Enes Kanter on defense

Winglish · Post #1 » by **Winglish** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 12:44 am

Richard Jefferson on talking with Enes Kanter, "He believes that offense is more important than defense. Yes, I'm telling that to the media. Those are his own words. Not saying that he says that they're equally important. He says that in the playoffs, you need good offensive players. And I was like, you will not find a championship team that doesn't know to get stops in the last five minutes of the game."

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865601210/Utah-Jazz-Live-coverage-of-locker-clean-out-day.html

RJ definitely threw Enes under the bus. This is why I am not high on Enes Kanter. He still has very little concept of where to be and what to do defensively most of the time. This quote is telling.

The59Sound · Post #2 » by **The59Sound** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 12:52 am

Wow. That really is a devastating quote. We all figured that's what Enes thought, in light of his mind-blowing laziness and ineptitude on the defensive end, but to hear a direct quote from his teammate -- a vet with credibility -- is amazing.

Post #3 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 12:56 am

Not a big deal for me. Most teams would kill to get a big man who can give them 20-10, which Kanter might be able to do in the future. He also made significant progress on defense as the year went on, after he started slow due to his injury and being out of shape. There is another quote there where he says he'll work this offseason on his defense, so we'll see. When he works on things, he shows improvement.

The59Sound · Post #4 » by **The59Sound** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:01 am

Inigo Montoya wrote:Not a big deal for me. Most teams would kill to get a big man who can give them 20-10, which Kanter might be able to do in the future. He also made significant progress on defense as the year went on, after he started slow due to his injury and being out of shape. There is another quote there where he says he'll work this offseason on his defense, so we'll see. When he works on things, he shows improvement.

The talk about working on his defense was clearly just lip service, in my opinion.

Enes Kanter on what Richard Jefferson said about offense and defense: "Ah, man. He told you that?"

On his debate with Jefferson on whether offense or defense was more important: "I told [Jefferson] offense. I didn't tell you offense."

That about sums it up for me.

This isn't me writing off or wanting to dump Enes, but clearly there's some issues with his mentality that need to be addressed. A better coach and a better team will help, but Kanter already lacks the tools to be a great defender; when you add not caring on top of that, it ain't a good look.

Wolverine · Post #5 » by **Wolverine** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:24 am

Inigo Montoya wrote:Not a big deal for me. Most teams would kill to get a big man who can give them 20-10, which Kanter might be able to do in the future. He also made significant progress on defense as the year went on, after he started slow due to his injury and being out of shape. There is another quote there where he says he'll work this offseason on his defense, so we'll see. When he works on things, he shows improvement.

Al Jeffesrson?

Post #6 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:52 am

Wolverine wrote:
Inigo Montoya wrote:Not a big deal for me. Most teams would kill to get a big man who can give them 20-10, which Kanter might be able to do in the future. He also made significant progress on defense as the year went on, after he started slow due to his injury and being out of shape. There is another quote there where he says he'll work this offseason on his defense, so we'll see. When he works on things, he shows improvement.

Al Jeffesrson?

Big Al is a damn good player.

Post #7 » by **StocktonShorts** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 2:24 am

What would Kevin Durant say if you asked him? What about Karl Malone?

Let's not read too much into this.

babyjax13 · Post #8 » by **babyjax13** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 4:18 am

This just makes me dislike RJ. Why is it necessary to tell this to the media?

tleikheen · Post #9 » by **tleikheen** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 4:40 am

OMG ,fans throwing a 21 year old out for putting offense before defense,whats the basketball world coming too ,who would do that !

This whole Jazz team should have put offense before defense this year.It was obvious this team should have been running uptempo as young as they were (Rockets were the young team last year and ran all year finishing last in defense but their young guys played).The last couple games where Kanter and Favors were getting fast break slam dunks and idiot Harpring saying if they had hustled they could have been doing more of that this year, ticked me off. We put up with Corbin slowing them down to run 1/2 court offense ,only to watch the perimeter players either turning the ball over or jacking up jumpers as they shot themselves into another loss.
Kanter is showing offense and rebounding.If he comes back at 22 and plays great offense and ok defense ,I'll be stoked.

Viktor Vaughn · Post #10 » by **Viktor Vaughn** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 4:45 am

What is the difference between these two statements:

"Offence is more important than defence"
"Defence is not important"

Fact is, we don't know what exactly Kanter said, so we can't really look that much into it. Also, RJ is a knob for saying that.

SoCalJazzFan · Post #11 » by **SoCalJazzFan** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 5:27 am

I'm surprised anyone is sticking up for kanter. It really doesn't matter if he is an 16 pt 9 rb guy if his net presence on the floor is negative. The fact that a teammate threw him under the bus shows the frustration that fellow players and coaches had with his lack of either willingness or ability to play d.

