5 reasons the Jazz take Jimmer at 12

[tmb3]

Many are quick to point out Jimmer's faults or weaknesses-defense and athleticism-but I wanted to remind everyone about out his strengths and why he would be a great fit for the Jazz, despite some of his weaknesses.

First off, at #6 they need swing for the fences and look for a potential star(Biyombo, Vesley, Kanter). Biyombo would be my ideal pick here. He has DPOY written all over him. 7'7 wingspan and 9'3 standing reach, intense, competitive, athletic, and driven. I don't see him being a 20 point scorer, but if he can develop into a Ben Wallace type defensive force he would be a steal here at #6.

At #12 Jimmer, if available, HAS to be the pick. Here are the 5 reasons why:

1. If they take a risk at #6(draft on potential-Biyombo,Vesley, Jonas V, Kanter) they can look to fill out the roster with a "sure thing" at #12. He may not have as high of a ceiling as T Jones, Leonard, Burks, or others that may be available at 12, but he also doesn't have as much bust potential, either. His floor is a quality backup combo guard that is a big-time 3-point/scoring threat.

2. Fills a need -3 point Shooting. Having him on the floor would help space the floor and give AL, Sap, and Favors room to work in the post. He will make teams pay for double teaming, which is something we did not have last year(Hayward will also help with that with consistent minutes). When he gets open looks he simply does not miss. Almost every 3-pointer he took last year was heavily contested. He won't have that in the NBA. Give him the wide-open looks that CJ gets and he shoots around 50%.

3. Marketing/Financial reasons - He is going to put butts in seats, make ratings go through the roof, and sell a ton of jerseys, shirts, and other Jazz gear before he steps foot on the floor. Everyone is going to want to see The Jimmer. I'm sure TNT and ESPN wouldn't mind getting an extra Jazz game or two on the schedule to see him play. Many will want to watch to see him fail and many want to watch to see him silence the critics. Either way people will watch.

4. He is a gym rat, a team player, humble, competitive kid that the Jazz coaching staff and players would love. I've heard countless times from Dave Rose, Jackson Emery, and other coaches and teammates that Jimmer is all about doing whatever it takes to help the team win. Rose said that he never let all the attention he got get to his head. He would not be coming in with an inflated ego or sense of entitlement. He is a competitor and will work his tail off to fill whatever role he is asked to fill.

5. Bench Scoring- We were nearly dead last in the league in all offensive bench categories(bench scoring, assists, fg%, 3pt%, etc.). Jimmer would be a spark plug off the bench that would give us a consistent threat off the bench. He is a well rounded offensive player that doesn't rely on his 3-point shot like CJ in order to score. He is great at coming off curls(Matt Harpring), can penetrate and score in the lane, can pull up off the dribble(John Stockton), can split the double team and find the open guy, and can hit the open three at a very high rate.

So these are my reasons why the Jazz should take Jimmer at 12. Sure he has some weaknesses and question marks, but so does every player in the draft, especially in the late lottery. His strengths outweigh his weaknesses and he will be a solid role player. He will probably never make an All-star team and may never even be a starter. But not many #12 picks become all-stars, starters, or even consistent contributors, so they should look to use the 12th pick to get a player that has the best chance to be a solid contributor throughout his career. I believe that player is Jimmer.

[babyjax13]

Saying Jimmer isn't a risky pick is like saying Joan Rivers needs more plastic surgery.

[StocktonShorts]

There's only one reason the Jazz take Jimmer at 12: because they think he's the best player available.

[carrottop12]

Winning puts butts in seats, having a name like jimmer doesn't. As has been pointed out before, how many undersized guys that don't play a lick of defense are getting minutes in the playoffs right now?

[HammerDunk]

It's all been said, many threads. Love him or hate him, it all depends on what happens with the first pick.

[HammerDunk]

Winning puts butts in seats, having a name like jimmer doesn't. As has been pointed out before, how many undersized guys that don't play a lick of defense are getting minutes in the playoffs right now?

Carlos Boozer...

[Catchall]

Does Tony Parker really play defense? Steve Blake? JJ Barea? Matt Bonner?

[StocktonShorts]

Does Tony Parker really play defense? Steve Blake? JJ Barea? Matt Bonner?

Bonner's not getting any playoff minutes anymore...

[Neon Black]

This is a tired argument to postulate, but there will probably be a difference between a Jimmer who is asked to play defense vs. the one who was explicitly advised not to, because he was the main offensive cog in an otherwise very mediocre team. That doesn't mean he'll ever be GOOD at defense, necessarily, but I think he'll be able to get by...especially if he plays PG. It will also be interesting to see if he adapts to becoming more of a distributor in the NBA. He's been good at finding the open man, when he's not myopic about scoring (which, again, he was pretty much asked to be).

I don't hate Jimmer at 12. I think everyone around that range is a huge risk, anyway. Jimmer should at least be as effective as Korver (though completely different) in the league.

[carrottop12]

Does Tony Parker really play defense? Steve Blake? JJ Barea? Matt Bonner?

barea statistically is actually one of the more decent defensive pg's in the league, regardless, those guys are all playing their true positions, I don't think jimmer will be able to play the 1 in the NBA.

I don't thnk people understand that byu designed their defensive schemes specifically to cover jimmers horrendous defense. That's how bad it was.

[Neon Black]

[quote="Bat"I don't thnk people understand that byu designed their defensive schemes specifically to cover jimmers horrendous defense. That's how bad it was.[/quote]

Really? I heard teammates say he actually could play, but was asked to conserve his energy for offense. Don't quite know what to believe.

[carrottop12]

I really don't buy the "conserving energy" nonsense, especially in college. Those guys are in the prime of their athletic careers, they play twice a week on average, and they play against smaller, softer, slower players with a smaller court to defend.

