With the 25th pick, Utah took Morris Almond....... Thanks for passing up Splitter, and now that we get another non-defensive player, I'm going to go cry The Spurs are a dynasty for a reason because GM's in the NBA are retarded. There is no reason Splitter should of fell into the Spurs lap. He would of definitely been a lotto pick next year, and any other year, or even this year without a buyout.
So I don't know either of these 2 players because I don't watch college ball. Fill me in. Good...... bad.....
The first round pick, Morris Almond from Rice, is a two guard who can really shoot the ball. He's a senior, and averaged 26.4 PPG on 48% shooting in his senior season. He can shoot it consistently from beyond the arc as well. NBADraft.net compares him to Michael Redd, though that is just a comparison. The Jazz don't have much in the way of noted shooters, but this pick helps to address that. After the Hill trade, the Jazz ended up with Kyrylo Fesenko from Ukraine. He's a seven footer, and a project. So the Jazz tried to fill a need with Almond, and took a chance on Fesenko. They didn't make any major moves to improve themselves, but not a bad draft at all IMO.
<div class="quote_poster">Stockton Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">The first round pick, Morris Almond from Rice, is a two guard who can really shoot the ball. He's a senior, and averaged 26.4 PPG on 48% shooting in his senior season. He can shoot it consistently from beyond the arc as well. NBADraft.net compares him to Michael Redd, though that is just a comparison. The Jazz don't have much in the way of noted shooters, but this pick helps to address that. After the Hill trade, the Jazz ended up with Kyrylo Fesenko from Ukraine. He's a seven footer, and a project. So the Jazz tried to fill a need with Almond, and took a chance on Fesenko. They didn't make any major moves to improve themselves, but not a bad draft at all IMO.</div> Almond's stats are inflated from being the main option at Rice, a team with practically no talent outside of him. We just played them in a scrimage and ran them out of the gym with no Almond. If you look at it, a lot of his big scoring nights came against nobodies, whereas he was shut down against teams like Memphis and Gonzaga. The Jazz should have taken Tiago Splitter like J_Ray said.
<div class="quote_poster">Voodoo Child Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Almond's stats are inflated from being the main option at Rice, a team with practically no talent outside of him. We just played them in a scrimage and ran them out of the gym with no Almond. If you look at it, a lot of his big scoring nights came against nobodies, whereas he was shut down against teams like Memphis and Gonzaga. The Jazz should have taken Tiago Splitter like J_Ray said.</div> It takes a C-USA fan to realize this mistake Utah did. Morris Almond is a good college three point shooter but can he translate to the NBA three? Another thing is that he isn't that athletic, so how is this guy any different from Kirk Snyder?
3rd in the nation in scoring with 26 ppg? 48% shooting? Good 3pt shooter? Sounds good to me... I didn't expect the Jazz to make any huge moves. All we needed was to fill a few holes IMO. We DID get to the western conference finals and lose to the Spurs who swept the Cavs...
<div class="quote_poster">Marbire Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">3rd in the nation in scoring with 26 ppg? 48% shooting? Good 3pt shooter? Sounds good to me... I didn't expect the Jazz to make any huge moves. All we needed was to fill a few holes IMO. We DID get to the western conference finals and lose to the Spurs who swept the Cavs...</div> Did you see Rice's record while you were looking at stats? He was all they had, plus Adam Morrison did much better in a mid-major conference, showing even the goofiest players can do this stuff. The Spurs beat us for a reason, because they take good picks and storing them. Utah doesn't need a PF but he's talented and could play C if we needed him too. Memo isn't the youngest player either, we could of used Splitter Also I bet you'll like this stat, he averaged 5 rebounds in about 20 minutes a game, others that averaged that many for the same team......Pau Gasol, Luis Scola, & Andres Nocioni.......plus his team just made it to the Finals overseas, while Almond's team were done for the NCAA tourney by the beginning of C-USA play.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting :</div><div class="quote_post">Did you see Rice's record while you were looking at stats? He was all they had, plus Adam Morrison did much better in a mid-major conference, showing even the goofiest players can do this stuff. The Spurs beat us for a reason, because they take good picks and storing them. Utah doesn't need a PF but he's talented and could play C if we needed him too. Memo isn't the youngest player either, we could of used Splitter Also I bet you'll like this stat, he averaged 5 rebounds in about 20 minutes a game, others that averaged that many for the same team......Pau Gasol, Luis Scola, & Andres Nocioni.......plus his team just made it to the Finals overseas, while Almond's team were done for the NCAA tourney by the beginning of C-USA play.</div> And Utah need more rebounding why exactly? Last season they had a +5.5 rebounding differential, which was first in the league. Of course it wouldn't hurt for Utah to add another rebounder, but not at the expense of their weaknesses. Even with Kirilenko playing poorly, they already have one of the best frontcourts in the league. Backcourt however, is a different story. The Jazz had the second best field goal percentage in the league, they know how to execute. But despite this they had a notable lack of shooters, and that's where Almond will help. To make matters worse, Giricek's days in a Jazz uniform seem to be numbered. The Jazz were second in assists, and have one of the best passers in the game in Deron Williams. Almond is now on a team where there wont be so much pressure on him, potentially resulting in more open looks, and the Jazz will find him if he's open. From there, you can be confident he'll make it. He doesn't have to be an all star, just a reliable shooter that will help to stretch the defense, which he is already. He will also provide another option from beyond the arc, and even though they're not a three point orientated team the Jazz need that as they finished 29th in three point percentage. Almond seems eager to play for Utah, how many players can you say that about today? He's also 6'6", which is obviously more suited to shooting guard than 6'1". I wouldn't have minded Splitter, but Almond was the right choice.