Maneesh · Post #12 » by **Maneesh** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 6:33 am

SoCalJazzFan wrote:I'm surprised anyone is sticking up for kanter. It really doesn't matter if he is an 16 pt 9 rb guy if his net presence on the floor is negative. The fact that a teammate threw him under the bus shows the frustration that fellow players and coaches had with his lack of either willingness or ability to play d.

I agree this thought. I don't like kanter and favors seems better with him gone from him. Favors is hero. We trade kanter for more condiment players for jazz.

Sparky6string · Post #13 » by **Sparky6string** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 7:05 am

Maneesh wrote:
SoCalJazzFan wrote:I'm surprised anyone is sticking up for kanter. It really doesn't matter if he is an 16 pt 9 rb guy if his net presence on the floor is negative. The fact that a teammate threw him under the bus shows the frustration that fellow players and coaches had with his lack of either willingness or ability to play d.

I agree this thought. I don't like kanter and favors seems better with him gone from him. Favors is hero. We trade kanter for more condiment players for jazz.

Agreed. To me a player with that mindset about defense shouldn't get playing time. If this is true we will be better off dumping Kanter for anyone with defensive capability. I don't want another Big Al or David Lee.

Jazz_Man_86 · Post #14 » by **Jazz_Man_86** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:46 am

Kanter for Barnes

Post #15 » by **FJS** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:55 am

I don't know what is the point of RJ to make it public.

Man, you can be searching a new team.

cjs55 · Post #16 » by **cjs55** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:32 pm

RJ has gotta be the worst vet ever. "Yeah, lets report inflammatory statements from 20 year olds to the media". What a loser.

reapaman · Post #17 » by **reapaman** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:42 pm

RJ's comment means nothing. The fact is that Kanter's defense is no good, will never be any good and will likely get worst once he gets that new contract and loses the motivation to constantly play with alot of energy (which happens with most players when they get new contracts).

With that said RJ should be reprimanded for gossiping like a little girl. That comment was uncalled for. Keep that stuff to yourself.

Post #18 » by **StocktonShorts** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 2:48 pm

Jazz_Man_86 wrote:Kanter for Barnes

What is with this Jazz fan infatuation with Harrison Barnes? He's not a good player. His PER this season is under 10. His Real Plus Minus is -3.31. He's worse than he was last year by just about any metric. And he's playing on a team filled with gifted passers and shooters.

At this point it looks doubtful he'll ever become even as good as Marvin Williams, a comparison that people mocked me for on the GB at the start of the season.

Post #19 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:07 pm

Sparky6string wrote:Agreed. To me a player with that mindset about defense shouldn't get playing time. If this is true we will be better off dumping Kanter for anyone with defensive capability. I don't want another Big Al or David Lee.

Really? So what do you say about Trey? He is horrible defensively and shoots the 2nd most on this team, and he's at the same age as Kanter.

Kanter was picked in a weak draft. If he becomes as good as Big Al, that's a huge success.

SoCalJazzFan wrote:I'm surprised anyone is sticking up for kanter. It really doesn't matter if he is an 16 pt 9 rb guy if his net presence on the floor is negative. The fact that a teammate threw him under the bus shows the frustration that fellow players and coaches had with his lack of either willingness or ability to play d.

A 21 year old player who prefers offense to defense in a losing, throwaway season where he enters his first contract negotiations? Shocking...

SoCalJazzFan · Post #20 » by **SoCalJazzFan** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 8:06 pm

Inigo Montoya wrote:
Sparky6string wrote:Agreed. To me a player with that mindset about defense shouldn't get playing time. If this is true we will be better off dumping Kanter for anyone with defensive capability. I don't want another Big Al or David Lee.

Really? So what do you say about Trey? He is horrible defensively and shoots the 2nd most on this team, and he's at the same age as Kanter.

Kanter was picked in a weak draft. If he becomes as good as Big Al, that's a huge success.

SoCalJazzFan wrote:I'm surprised anyone is sticking up for kanter. It really doesn't matter if he is an 16 pt 9 rb guy if his net presence on the floor is negative. The fact that a teammate threw him under the bus shows the frustration that fellow players and coaches had with his lack of either willingness or ability to play d.

A 21 year old player who prefers offense to defense in a losing, throwaway season where he enters his first contract negotiations? Shocking...

I'm concerned not only about Kanter's alleged attitude about defense, but more so his ability to play defense. You have to admit, he looks very lost out there on the defensive end more often than not.

Even if he is in the right place at the right time, he has limitations. If he plays center, he doesn't have long arms and no vertical and isn't a rim protector at all. He is too big and slow to play PFs, let alone stretch 4s, effectively.

Kanter is good at positioning himself and using his strong body to get rebounds, and put back attempts (albeit below the rim) after getting offensive rebounds. He has a nice shooting stroke from what I have seen to about 17 feet. But his other limitations really make me wonder how valuable he is.