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Thoughts of the trade.
Yes losing Mitchell sucks and makes Jazz team even weaker than departing ways with Gobert.
But maybe there's a silver-line in this trade also.

Hopefully Lauri's focus is now only in Finland's Eurobasket games.

Here's Finland's games in 2022 Eurobasket
Friday September 2 Finland vs Israel
Saturday September 3 Finland vs Poland
Monday September 5 Finland vs Serbia
Tuesday September 6 Finland vs Czech Rebuplic
Thursday September 8 Finland vs Netherlands

Finland's roster
Sasu Salin SG
Petteri Koponen PG
Edon Maxhuni PG
Topias Palmi SG / SF
Mikael Jantunen SF
Shawn Huff SF / PF
Lauri Markkanen PF / C
Elias Valtonen SF
Miro Little PG
Henri Kantonen SG
Ilari Seppälä PG
Alexander Madsen PF

NBA players who are playing vs Finland and Lauri Markkanen
Deni Avdija Israel
Nikola Jokic Serbia
Vit Krejci Czech Republic

Lauri playing very well in the first quarter against Israel...... Showing his athleticism and perimeter shooting......

There are some highlights. He did play really well. https://basketnews.com/news-177295-avdija-racks-up-strong-double-double-to-lead-israel-over-markkanens-finland-in-ot.html

Jiipee84 wrote:

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Lauri looked almost "angry" that game. Most aggression I've seen from him in a while. Maybe the trade could be a blessing in disguise and he starts being aggressive again in the nba.

I'll post the highlights of all of the other games Markkanen played this summer. The 4 World Cup qualifier games. I don't have footage of the practice game against Ukraine though, but it was televised and all and it was a proper high level game as well.

25th of August. 28 points and 9 rebounds. World Cup qualifier game vs Israel (yes Finland played against them again week later in the Eurobasket, which is today):



28th of August. 18 points and 9 rebounds. World Cup qualifier game against Estonia. Finland secured their World Cup spot on this day as the first team in the world to qualify if the host countries don't count. Pretty well done for a small country that only cares about ice hockey lol.



----
18th of July. 42 points and 9 rebounds. OT game. Finland and Markkanen played a practice game against Ukraine one week before the WC qualifier games. Both teams had close to their best rosters playing as a final preparation before the important qualifier games. Unfortunately any footage of that game doesn't seem to exist on youtube.

No footage of the Ukraine game.
----

Below happened 2 months ago. They are also World Cup qualifier games. Finland didn't loose any WC qualifier games with Markkanen present btw.

30th of June. 22 points and 11 rebounds vs Sweden. A World Cup qualifier game. I'll remind you in case someone forgot that international games have 40 minutes of game time compared to NBA's 48 mins.



3rd of July. 19 points and 7 rebounds. Croatia had a must win game at their home here or they would've been eliminated from the World Cup qualifiers and Croatia did lose this game.



Well that's all of the recent game highlight footage of Markkanen since the NBA season ended.

PaKii94 wrote:

Jiipee84 wrote:

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Lauri looked almost "angry" that game. Most aggression I've seen from him in a while. Maybe the trade could be a blessing in disguise and he starts being aggressive again in the nba.

Maybe it's a blessing and maybe it's a curse because nobody cannot know that yet.
Don't forget that Lauri needs PG who can share the ball to be a succesfull scorer and Utah Jazz not necessarily have that.
Sexton is not playmaker or even PG and he has very low basketball IQ also he's SG who tries to do all by himself too often.

I don't know what's the reason why Lauri plays better in Team Finland than NBA.
Maybe it is that Lauri knows he's number 1 option in Team Finland and maybe it is something else.
Only time will tell how Lauri starts his NBA season in Utah.

But of course we all hope good start but i wouldn't hold my breath to wait that happen
because Utah is in tank mode so they're not supposed to win much so Lauri might find himself
quite early on the bench in 4th quarter if the game is over etc.

I don't know what to expect from Lauri in this NBA season.
I just hope that he plays well and is able to get his trade value better
and maybe then some playoff team interests him for trade deadline but i don't know how likely that is or will it happen at all.

