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Why is Kanter playing so poorly this year?

Is he really that bad? Is he just feeling the effects of his injuries (ankle sprain and the shoulder thing)? Or is he just a UK alum, destined to an underwhelming career due to affiliation with the worst college in America?

Hoping that if we can't draft Wiggins or Parker, we are able to get Embiid and trade Kanter for a good SF. It would be awesome if we could get Jimmy Butler and maybe a future pick from the Bulls. Seems reasonable IMO.

I haven't completely given up on Kanter yet, but if he doesn't show improvement over his 2nd year or at least show he can give consistent effort on both ends for 30 MPG by the end of the year, then I will be.

Even if we get Parker, I would consider playing him at the 4 slot and still trading Kanter for Butler and playing small ball. Spacing would be incredible and our rebounding would be good enough. Also think Parker will be better at defending PF's rather than SF's.

I don't think two-center lineups work in the modern NBA unless one guy has unbelievable perimeter skills so I think we'll probably move Kanter after this year.

Jazzfan12 wrote:I don't think two-center lineups work in the modern NBA unless one guy has unbelievable perimeter skills so I think we'll probably move Kanter after this year.

Kanter has enough perimeter skills where it shouldn't be an issue. I think the issue lies more in B-Ball IQ from Kanter not knowing how to play with others. Clearly that is from the UK ALUM aspect of his life.

Kanter has the Al Jefferson-like mental speed capacity. They both process information like a sloth. Difference is that Kanter turns the ball over and Jefferson at least knew he was too dumb to do anything besides shoot the ball, resulting in barely any lost possessions.

I warned a lot of people this would happen. I thought it was pretty funny when people thought Kanter was a good defender. I knew his effort would drop off after he gained more minutes. I didn't expect the huge rebounding drop, which was Kanter's strength. And speaking of strength, the dude has some of the worst post-defense I have seen in a while. At least Jefferson could defend the post.

Kanter is becoming a poor man's Al Jefferson and is sporting the offensive game of Jason Smith (only good at 17' foot jump shots).

loved the UK jab, though i think anthony davis might have something to say about it.

Is Kanter Bad, Injured, or UK Alum? all of the above, and all are related to each other.

his injury didn't allow him to work on his game, so he didn't improve. he only resumed training at training camp, so he's been out of shape. not working out as much diminished his strength, and we are seeing the results- he gets pushed around instead of being the one pushing.

the jazz are also moving away from the low post game and he doesn't get post up opportunities as much as he should. he's being relegated to jump shooting and not much else, which is bad for his development for several reasons:
1. if he's missing, it gets him out of the game, without much opportunity to get in it when his shot is off.

2. we already know he can shoot. since before the draft. this year is about development and not W-L. he should get the chance to improve and expand his game, even when he fails. if you just make him a jump shooter in such a year, there isn't much hope he'll get a chance to improve his back to the basket game in any other year on the court.

3. he had very limited game experience over his short career, and struggling to adjust to adversity. he was also better as a starter than he is as a bench player.

From what annoucners said, Kanter wants to be on starter, and has put way to much effort into wanting to be a starter.

He is putting his personal ego, over the team, just like Big Al. If we benched Big Al, he would do what Kanter is doing. He is purposely sucking while on bench, so that stats show that he is much better when starting.....

It is night and day when looking at his starter stats and his bench stats! If this is the type of "personality" that comes with his game, then he will never be the guy we want. I think we should trade him, if he doesn't get his act together, I mean Evans and Burks have come off bench and done amazing things!


Kanter will soon find out what Big Al and Mo found, and that is FA is not fun. Mo went from starter back to bench, and Big Al almost didn't have a job, and if it weren't for Bobcats he wouldn't be playing, let alone being a starter. I think this taught them both humility, and I think that is why so many Jazz players do much better after leaving! They are selfish here because we are enablers. But once they leave, they don't always get what they want anymore!

He can't or won't play defense.

It's that simple.

He's lost strength, confidence, love of the game, etc. I think he will turn it around eventually, he can be a stretch five definitely. It's just going to take time.

It's all mental with Kanter. I thought that's been common knowledge. We know he can play lights out, especially on offense. His defense has struggled, but it tends to do better when his mental/emotional state is better. He makes a shot, he's better on that next defensive play. He bricks a shot, he's shook and struggles on that next defensive play.

