is set to work out with the team today (Monday), and he’ll likely be matched against Alando Tucker.
Why did I put Afflalo at the top of my list for Jazz draft prospects? Aside from playing for a quality program at UCLA, Arron Afflalo has all of the tools that means he could thrive under Sloan’s system. Almost like a smaller Matt Harpring, Afflalo moves well without the ball. He has a solid mid-range game, as well as a three-point shot. Afflalo has a good basketball IQ and feeds post players the ball, which doesn’t hurt as long as Boozer is around.
2. Morris Almond
As far as shooting guards go, Morris Almond seems to by far have the greatest offensive talents. The Jazz need a three-point scorer and a perimeter offensive weapon, and Almond connected on 46% of his three-point shots last year. Although picking Almond would be a dumb pick if they kept both Miles and Giricek, Almond definitely has the ability to score points in a hurry.
3. Kyle Visser
Visser would come in handy if the team had an early second-round pick, but he’s a solid post player who wouldn’t be too much of a stretch at #25. Although he doesn’t block an extremely high amount of shots, at 6′ 11″ and 250 lbs., he has the size to be the much awaited replacement of Jarron Collins.
4. Alando Tucker
I’m guessing he wasn’t an All-American player for nothing. Tucker played four years at Wisconsin, averaging double-digits in scoring all four seasons, although Tucker doesn’t boast very impressive free-throw or three-point numbers. Tucker does get to the free-throw line often and rebound solidly for a small forward.
5. Demetris Nichols
Plain and simple, Nichols is a shooter. He may not amount to more than a role player in the NBA, but with an excellent shot and solid defensive skills, he could help the Jazz after the team gave up huge performances to Michael Redd and Kobe Bryant. Nichols could help on the offensive end as well, as he made 85% of his free-throws and 42% of his three-point shots.
La287 is a contributing writer for UtahJazzBlog.net — while also maintaining Daily Basketball, a round-up of the latest NBA and NCAA sporting news.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
I more or less agree with the list. I might put Byars a bit above Almond, but other than that I agree. I didn’t rank Visser as high because I find the need for a wing to be much higher than the need for a C (though you won’t see me complaining if the Jazz replace Collins).
I fell a bit on Tucker during March Madness, mostly because of his inability to shoot from the outside (a need for the Jazz). I know it was only 2 games, but I was very much unimpressed.
As for the pick, if they don’t trade up for Brewer or Hawes, I’d have no problem with Afflalo (unless Nick Young falls… nbadraft.net has him slipping to like 21) being the pick. Unfortunately… that could mean even less time for Brewer/Miles (if he’s resigned).
June 18th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
I agree that we need a shooter, but we need to make sure the player we get is someone who doesn’t need the ball in his hands to get his shot. For this reason, I’m a little wary of Alando Tucker — I think he’ll need a bit too much possession to create, and between D-Will, C-Booz and Memo we just don’t have enough rock to go around. That makes your point about Afflalo moving well without the ball extremely relevant. He’s number one on my wish list too (of players that will reasonably be available at #25).
However, I am a little concerned about us drafting yet another 2 guard. In recent years, we’ve drafted DeShawn Stevenson, Sasha Pavlovic, Kirk Snyder, CJ Miles, and Ronnie Brewer, shooting guards all. Our organization doesn’t seem to have the patience to let these draft picks develop. Personally, from an all-around standpoint, I really do think Ronnie Brewer can be the answer for us — he has the energy and defensive capability that the Jazz need. He isn’t a long distance threat, though, and maybe that’s reason enough to go for a player like Almond or Nichols.
It’s reasonably likely that we won’t resign Rafael Araujo, in order to save salary cap space and sign somebody else. (I wish to all the powers that ever were that we could cut Jarron Collins instead, because I actually like Hoffa better. Alas…) In that case, we might need to draft for height. Visser seems like a good choice.
June 18th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
I think Ronnie Brewer could play some more minutes at small forward.
At first thought, I’d want the Jazz to trade off Collins and Giricek, but Giricek played solid on both ends of the floor in my opinion. The Jazz should also keep C.J. Miles, if only to play for the Flash in the D-League. Neither Araujo or Collins have really demanded/earned a roster spot, but Araujo plays hard and Collins plays smart. The coaches seem to like that; neither probably “went on vacation early”.
Byars won’t be around, according to many of the mocks I’ve seen. Hopefully Afflalo doesn’t see a rise in stock this next week; right now, I’d like to see him, Almond, or Visser.
It’s weird that we need a shooting guard. I see it more as a wing, though, because we need a small forward as well. Harpring played well this season, but we don’t know when he’ll stop playing back-to-backs. With Miles, Brewer, Giricek, and Harpring, as well as probably(?) Almond or Afflalo, Jazz fans shouldn’t see Fisher starting at shooting guard.
June 19th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Ronnie needs/deserves a real chacce, he showed that he is athletic and he can play defense. When is confidence is up anyways. Its pretty amazing that he even showed those things considering the lack of playing time he got. The Jazz’s biggest need is a defensive- shot blocking center, Since Eaton retired, that has always been the Jazz’s biggest need! But Afflalo, will fit really well in our sytem, he’ll push Brewer and Possibly C.J. to be much better, as they would all be fighting for the starting spot. Trade Giri, i completley disagree with Giri on this team. HE isn’t good. He makes maybe a couple 3’s has five turnovers and gets burned on defense. (1 decent game against Kobe, and thats it) Collins should leave too. I doubt we’ll keep Hoffa, though he showed a huge improvement, and he really seems to love it here, maybe he’ll take a huge pay-cut so we can re-sign him.
June 25th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Check out Almond on draftexpress.com’s comparison of shooting guards. I’d love it if he fell to the Jazz.
June 26th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Here’s Hollinger’s evaluation
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2007/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=ProRater&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2fdraft2007%2finsider%2fcolumns%2fstory%3fcolumnist%3dhollinger_john%26page%3dProRater