I really wouldn't say that Sexton has a low basketball IQ. From day one of their rebuild the Cavs told him to go out and score which is what he did for them.

With that said I agree Utah really isn't a great fit for Lauri because they don't have Jarrett Allen/Evan Mobley to cover for him defensively. Lauri played very soft when he was on the Bulls which is why they didn't resign him last year even though they had a hole at the PF position. He obviously needs to be fed the ball too. I'm going to assume that Ainge will eventually redirect Lauri to a contending team for draft capital. Unfortunately the Jazz future franchise player is potentially some 15 year old high school sophomore at this point. Lauri is only 25 but he might be too old for the Jazz's next contention window.

mg wrote:I really wouldn't say that Sexton has a low basketball IQ. From day one of their rebuild the Cavs told him to go out and score which is what he did for them.

With that said I agree Utah really isn't a great fit for Lauri because they don't have Jarrett Allen/Evan Mobley to cover for him defensively. Lauri played very soft when he was on the Bulls which is why they didn't resign him last year even though they had a hole at the PF position. He obviously needs to be fed the ball too. I'm going to assume that Ainge will eventually redirect Lauri to a contending team for draft capital. Unfortunately the Jazz future franchise player is potentially some 15 year old high school sophomore at this point. Lauri is only 25 but he might be too old for the Jazz's next contention window.

You misunderstand my comment of Sexton's low basketball IQ.
I mean't that Sexton is not pass first guard and he has problems to see wide open teammates a bit too often.
If Jazz are getting good trade package for Lauri in some playoff team in trade deadline then they should pull the trigger.
But Jazz also shouldn't trade Lauri just to make trade happen.

If there isn't any trade package and offers of Lauri and Jazz is not getting the value what they want
then Ainge should wait for next summer and trade Lauri during 2023 NBA draft.
That's absolutely true Lauri is too old for Jazz next contending window.

Jiipee84 wrote:

mg wrote:I really wouldn't say that Sexton has a low basketball IQ. From day one of their rebuild the Cavs told him to go out and score which is what he did for them.

With that said I agree Utah really isn't a great fit for Lauri because they don't have Jarrett Allen/Evan Mobley to cover for him defensively. Lauri played very soft when he was on the Bulls which is why they didn't resign him last year even though they had a hole at the PF position. He obviously needs to be fed the ball too. I'm going to assume that Ainge will eventually redirect Lauri to a contending team for draft capital. Unfortunately the Jazz future franchise player is potentially some 15 year old high school sophomore at this point. Lauri is only 25 but he might be too old for the Jazz's next contention window.

You misunderstand my comment of Sexton's low basketball IQ.
I mean't that Sexton is not pass first guard and he has problems to see wide open teammates a bit too often.
If Jazz are getting good trade package for Lauri in some playoff team in trade deadline then they should pull the trigger.
But Jazz also shouldn't trade Lauri just to make trade happen.

If there isn't any trade package and offers of Lauri and Jazz is not getting the value what they want
then Ainge should wait for next summer and trade Lauri during 2023 NBA draft.
That's absolutely true Lauri is too old for Jazz next contending window.

I do think Lauri got a bum rap in Chicago for several reasons. He was the prize draft pick from the Butler trade. Bulls didn't put a pass first PG or defensive bigs around him. Lauri had to deal with a score first guard in Lavine which will probably be the same situation here on the Jazz. That Cleveland situation was perfect for him with defensive bigs in Allen/Mobley and a pass first PG in Garland. Unfortunately for Lauri they chose to put all their chips in for Donovan.

Anyway I'm a fan of both Lauri and Sexton. Their situations were similar. Bulls got Lauri in the Jimmy Butler trade and Bull fans hated that trade and never gave Lauri a fair shake calling him soft or one dimensional. Sexton was in same situation this summer sitting in restricted free agency all summer like Lauri did last year because their teams didn't want to go into the tax to pay them. Cavs fans resented the fact he was the prize in the Kyrie trade which led to Lebron leaving again. Cavs never put Sexton in a situation to succeed with 4 coaches in his first 2 years and then drafting Garland. Fans thought Sexton was too small and one dimensional to play SG next to Garland. I'm not sure Donovan fixes that issue but we will see.