Kanter's biggest problem is just that he's a bit immature. He's still a kid. And I don't mean immature in the sense of "lol he said penis', but immature in the sense of not knowing how to work through difficult times. He's still very young that way. Not to mention, there's all that weird added stress of his affiliations with Turkey, and being part of some weird Turkish cult thing.

He's young and just needs to mature into the sport. That's all.

Inigo Montoya wrote:loved the UK jab, though i think anthony davis might have something to say about it.

Is Kanter Bad, Injured, or UK Alum? all of the above, and all are related to each other.

his injury didn't allow him to work on his game, so he didn't improve. he only resumed training at training camp, so he's been out of shape. not working out as much diminished his strength, and we are seeing the results- he gets pushed around instead of being the one pushing.

the jazz are also moving away from the low post game and he doesn't get post up opportunities as much as he should. he's being relegated to jump shooting and not much else, which is bad for his development for several reasons:
1. if he's missing, it gets him out of the game, without much opportunity to get in it when his shot is off.

2. we already know he can shoot. since before the draft. this year is about development and not W-L. he should get the chance to improve and expand his game, even when he fails. if you just make him a jump shooter in such a year, there isn't much hope he'll get a chance to improve his back to the basket game in any other year on the court.

3. he had very limited game experience over his short career, and struggling to adjust to adversity. he was also better as a starter than he is as a bench player.

Curious as to when this will no longer be a valid excuse.

Joel Embiid has barely played Basketball and is already way smarter than Kanter. Kanter is just a dumb basketball player. You can be dumb and still be pretty good, but it keeps him from being an All-Star IMO.

not really a fan of calling players dumb. and kanter's lack of experience will stop being a valid excuse when he'll be experienced.

as for embid - he's a very different type of player and prospect from kanter.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGo0ssVWEm8[/youtube]
Can someone tell me WTF is wrong with Kanter's jumper? He shot like 4 of these last week, none were even close. Suddenly Michael Kidd-Gilchrist's form feels like Stephen Curry in comparison.

Inigo Montoya wrote:not really a fan of calling players dumb. and kanter's lack of experience will stop being a valid excuse when he'll be experienced.

as for embid - he's a very different type of player and prospect from kanter.

He is dumb though. And he can't jump. He is dumb, can't jump, and now doesn't play hard.

i agree that his effort is inconsistent (i'm being nice to him). i also agree that he can't jump. strange how your comment about his athletic ability doesn't set this forum on fire....

Inigo Montoya wrote:strange how your comment about his athletic ability doesn't set this forum on fire....

why would it? i think people have realistic expectations on who kanter is.

Burke2Kanter wrote:

Inigo Montoya wrote:strange how your comment about his athletic ability doesn't set this forum on fire....

why would it? i think people have realistic expectations on who kanter is.

some of them. others destined him to the HOF, and had him average 30 points and 20 rebounds. but that comment was aimed at burke's athleticism, which gets people all riled up for some reason. but no one says anything when it is said about kanter.

He is basically turning into Andrea Bargnani with less shooting range. His defense outside being stationary in the low post always sucked hard, his "monster" rebounding skills and being a consistently high effort guy were both a mirage, his IQ was always low, his post moves were always garbage and he wasn't emotional/mentally ready for the NBA. This is just the reality of drafting super raw players who have low athleticism.

His weaknesses that he came in the NBA were not gonna go away anytime soon and your rarely get ideal conditions and put in the best situation not that it would matter much. A lot of his problems that are evident now were ignored the last couple of years and/or were not as noticeable playing mostly against bench players and having random starts/major minute games. He's just being exposed this year.

OH Vucevic ..... Where art thou?

I'm going to wait. At times I'm impatient with Favors, and now he's looking great. Remember that Kanter was doing better earlier in the season than Favors. Favors has really benefited I think of Burke, seems to have more plays run for him now.

dautjazz wrote:I'm going to wait. At times I'm impatient with Favors, and now he's looking great. Remember that Kanter was doing better earlier in the season than Favors. Favors has really benefited I think of Burke, seems to have more plays run for him now.

Good point.

Last year Favors had a lot of games where he scored 5 points and did not produce much. Let's expect Kanter to improve, but I see him getting schooled frequently this year......can see Kanter is thinking negatively when getting scored on or when he makes a mistake.

Not going to lie though, I'm concerned about how they play together, seems they are better with a stetch four than with each other.