Utaz Jazz acquire Lauri Markkanen from Cleveland Cavaliers

[Jiipee84]

It would be great to see Finland with Markannen get the win over legendary Spain to get an unlikely, new country in to the semi-finals. I think the game starts in one hour and 15 minutes. Draft Kings has Spain favored by 6 points.

Yeah the game is getting closer minute by minute.
Yes Spain is the favorite to win that game and that's why Finland needs to play their best game tonight to advance semifinals.

But Spain is not anymore that Spain what it was 2-3 yrs ago.
Gasol brothers have retired , Calderon,Navarro and Lull are gone also and Rubio is injured and he's out also.
Fernandes is still in the team and Hernangomez brothers who play also in NBA are in the team.

So Spain has 9 new players in their national team meanwhile Finland has 8.
I don't expect nothing and i can live with any result.

Lauri and Team Finland are already surprised everyone to going this far in Eurobasket.
Finland has played awesome tournament and so is Lauri.

If Finland really wins today and oust Spain that'll be biggest sensation in Finnish sport history
and it'll be much bigger thing than any hockey world championship gold medal what Finland has ever won
even our hockey's Olympic gold in Beijing's winter Olympics loses if wolfpack makes Finnsh sport history tonight.

I will try keep you guys updated on Spain vs Finland Eurobasket quarterfinal if i only can.

[Jiipee84]

After 1st half Finland is up 9 points ( Spain 43 Finland 52 ).
Lauri has scored 10 points and taken few rebounds but also he's assisted some of Finland's 52 points.
9 Finnish players have scored so Finland is not only depend on Lauri.

1st quarter was Finland's best they won first 10 minutes 19-30.
Finland got slow start and whole team was nervous and Spain took 8-2 lead.
But then Finland found their team game and started to play and Spain was in the panic.

2nd quarter was Spain's control and they won 2nd 10 minutes 24-22.
Hernangomez brothers are causing troubles for Finland and looks like that Finland don't have answer on that.
Finland also has had some bad turnovers and defensive plays and also Finland has lost rebounds both ends of the court.

20 minutes and possible overtime are still left so anything can happen.
But for now it looks good for Finland but Spain is dangerous team and they have been these situations many times.
So Spain can still come back and take the win.

[Jiipee84]

Spain eliminates Finland and advances to semifinal.
Lauri did what he could and was once again Finland's best player ( 28 points and 11 rebounds )
Finland blewed-out their 9 point lead in 3rd quarter which was absolutely horrific and atrocious.

Finland made many stupid turnovers etc bad plays also they lost rebounds both ends of the court.
And couldn't stop Spain's steam-rolling Team game especially Hernangomez brothers were unstoppable.

Also Finland had too many team fouls and 2 players ( Huff and Madsen ) were foul troubles which hurted Finland's team defence.
Lauri tried many times to cheer his teammates to fight back and win the game but
what you can do if your star won't get any help for teammates when team truly needs it.

Bigger picture Finland had awesome Eurobasket tournament and especially Lauri was awesome in many games.

[Jiipee84]

Watch on YouTube

[Taikuri]

This just got uploaded. More Lauri Markkanen footage from this summer from a month ago.

18th of July, 2022. Finland vs Ukraine. Final preparation game before the World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine. Markkanen scored 42 points in an OT game. Both teams had nearly full squads. Both teams also made it to the Eurobasket playoffs later. Finland got knocked out on the second playoff round and Ukraine got knocked out by Poland on the first playoff round, so the game was rather high level.

Watch on YouTube

[Crunch 99]

.... it would be smarter for Jazz to boost Lauri's trade value so much as possible to allow him to play that same game what Lauri has played in Eurobasket and trade him into deadline if some playoff team makes enough good trade offer.

I hope we don't trade Markkanen, but is he eligible to be traded before the season starts? An argument for doing that would be that his trade value has already been boosted by his Eurobasket performance, whereas his trade value at the trade deadline could be lower or higher than it is right now. The Jazz PGs might not be great at finding him and the average NBA defense is a bit tougher than the average Eurobasket defense.

Other option is to trade Lauri in draft night especially then if Lauri has played good or very good season in Utah. Jazz shouldn't hurry to make any trades ( not even Bogdanovic ) before Ainge and his management staff has done total evaluation
on those players who are keepers and who are trade baits. When you're rebuilding you have to rebuild wisely so don't hurry any moves before you know better what you need and what you don't need. Rebuild shouldn't be a sprint it should be a marathon so take time so much as you need and when total evalution process has done then do the moves and trades which are crucial and absolutely needed.