If he is already having to take 50% of his floor time off so he can play offense, what on earth is he going to do in the NBA? He's going to be asked to play 3-4 times a week in a new city each night against the worlds best. The jazz are going to have to give him entire weeks off so he can play back up pg at the NBA level if he can't even attempt to play defense in college.

[jazzfan1971]

Well, I've not seen him play. But, if you watch his defense at the end of close games you'll likely see his top level defense. He's not going to conserve energy in that situation.

So, did he suddenly turn into a good defender at the end of close games? If so, there is probalby some truth to him conserving energy. If not, he's probably just a bad defender.

[StocktonShorts]

This is a tired argument to postulate, but there will probably be a difference between a Jimmer who is asked to play defense vs. the one who was explicitly advised not to...

That's your opinion but there's not a lot of evidence to back it up. If he participates in some scrimmage-type workouts and is able to show some defensive capabilities there then maybe the theory of his good but never-used, mint-in-package defense will carry some water. As it is now I'm lumping it squarely in with the theory that dinosaur bones were placed on the earth by an omnipotent being to test people's faith in creationism.

[Fido]

I don't buy the claim that he will put butts in the seats just because Jimmer-mania was rampant in the local market. Unless he is going to take his crazy shoot from anywhere game into the NBA the Jimmer-mania won't continue. Anyone who buys season tickets just because Jimmer might get 5-10 reserve minutes as a rookie is crazy. And I don't see him playing the same "give me the ball and watch me work" style in the NBA. He'll find his butt in the seat(s) if he tries that.

I'm not saying he isn't a pick to consider at 12. Just not for that reason.

[HammerDunk]

I'm waiting for some workouts to see what they have to say about his defense.

[Amish Mafioso]

I kind of hope Utah picks him #12.

Looking foward to all the "why isn't Jimmer playing?" and "Fire Corbin!" threads.

[Neon Black]

This is a tired argument to postulate, but there will probably be a difference between a Jimmer who is asked to play defense vs. the one who was explicitly advised not to...

That's your opinion but there's not a lot of evidence to back it up. If he participates in some scrimmage-type workouts and is able to show some defensive capabilities there then maybe the theory of his good but never-used, mint-in-package defense will carry some water. As it is now I'm lumping it squarely in with the theory that dinosaur bones were placed on the earth by an omnipotent being to test people's faith in creationism.

I don't really have an opinion yet. It's just the other side of the coin. I'd just like to give him some benefit of the doubt before completely ruling out his defensive capabilities like many have. It will definitely be good to see what he does in some workouts.

[Luigi]

I don't thnk people understand that byu designed their defensive schemes specifically to cover jimmers horrendous defense. That's how bad it was.

I really don't buy the "conserving energy" nonsense, especially in college. Those guys are in the prime of their athletic careers, they play twice a week on average, and they play against smaller, softer, slower players with a smaller court to defend.

If he is already having to take 50% of his floor time off so he can play offense, what on earth is he going to do in the NBA? He's going to be asked to play 3-4 times a week in a new city each night against the worlds best. The jazz are going to have to give him entire weeks off so he can play back up pg at the NBA level if he can't even attempt to play defense in college.

Hmm. You're reasoning is putting the cart in front of the horse. We can all agree on two things:

1. BYU rotated players to cover him on defense.
2. Jimmer didn't play good defense in college.

It does not follow from these points that Jimmer is not capable of good defense, or that BYU designed a defense to cover for his alleged inability to play it. You can go two ways here: (1) Jimmer can't play D so they covered up for him, or (2) Jimmer was told to back off on defense for other reasons.

Athletic primes do not come in college. I'm not sure where you heard that. The world's best marathoners reach peak conditioning in their late 20s and early 30s. NBA basketball players are similar, but a bit earlier because of the need for explosiveness for their game. You probably meant recovery time, but this is more an issue of conditioning.

I'm not sure how many BYU games you watched, but it is a rare thing to see an offense dominated by a single player. Jimmer took an incredible number of shots, and he had to earn them all by himself. His shots per minute were orders of magnitude greater than you are giving him credit. It's not just the difference between the top scorer and the second scorer in the league: this is like Stockton's assists numbers compared to the next closest guys, the kind of gap that makes you want to grab the person you're talking to and shake them to get them to appreciate the distance between 1 and 2. Because of his fantastically lopsided duties and performance on the court, I think it is most reasonable to believe that he was told to devote his energy to scoring for the sake of winning.

But that's not even the main issue here. If Jimmer fouls out, BYU loses the game. Rather than risk that disaster, I think Rose told him to play the passing lanes instead of get in his opponent's face.

Is this a good coaching strategy? It's not my favorite. I'd rather see a team game with all players committed to defense and making the right play. That's what you typically get in college, but that's not what Jimmer got. He was used as a scorer, and he produced a unanimous player of the year season doing it. What is he going to do in the NBA when he has to play defense? I'm worried he won't be able to defend NBA guards. But he's obviously going to have more energy and coaching policy to do it (that is, unless you think he's going to be asked to score more than Kevin Durant, in college regulation). I'm worried nobody will let him play his brand of offense, in a smaller role, either. But it is bad logic to say that because BYU's defense covered for Jimmer, that it must have been because Jimmer couldn't play defense. It just doesn't follow.

[Frank Lee]

Draft Bismack and Jimmer ? Perfect match.... whoever blows by Jimmer is served lunch, Congo style. You could do so much worse.

Please take him. I do not want the Suns to be tempted.


I was looking around for some info on Fesenko... couldnt find much chatter. did want a new thread.... So I'll ask here.

Worth the Free Agency pick up for Phnx ? We need rebounding, some defense out of a PF or C. Slim pickens for youngsters. Thus kids bio reads well, but what is he really like?