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I'm sure not even the most enthusiastic Kosta Koufos fans expected him to be getting the kind of minutes he's gotten early this season. But it is apparent by now that the guy is going to be, at minimum, a legit NBA player, probably sooner than later. He's not from the same school as Millsap, a guy who was ready to come in and make his presence felt right away, but he has been passably decent to this point, even though he's just a fresh-faced and anxious 19-year-old.

We have him for 3 more years after this one, at a paltry ~1m per year. As time wears on, and Millsap's continued presence on the team becomes less and less likely, I think we will see him emerge as either a) our 3rd big guy, who gets 20mpg off the bench in relief or b) the replacement for Memo on the roster. It does not appear that we are going to be able to retain the services of Boozer, Millsap and Okur after this year. All 3 can or will be FAs, and with DWill's contract kicking in next year, and Boozer due for a raise from his already enormous salary, it's even possible that we could lose two of the 3.

Koufos' development is going to be key in how we adjust after the odd man (or men) out leaves.

Here are the positives and negatives so far, from where I'm sitting:

Positives:

- Very mobile, runs the floor well in transition and seems to be light on his feet.
- Smooth jumper that hasn't fallen with consistency yet, but looks to be a strong weapon as he gains confidence
- Excellent frame and muscle mass, should be able to hold his position well uner the basket
- Tremendous, tremendous worker who is focused and driven to get better
- Seems to be quite intelligent
- Plays with energy
- Light on his feet and has been a surprising source of blocks, getting 1.2 bpg despite the limited minutes and--even more impressively--has average 2.2 bpg in the 5 games in which he has gotten 10 or more minutes


Negatives:

- Biggest thing I've noticed so far: doesn't play big, meaning that he sort of squats on his feet, and doesn't seem to be an imposing "big man" presence of it. He needs to keep his hands at the level of his chest, and quit squating so much
- Still frequently gets lost, especially on D
- Gets pushed around inside at times
- No repertoire of post moves, relying mostly on a little right-hand hook shot to finish around the hoop


Overall, I love what I've seen to this point, and I think in a lot of ways he has everything that we WISH Fesenko had. If Fes had half of this guy's drive and focus he would be on his way to a very nice career in the NBA.

But this franchise has a lot riding on the young guy. Because we are limited by the luxury tax, its imperative that we continue to bring in talented young players on the cheap, as well as old vets who we don't have to pay much. With our nucleus of the future likely being Boozer and DWill, with Brewer running the wings, that means that we will have to fill in everywhere else with what we have. Koufos, along with the future NYK pick, could be a savior for us in trying to do this. If he can be the guy, we can let Memo walk.

Its ridiculous that we don't have a thread on him yet. He represents a huge storyline for this team.

I have been impressed by many of the things that Kosta has done. The physical improvements he needs will come in time. I worry the most about him improving his mental game-- defensive rotations and evolutions of the offense.

Comparing his rookie season's to Milsap's is silly because Milsap was about 3 years older in his rookie year. That is a heck of a lot more basketball experience.

Yeah, Bat had a good thread about him too. He's been a wonderful surprise thus far. Honestly, as much as I love Millsap, I'm perfectly happy to see him walk and just hang on to Kosta now.

He also showed some great potential the other night where he did a really quick spin move and exploded to the hoop, but got called for a travel. I was surprised how quick it was and nobody expected it. That was really nice.

The best surprise about him is his ability to block shots. I thought he would be another Memo, but I was wrong. He also has an incredible work ethic, which means he will go far. I'm glad we picked this kid up.

He's got a perfect mixture of players to mentor him. Okur will help with his shooting game, Boozer will help him with the back to the basket stuff, and AK should be able to help him on defense.

The Jazz got a real still with this guy. I think his upside is tremendous, I just hope he realizes how good he can be.

He had a really impressive goaltend tonight too. I think it was on Lindsay Hunter. Lindsay had gotten a hold of the ball and was racing down court and Kosta ran him down and pinned the ball against the backboard at the top of the square. He looks pretty impressive. Another nice draft by you guys.

I'll admit I wasn't thrilled with the draft of Kufos. I was thiking he'd be more Pete Chilcut than Kurt Thomas.

But, he looks like he's ready to play right now. Which is amazing to me for a 19 year old. He's got a great NBA body allready. He seems to play with confidence and usually seems to play within the role that's being asked of him.

Will he ever be a dominate big? I don't know. Could he make losing Okur a lot easier? Yeah, I think he could.

As far as I can see, the sky's the limit for this kid. I'm predicting a Kurt Thomas type career, and that'd be terrific. If he can give us more than that woo hoo!

CellarDoor wrote:He had a really impressive goaltend tonight too. I think it was on Lindsay Hunter. Lindsay had gotten a hold of the ball and was racing down court and Kosta ran him down and pinned the ball against the backboard at the top of the square. He looks pretty impressive. Another nice draft by you guys.

Yeah man, he was super quick to get there and ALMOST didn't goaltend it. I am very surprised about his quickness, he had a couple other plays that were pretty quick if I remember right.