Is there legitimate reason to fear Utah next season?

If sloan stays and the Jazz add somebody like Cousins (with NY's high lottery pick) then I think they are going to be a major thorn in the Blazers side for a while to come ... even without Boozer

 

Bull

 

When Milwaukee won the lottery they were #8, but I think you may be overlooking the stretch the Knicks have to end the season. It's one of the tougher remaining schedules left as they make a trip, or 2, to the West coast and play several playoff teams. There is only a 2.5 game difference between the Knicks and the 3rd worst record in the NBA. Also when Utah got Deron Williams as you may remember, they were picking @ #6 and moved up.

As for losing Boozer, there is a very good chance he does stay in Utah. If you haven't noticed, Utah have shed quite a bit of cap and there current cap # is around 56M committed. Thanks to the Blazers, Millsap's original 10.3M drops to 6.2M, Brewer is no longer going to be looking for a raise from Utah, and Boozer is already making 12M, so that could be the difference between the 3M more he would want. Utah's GM said today they would be talking to Boozer about contract extensions before free agency too. Kirilenko and Okur's contracts expires the next year also, so it's not like they will be committed to a bunch of huge contracts in the long term.

Utah's roster is also hitting their prime as Memo is the only current player in his 30's while Kirilenko just turned 29...(you just made a bunch of posters feel over the hill if that's old).

 

Why are you concerned with next year. This one isn't even over yet, and we have no idea what team we will b facing from them next year. They could very well retain Boozer.

 

Based on what? He certainly isn't an upgrade over Deron Williams, and I'd argue that Wall isn't even a true point.

His stats at Kentucky don't blow me away.

16.9 ppg/6.4 apg/4 TO game/31% 3pt/46% FG/4 rpg/77%FT

Wall will be a very good to great NBA player, but the same can be said for Evan Turner, who had this stat line.

20.3ppg/5.9apg/4.2 TOpg/37% 3pt/54%fg/9.2rpg/74% FT.

I watched a lot of Ohio State this year, and I have to say that Evan Turner reminds me A LOT of Brandon Roy at times, except his rebounding as a big SG is off the charts.

 

Better coached. Same with OKC. When you watch either team play help defense, it makes me sad as a Blazer fan. This team could have easily been in the top 5, even with all the injuries, had we gone the direction of hiring a coach that simply spent the needed practice time to teach these player proper help defense.

 

Not compared to Kevin Durant's freshman year or even Greg Oden's.

Those a good points, but Turner's stats from last year, as a soph, look better than Wall's to me. I guess I just don't see how Turner's stats can be held against him as a 21 year-old. If the same matrix applied to Brandon Roy, then the Blazers probably would have been better off drafting Rudy Gay, since Gay had much better stats in his freshman/soph seasons at UCONN.

Perhaps rebounding as a SG is almost irrelevant. Of course, having a starting PG who averages 4 TOs/game with only 6 assists in a run-and-gun offense is somewhat relevant.

I'm not saying Wall won't be a great player; I just wonder why you say you view him as a FAR better prospect, because I don't. Perhaps marginally better? I could buy that, since he will corral his game as he gets to the NBA. As I said, I watched a lot of Ohio State this season, and Turner's game translates very well to the NBA.

 

It's just my opinion after watching him play. I don't think you're wrong in your assessment, I just don't necessarily agree with a large gap between Wall and Turner. I'll throw in a few short Youtube vids that show Turner.

[video=youtube;2MQryGSmmA4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MQryGSmmA4[/video]

[video=youtube;SrIlPpGYbak]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrIlPpGYbak[/video]

[video=youtube;F10BOGLiei4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F10BOGLiei4[/video]

 

I think Turner is going to be a very good NBA player - but my gut feeling is that he is going to be more of a Paul Pierce kind of guy than Brandon Roy - he seems to have the size and wingspan to be a fantastic point-forward and less the agility of a small-guard - the combination of his size and wingspan will, imho, help him slide over to the SF position where his "lack of elite athletic ability" will not be that big of a problem. I think he will fill up and grow a bit larger than Roy - which again, will very likely make him into a SF, long term. That, at least, is my feel for him.

Wall seems like a Derrick Rose kind of PG - with maybe a bit more court vision and less of a scoring mentality - but he seems to be, at least for now, more of a system player - he is going to struggle in half-court sets especially in the NBA. If the pace is not going to be fast - he is going to take time to become a PG - or he will have to play a Wade like SG position - where he is used more in a scoring capacity by using his amazing athletic abilities.

 

if he actually showed an inability to make 3s, that would be a little troubling. but he doesn't. he makes 3s at a pretty decent percentage he just doesn't take many of them.

i don't think questions about his athleticism really have any merit either.

 

Turner has an excellent mid-range game. I guess I don't understand your infatuation with his 3pt shooting, when Wall has proven to be an even worse shooter from outside. You even said you haven't seen him play much. On what are you basing your assessment?

 

Actually, he's shown an inability to shoot 3 pointers, for whatever reason. He's actually shown the ability to make them when he shoots them.

 

i like a guy who knows his strengths and what's best for the team. ohio state has better 3 point shooters. they are better off with turner attacking the basket creating opportunities for the other shooters rather than him shooting from the outside to create space for a post game that they don't have.

if turner was unable to shoot 3s, he wouldn't be shooting a good percentage. not being a volume 3 point shooter in college isn't a bad thing. roy didn't take a lot of 3s. and john wall isn't a good 3 point shooter either.