Anyway I love to root for the underdog players in the NBA. I do think Sexton and Lauri can co-exist but the Jazz are rebuilding and don't have a big pass first PG or big defensive bigs to put around them. Maybe Lauri and/or Sexton get re-directed to another team for more picks. Lauri is going to be entering the prime of his career pretty soon and I will be happy to watch him on the Jazz or be happy for him if Ainge eventually trades him to a playoff team for more draft capital.

mg wrote:

Jiipee84 wrote:

mg wrote:I really wouldn't say that Sexton has a low basketball IQ. From day one of their rebuild the Cavs told him to go out and score which is what he did for them.

With that said I agree Utah really isn't a great fit for Lauri because they don't have Jarrett Allen/Evan Mobley to cover for him defensively. Lauri played very soft when he was on the Bulls which is why they didn't resign him last year even though they had a hole at the PF position. He obviously needs to be fed the ball too. I'm going to assume that Ainge will eventually redirect Lauri to a contending team for draft capital. Unfortunately the Jazz future franchise player is potentially some 15 year old high school sophomore at this point. Lauri is only 25 but he might be too old for the Jazz's next contention window.

You misunderstand my comment of Sexton's low basketball IQ.
I mean't that Sexton is not pass first guard and he has problems to see wide open teammates a bit too often.
If Jazz are getting good trade package for Lauri in some playoff team in trade deadline then they should pull the trigger.
But Jazz also shouldn't trade Lauri just to make trade happen.

If there isn't any trade package and offers of Lauri and Jazz is not getting the value what they want
then Ainge should wait for next summer and trade Lauri during 2023 NBA draft.
That's absolutely true Lauri is too old for Jazz next contending window.

I do think Lauri got a bum rap in Chicago for several reasons. He was the prize draft pick from the Butler trade. Bulls didn't put a pass first PG or defensive bigs around him. Lauri had to deal with a score first guard in Lavine which will probably be the same situation here on the Jazz. That Cleveland situation was perfect for him with defensive bigs in Allen/Mobley and a pass first PG in Garland. Unfortunately for Lauri they chose to put all their chips in for Donovan.

Anyway I'm a fan of both Lauri and Sexton. Their situations were similar. Bulls got Lauri in the Jimmy Butler trade and Bull fans hated that trade and never gave Lauri a fair shake calling him soft or one dimensional. Sexton was in same situation this summer sitting in restricted free agency all summer like Lauri did last year because their teams didn't want to go into the tax to pay them. Cavs fans resented the fact he was the prize in the Kyrie trade which led to Lebron leaving again. Cavs never put Sexton in a situation to succeed with 4 coaches in his first 2 years and then drafting Garland. Fans thought Sexton was too small and one dimensional to play SG next to Garland. I'm not sure Donovan fixes that issue but we will see.

Anyway I love to root for the underdog players in the NBA. I do think Sexton and Lauri can co-exist but the Jazz are rebuilding and don't have a big pass first PG or big defensive bigs to put around them. Maybe Lauri and/or Sexton get re-directed to another team for more picks. Lauri is going to be entering the prime of his career pretty soon and I will be happy to watch him on the Jazz or be happy for him if Ainge eventually trades him to a playoff team for more draft capital.

True.
But if there isn't available for that trade and draft capital what Jazz wants
then it's better to wait that perfect timing like 2023 NBA draft if there is playoff teams
which are ready to give their 1st round pick for Jazz if one those teams has chance acquire
7 footer strech-four who can shoot and score in Lauri.

You're right on that Lauri is coming to his prime very soon.
So he'll need team where he has chance to play in plyoffs and maybe win a championship ring or two championship rings.
Lauri is not a player who's looking money first he has enough money but he also has a wife and 2 kids ( son and daughter )
so the main priorty for Lauri is to settle somewhere longer time and play NBA playoffs and maybe win something great.

Lauri is not playing for ever in NBA so what earlier he's playing in NBA playoffs that's better on him.
But as i said Ainge shouldn't trade anybody just to make trade happen because that's a foolish and bad team management.