Yes, I don't think Jazz should be in a rush to dismiss Markkanen as a potential key piece for the long term. Yes he is older than the young draft picks that will be coming in, but 25 years old is still pretty young. Prime Markkanen might last for a quite a few years and be darn good.

[Swuul]

the average NBA defense is a bit tougher than the average Eurobasket defense.

It is actually the other way round. In FIBA matches there is no 3 sec defensive rule, the field is narrower than in NBA, travelling and other offensive fouls are actually called. The average winning point total for the winning team in FIBA matches the past five years has been 75.6 points, in the NBA 101.2 points.

[Crunch 99]

the average NBA defense is a bit tougher than the average Eurobasket defense.

It is actually the other way round. In FIBA matches there is no 3 sec defensive rule, the field is narrower than in NBA, travelling and other offensive fouls are actually called. The average winning point total for the winning team in FIBA matches the past five years has been 75.6 points, in the NBA 101.2 points.

Good points, though the FIBA games being shorter is one factor contributing to fewer points total.

I am far from an expert on FIBA considering it is hard to get the games here, but Willy Hernangomez, a lifelong backup in the NBA, just walked away with the Eurobasket MVP. Prior to the last game against Gobert, Willy was leading the Spaniards in scoring on an efficient 17.6 ppg on 9.6 fga. Against NBA center Gobert in the Finals, Willy only scored 14 points on 5/14 shooting. Obviously Gobert is much better than the average NBA big man on defense, but I also recall Pau Gasol dominating FIBA matches offensively well in to old age, past his dominant years in the NBA, so I was thinking it may be a little easier for talented big men to score in FIBA than in NBA.

I expect Markannen will be a much bigger force offensively on the Jazz than he was on Cleveland, especially if Bogey and Clarkson are traded, but I am not expecting his Eurobasket 28 ppg dominance.

[Swuul]

I expect Markannen will be a much bigger force offensively on the Jazz than he was on Cleveland, especially if Bogey and Clarkson are traded, but I am not expecting his Eurobasket 28 ppg dominance.

Of course, Markkanen won't be the primary man in Jazz like he is in Team Finland, Sexton will take care of that

A pretty nice video on Markkanen expectations (Treese seems to be heavily on the Lauri hype-train) on Jazz after his Eurobasket performance:

Watch on YouTube

[mg]

I expect Markannen will be a much bigger force offensively on the Jazz than he was on Cleveland, especially if Bogey and Clarkson are traded, but I am not expecting his Eurobasket 28 ppg dominance.

Of course, Markkanen won't be the primary man in Jazz like he is in Team Finland, Sexton will take care of that

A pretty nice video on Markkanen expectations (Treese seems to be heavily on the Lauri hype-train) on Jazz after his Eurobasket performance:

Watch on YouTube

No offense dude but Lauri has quite a rep for being a very soft NBA player. My brother who lives in Chicago refers to Lauri as one of the softest players he's ever seen. I think most Jazz fans are willing to give Lauri a chance but just find it ironic that a Lauri fan is bagging on other players.

Lauri isn't going to have a Mobley/Allen frontline in Utah. I'm interested to see if he keep developing his game or if he goes back to his soft Chicago style of play.

[Swuul]

I think most Jazz fans are willing to give Lauri a chance but just find it ironic that a Lauri fan is bagging on other players.

The difference between Sexton (if that is what you are refering to) and Lauri NBA careers so far have been Sexton was given the keys to the team for three years, while Lauri has been forced to stand in the corner as a 3p shooter for basically all of his NBA career. The end result was same, Cavs wanted to get rid of them both.

With Sexton on the team as the main ball-handler of a team, nobody else in the team will see the ball much. It is what it is. Hopefully Jazz will not give Sexton the keys, he is much more efficient when he isn't the one bringing up the ball (as was very clearly seen last autumn when Ricky Rubio simply didn't allow Sexton to get the ball unless he was about to score).

[AingesBurner]

I think most Jazz fans are willing to give Lauri a chance but just find it ironic that a Lauri fan is bagging on other players.

The difference between Sexton (if that is what you are refering to) and Lauri NBA careers so far have been Sexton was given the keys to the team for three years, while Lauri has been forced to stand in the corner as a 3p shooter for basically all of his NBA career. The end result was same, Cavs wanted to get rid of them both.

With Sexton on the team as the main ball-handler of a team, nobody else in the team will see the ball much. It is what it is. Hopefully Jazz will not give Sexton the keys, he is much more efficient when he isn't the one bringing up the ball (as was very clearly seen last autumn when Ricky Rubio simply didn't allow Sexton to get the ball unless he was about to score).

Hopefully Mike Conley is a good mentor.

[mg]

I think most Jazz fans are willing to give Lauri a chance but just find it ironic that a Lauri fan is bagging on other players.

The difference between Sexton (if that is what you are refering to) and Lauri NBA careers so far have been Sexton was given the keys to the team for three years, while Lauri has been forced to stand in the corner as a 3p shooter for basically all of his NBA career. The end result was same, Cavs wanted to get rid of them both.

With Sexton on the team as the main ball-handler of a team, nobody else in the team will see the ball much. It is what it is. Hopefully Jazz will not give Sexton the keys, he is much more efficient when he isn't the one bringing up the ball (as was very clearly seen last autumn when Ricky Rubio simply didn't allow Sexton to get the ball unless he was about to score).

As Jazz fans I think we will all judge for ourselves. Ainge obviously saw something in Sexton as there were rumors about his interest in him at the beginning of free agency with Conley's name being thrown around in a potential s&t. Sexton is only 23 so I'm not going to totally write him off as a playmaker. That Cleveland situation was a real mess until they got lucky with Allen and then Mobley in the draft last year. Lauri is 25 and I'm not going to write him off as soft as charmin either. I mainly watched Lauri in Chicago and he was given the guys to be the man in their frontcourt after the Butler trade but played really soft, didn't rebound, got injured alot, etc. Who gets the blame for that? The Bulls didn't want him back but he did look decent last year in Cleveland but they also had Allen/Mobley defending his back.

With that said DA obviously wanted both Lauri and Sexton in the Don trade.

[JonFromVA]

the average NBA defense is a bit tougher than the average Eurobasket defense.

It is actually the other way round. In FIBA matches there is no 3 sec defensive rule, the field is narrower than in NBA, travelling and other offensive fouls are actually called. The average winning point total for the winning team in FIBA matches the past five years has been 75.6 points, in the NBA 101.2 points.

Good points, though the FIBA games being shorter is one factor contributing to fewer points total.

I am far from an expert on FIBA considering it is hard to get the games here, but Willy Hernangomez, a lifelong backup in the NBA, just walked away with the Eurobasket MVP. Prior to the last game against Gobert, Willy was leading the Spaniards in scoring on an efficient 17.6 ppg on 9.6 fga. Against NBA center Gobert in the Finals, Willy only scored 14 points on 5/14 shooting. Obviously Gobert isn't your average defensive NBA big man, but I also recall Pau Gasol dominating FIBA matches offensively well in to old age, well past his dominant years in the NBA, so I was thinking it may be a little easier for talented big men to score in FIBA than in NBA.

I expect Markannen will be a much bigger force offensively on the Jazz than he was on Cleveland, especially if Bogey and Clarkson are traded, but I am not expecting his Eurobasket 28 ppg dominance.

Yep, level of competition changes everything.

Of course Lauri has had some terrific games in the NBA, but it's his consistency and defense that need to improve.

And did you guys know his wingspan at 6'11" is just 1" more than Mitchell's?

On the bright side playing well in Eurobasket is preferable to playing badly ...

[Jiipee84]

It is actually the other way round. In FIBA matches there is no 3 sec defensive rule, the field is narrower than in NBA, travelling and other offensive fouls are actually called. The average winning point total for the winning team in FIBA matches the past five years has been 75.6 points, in the NBA 101.2 points.

Good points, though the FIBA games being shorter is one factor contributing to fewer points total.

I am far from an expert on FIBA considering it is hard to get the games here, but Willy Hernangomez, a lifelong backup in the NBA, just walked away with the Eurobasket MVP. Prior to the last game against Gobert, Willy was leading the Spaniards in scoring on an efficient 17.6 ppg on 9.6 fga. Against NBA center Gobert in the Finals, Willy only scored 14 points on 5/14 shooting. Obviously Gobert isn't your average defensive NBA big man, but I also recall Pau Gasol dominating FIBA matches offensively well in to old age, well past his dominant years in the NBA, so I was thinking it may be a little easier for talented big men to score in FIBA than in NBA.

I expect Markannen will be a much bigger force offensively on the Jazz than he was on Cleveland, especially if Bogey and Clarkson are traded, but I am not expecting his Eurobasket 28 ppg dominance.

Yep, level of competition changes everything.

Of course Lauri has had some terrific games in the NBA, but it's his consistency and defense that need to improve.

And did you guys know his wingspan at 6'11" is just 1" more than Mitchell's?

On the bright side playing well in Eurobasket is preferable to playing badly ...