Even Pau Gasol was journeyman in NBA and he won 2 rings so why not Lauri cannot at least try do the same.
No i'm not saying Lauri is next Gasol but i used Gasol as an example so don't get me wrong.

From day one I've loved watching this kid play ball and I can't believe how many teams he's been on is such a short time. Welcome to Utah.

ForeverRDjazz wrote:From day one I've loved watching this kid play ball and I can't believe how many teams he's been on is such a short time. Welcome to Utah.

I don't think that Cleveland wanted to let go of Markkanen, because he was doing well in Cleveland and was good in that SF role and in the 3 bigs thing, but Cleveland wanted Donovan Mitchell more I guess and we can see how many other things Cleveland gave to Utah for Mitchell. In my opinion Utah robbed them. However this should be enough for Cleveland to get into the playoffs, so it's an okay trade in that sense.

Taikuri wrote:

ForeverRDjazz wrote:From day one I've loved watching this kid play ball and I can't believe how many teams he's been on is such a short time. Welcome to Utah.

I don't think that Cleveland wanted to let go of Markkanen, because he was doing well in Cleveland and was good in that SF role and in the 3 bigs thing, but Cleveland wanted Donovan Mitchell more I guess and we can see how many other things Cleveland gave to Utah for Mitchell. In my opinion Utah robbed them. However this should be enough for Cleveland to get into the playoffs, so it's an okay trade in that sense.

Yeah pretty sure Cavs would've much rather dealt LeVert/Okoro than Markkanen/Agbaji but Ainge was too smart to accept that offer.

Jiipee84 wrote:

mg wrote:I really wouldn't say that Sexton has a low basketball IQ. From day one of their rebuild the Cavs told him to go out and score which is what he did for them.

With that said I agree Utah really isn't a great fit for Lauri because they don't have Jarrett Allen/Evan Mobley to cover for him defensively. Lauri played very soft when he was on the Bulls which is why they didn't resign him last year even though they had a hole at the PF position. He obviously needs to be fed the ball too. I'm going to assume that Ainge will eventually redirect Lauri to a contending team for draft capital. Unfortunately the Jazz future franchise player is potentially some 15 year old high school sophomore at this point. Lauri is only 25 but he might be too old for the Jazz's next contention window.

You misunderstand my comment of Sexton's low basketball IQ.
I mean't that Sexton is not pass first guard and he has problems to see wide open teammates a bit too often.
If Jazz are getting good trade package for Lauri in some playoff team in trade deadline then they should pull the trigger.
But Jazz also shouldn't trade Lauri just to make trade happen.

If there isn't any trade package and offers of Lauri and Jazz is not getting the value what they want
then Ainge should wait for next summer and trade Lauri during 2023 NBA draft.
That's absolutely true Lauri is too old for Jazz next contending window.

I'm all in on keeping him on the team, Big who can shoot the 3. Yes.

ForeverRDjazz wrote:

Jiipee84 wrote:

mg wrote:I really wouldn't say that Sexton has a low basketball IQ. From day one of their rebuild the Cavs told him to go out and score which is what he did for them.

With that said I agree Utah really isn't a great fit for Lauri because they don't have Jarrett Allen/Evan Mobley to cover for him defensively. Lauri played very soft when he was on the Bulls which is why they didn't resign him last year even though they had a hole at the PF position. He obviously needs to be fed the ball too. I'm going to assume that Ainge will eventually redirect Lauri to a contending team for draft capital. Unfortunately the Jazz future franchise player is potentially some 15 year old high school sophomore at this point. Lauri is only 25 but he might be too old for the Jazz's next contention window.

You misunderstand my comment of Sexton's low basketball IQ.
I mean't that Sexton is not pass first guard and he has problems to see wide open teammates a bit too often.
If Jazz are getting good trade package for Lauri in some playoff team in trade deadline then they should pull the trigger.
But Jazz also shouldn't trade Lauri just to make trade happen.

If there isn't any trade package and offers of Lauri and Jazz is not getting the value what they want
then Ainge should wait for next summer and trade Lauri during 2023 NBA draft.
That's absolutely true Lauri is too old for Jazz next contending window.