Do you understand that the difference between Eurobasket game and NBA game
is that 1 quarter is only 10 minutes in FIBA but in NBA it's 12 mins so of course scoring margins etc are a bit lower in FIBA than NBA.
That what got Lauri's game rolling in Eurobasket do not mean automatically that same happens in NBA.

Finland played every game in Eurobasket giving 120% of them every game and the goal was winning all the time.
In Utah the goal is tank for 2023 NBA draft and suck so much as possible and that it-self means that it is very likely
Lauri's point total in NBA is this season anything between 15,0 to 20,0 PPG per game if all goes well.
So don't expect same game performances from Lauri in NBA this season what he had in Eurobasket.

[Jiipee84]

I think most Jazz fans are willing to give Lauri a chance but just find it ironic that a Lauri fan is bagging on other players.

The difference between Sexton (if that is what you are refering to) and Lauri NBA careers so far have been Sexton was given the keys to the team for three years, while Lauri has been forced to stand in the corner as a 3p shooter for basically all of his NBA career. The end result was same, Cavs wanted to get rid of them both.

With Sexton on the team as the main ball-handler of a team, nobody else in the team will see the ball much. It is what it is. Hopefully Jazz will not give Sexton the keys, he is much more efficient when he isn't the one bringing up the ball (as was very clearly seen last autumn when Ricky Rubio simply didn't allow Sexton to get the ball unless he was about to score).

Hopefully Mike Conley is a good mentor.

You're not only who's hoping that.
But the fact is that Conley will not be in the team whole season.
He'll get traded some point but when that's something which no-one cannot say for sure.

[JonFromVA]

Good points, though the FIBA games being shorter is one factor contributing to fewer points total.

I am far from an expert on FIBA considering it is hard to get the games here, but Willy Hernangomez, a lifelong backup in the NBA, just walked away with the Eurobasket MVP. Prior to the last game against Gobert, Willy was leading the Spaniards in scoring on an efficient 17.6 ppg on 9.6 fga. Against NBA center Gobert in the Finals, Willy only scored 14 points on 5/14 shooting. Obviously Gobert isn't your average defensive NBA big man, but I also recall Pau Gasol dominating FIBA matches offensively well in to old age, well past his dominant years in the NBA, so I was thinking it may be a little easier for talented big men to score in FIBA than in NBA.

I expect Markannen will be a much bigger force offensively on the Jazz than he was on Cleveland, especially if Bogey and Clarkson are traded, but I am not expecting his Eurobasket 28 ppg dominance.

Yep, level of competition changes everything.

Of course Lauri has had some terrific games in the NBA, but it's his consistency and defense that need to improve.

And did you guys know his wingspan at 6'11" is just 1" more than Mitchell's?

On the bright side playing well in Eurobasket is preferable to playing badly ...

Do you understand that the difference between Eurobasket game and NBA game
is that 1 quarter is only 10 minutes in FIBA but in NBA it's 12 mins so of course scoring margins etc are a bit lower in FIBA than NBA.
That what got Lauri's game rolling in Eurobasket do not mean automatically that same happens in NBA.

Finland played every game in Eurobasket giving 120% of them every game and the goal was winning all the time.
In Utah the goal is tank for 2023 NBA draft and suck so much as possible and that it-self means that it is very likely
Lauri's point total in NBA is this season anything between 15,0 to 20,0 PPG per game if all goes well.
So don't expect same game performances from Lauri in NBA this season what he had in Eurobasket.

I disagree, the biggest difference is the level of competition.

Eurobasket MVP Willy Hermangomez earned $2.2M last season. Why wouldn't he give 120% if he thought there was a chance he could be paid like an NBA superstar?

[Swuul]

Eurobasket MVP Willy Hermangomez earned $2.2M last season. Why wouldn't he give 120% if he thought there was a chance he could be paid like an NBA superstar?

Duh, because he was playing for his country. Money has nothing to do with fighting your guts out for your country. Prolly difficult for americans to understand, I guess.

[JonFromVA]

Eurobasket MVP Willy Hermangomez earned $2.2M last season. Why wouldn't he give 120% if he thought there was a chance he could be paid like an NBA superstar?

Duh, because he was playing for his country. Money has nothing to do with fighting your guts out for your country. Prolly difficult for americans to understand, I guess.

Lots of NBA role players play at 120% ... they have to, to stay in the league; but it doesn't make them a superstar.

Do you believe Lorenzo Brown (a late second round pick who couldn't manage to stick in the NBA) was giving 120% for his country too when he helped Spain win it all?

[Swuul]

Do you believe Lorenzo Brown (a late second round pick who couldn't manage to stick in the NBA) was giving 120% for his country too when he helped Spain win it all?

I wasn't aware he won the MVP too.