I'm all in on keeping him on the team, Big who can shoot the 3. Yes.

I do get your point.
But if Utah Jazz's main goal really is to tank and acquire TOP2 lottery pick and draft Wembanyama
Jazz cannot win more than about 20-22 games this coming season because if they win too many games
then their chances to acquire TOP2 lottery pick will turn worse.

I've watched all Finland's games in Eurobasket tournament
so i can say that Jazz will be screwed up for 2023 NBA draft lottery if / when Markkanen keeps playing like this in NBA
what he's done in eurobasket.

Jazz do not have afford to take that risk their tanking for 2023 NBA draft suffers / struggles just because
Markkanen helped Jazz to win too many games which cost TOP2 lottery pick.

Then there's that possibility some playoff team loses their starting stretch four
to season ending injury jst few weeks / few days before trade deadline so tha team needs to find replacement and fast.
And who that team will target if Markkanen has played his best basketball and his PPG is lets say 22,0 per game
of course that team calls to Utah and asks is Markkanen available or not and if the Ainge's answer is YES
then Jazz have potential trade coming which brings back more draft capital to Jazz needs.

Keep in mind that Markkanen is coming to his prime very soon
so he doesn't necessarily fit longer term plans of Utah Jazz future.

Markkanen's contract is 16,7 million USD per season
so that type contract is easy to trade for draft capital and maybe some prospects also.
Of course Jazz shouldn't trade anybody just to make trades happen.

But lets get real in here.
Markkanen can play this coming in Utah but longer term he's only a season or two rental who gets traded again some point.

Jiipee84 wrote:

ForeverRDjazz wrote:

Jiipee84 wrote:
You misunderstand my comment of Sexton's low basketball IQ.
I mean't that Sexton is not pass first guard and he has problems to see wide open teammates a bit too often.
If Jazz are getting good trade package for Lauri in some playoff team in trade deadline then they should pull the trigger.
But Jazz also shouldn't trade Lauri just to make trade happen.

If there isn't any trade package and offers of Lauri and Jazz is not getting the value what they want
then Ainge should wait for next summer and trade Lauri during 2023 NBA draft.
That's absolutely true Lauri is too old for Jazz next contending window.

I'm all in on keeping him on the team, Big who can shoot the 3. Yes.

I do get your point.
But if Utah Jazz's main goal really is to tank and acquire TOP2 lottery pick and draft Wembanyama
Jazz cannot win more than about 20-22 games this coming season because if they win too many games
then their chances to acquire TOP2 lottery pick will turn worse.

I've watched all Finland's games in Eurobasket tournament
so i can say that Jazz will be screwed up for 2023 NBA draft lottery if / when Markkanen keeps playing like this in NBA
what he's done in eurobasket.

Jazz do not have afford to take that risk their tanking for 2023 NBA draft suffers / struggles just because
Markkanen helped Jazz to win too many games which cost TOP2 lottery pick.

Then there's that possibility some playoff team loses their starting stretch four
to season ending injury jst few weeks / few days before trade deadline so tha team needs to find replacement and fast.
And who that team will target if Markkanen has played his best basketball and his PPG is lets say 22,0 per game
of course that team calls to Utah and asks is Markkanen available or not and if the Ainge's answer is YES
then Jazz have potential trade coming which brings back more draft capital to Jazz needs.

Keep in mind that Markkanen is coming to his prime very soon
so he doesn't necessarily fit longer term plans of Utah Jazz future.

Markkanen's contract is 16,7 million USD per season
so that type contract is easy to trade for draft capital and maybe some prospects also.
Of course Jazz shouldn't trade anybody just to make trades happen.

But lets get real in here.
Markkanen can play this coming in Utah but longer term he's only a season or two rental who gets traded again some point.

See i'm thinking two years miss playoffs then back. Quick rebuild and if I'm right Markkanen will be and nice key player in his prime. Coach can help control win losses then you hope your ball drops into top 3 back to back years and hit on a late pick. People are thinking to many years for rebuild. Sure if someone makes a great offer you'll have to make the deal.