Which Jazz will surprise this year?

[jazzfan1971]

Assuming a season of course.

Who do you see stepping up? Who might be stepping down? Anyone look to be ready to bust out?

[carrottop12]

I think devin Harris is our best player.

I think burks plays well in limited minutes.

I think we are all shocked again that CJ hasn't improved.

I think we get a lot of what we saw to end the season from Al.

[babyjax13]

I think Al Jefferson continues to play like he did the second half of the year.

Devin Harris will have a bounce-back year.

Burks will play more minutes than Kanter, but both will show a lot of promise.

Millsap is the odd-man out between Jefferson-Favors-Millsap. Don't know if he'll be moved, but he won't be starting at powerforward by the end of the season.

Favors looks primed for a breakout, but I think the biggest surprise will be Burks.

Last year I was finally confident in CJ, I wasn't impressed in what I saw by the end of the season...Bell will continue to disappoint and I think people will be disappointed in Kanter (because he still needs some work) in his first year, but by the end of his rookie contract that will be over.

[red4hf]

Favors and Hayward.......

Favors won't become a superstar, but he will cement his place in the starting lineup.......

Hayward, I expect, will be our most consistent player, and will by the end of the season become the quiet leader of the team.......

[HolyToledo]

Favors will be much better than expected and Harris will be much worse than expected. He is far from our best player! He is a below average PG who use to play good defense thats simply looking to leave Utah for brighter lights. Burks will be surprisedly good in the starting lineup to stay sometime this year.

[phrizzo]

i would say harris is still a top ten point guard. is that below average? he's certainly not in the superstar tier of paul/williams/rose/westbrook but he is above average.

[mjvile]

I think the real thing we need to look at is the coaching staff that's where the real surprise will be. We don't really know how they will work together and how they will develop our new and young talent. Because if our coaches cant develop our players than I think we all will be surprised in a negative way.

[Jazzfan12]

I think Millsap will finish top 15 or top 20 in most all encompassing statistical categories like PER or adjusted +/-. He was around 25-30 last year.

[Xsy]

Harris should do better next season.
Miles will continue to be inconsistent.
Bell can't possibly have a worse season. Hopefully is amnestied.
Hayward will get better, but not be as consistently good as he was in April.
Burks will be the surprise of the season. Should get good minutes at the 2 and maybe 1.
Evans will continue to be our energy guy off the bench. Hopefully gain confidence, and get more minutes.
Millsap will start for the majority of the season and continue to be an undersized stud.
Favors will hopefully start by the later half of the season, should continue to improve and impress.
Jefferson should be the same Jefferson. Hopefully a little more consistent, and less of a black hole.
Kanter will be a good backup center, definitely better than anything else we've had in the past. Needs a few seasons to grow into a starting calibur 5.
Okur is a huge question mark. He or Bell are likely to be amnestied. If he's not amnestied, and he's back to good playing condition, he could be a good trade chip as an expiring contract.

[MeestR]

Favors and Hayward.......

Favors won't become a superstar, but he will cement his place in the starting lineup.......

Hayward, I expect, will be our most consistent player, and will by the end of the season become the quiet leader of the team.......

+1

[franklin]

Matt Harpring finds more ridiculous food topics to blither on about endlessly. That other chump shows us once again he has no clue what game he's calling play by play for.

CJ Miles will have improved, but again not enough to matter. He's still a substitute.

Bell will get his legs back, but will still be a 3rd stringer.

AL Jefferson is finally back from knee surgery and will make you all eat crow. Big, big numbers coming.

Kanter is not a center and you will finally learn that.

Favors improves but is still a year or so out.

Harris blah. I can name 15 point guards off the top of my head better than him, but at least he's a serviceable starter.'

Hayward proves you all he really is Michael Jordan's son. J/K but he moves up the charts again.

Burks gets stuffed his first 7 shots and you all cry as your hopes are crushed.

[QuantumMacgyver]

Harris should do better next season.
Miles will continue to be inconsistent.
Bell can't possibly have a worse season. Hopefully is amnestied.

Okur is a huge question mark. He or Bell are likely to be amnestied. If he's not amnestied, and he's back to good playing condition, he could be a good trade chip as an expiring contract.

I think Raja would be better suited for the stretch clause. And at 3 million a year for 2 years he is a decent filler for trades a la Matt Harpring + Eric Maynor. And Memo has been putting up great numbers over seas. I think he'll be more than Ok this year. Hopefully anyway. Besides that, he is a 10 million expiring. If anything he gets traded.

[QuantumMacgyver]

Matt Harpring finds more ridiculous food topics to blither on about endlessly. That other chump shows us once again he has no clue what game he's calling play by play for.

CJ Miles will have improved, but again not enough to matter. He's still a substitute.

Bell will get his legs back, but will still be a 3rd stringer.

AL Jefferson is finally back from knee surgery and will make you all eat crow. Big, big numbers coming.

Kanter is not a center and you will finally learn that.

Favors improves but is still a year or so out.

Harris blah. I can name 15 point guards off the top of my head better than him, but at least he's a serviceable starter.'

Hayward proves you all he really is Michael Jordan's son. J/K but he moves up the charts again.

Burks gets stuffed his first 7 shots and you all cry as your hopes are crushed.

That's an interesting idea. What 15 PGs are you thinking?

And I don't think Burks will get blocked much at all. If you watch his style of play he really enjoys the dribble drive with a fade away. Hard to block. Plus he rarely takes contested shots. Typically shoots on the move or transition/screen 3s. Both of which are hard to block. Burks is gonna straight ball it out this year. He'll have better percentages than Jimmer. I like Jimmer, but Tyreke is gonna make it hard on him.

[jazzfan1971]

Seems like he's reliving the horror of watching DeShawn Stevenson's entry into the league.

I can't say I blame him though, we've marched a half dozen SGs through that front door and none of them have panned out, other than Matthews, and we just let him walk. Our record with Shooting Guards isnt' that stellar, in fact, Other than 2nd round guys and undrafted guy, I think it's been a pretty terrible record.

So, if history is any indication Burks could indeed be a huge bust. We hope not, but, I think we mostly thought Quincy Lewis, Sasha Pavlovic, Gordon Giricek, Ronnie Brewer, Kirk Snyder, CJ Miles and Morris Almond were going to be good as well.

Burks is just the latest throw at the SG dart board as far as I'm concerned. I'm going to keep expectations in check.

[franklin]

That's an interesting idea. What 15 PGs are you thinking?

PG spot is stacked. Here are 7 top notch, and Parker an 8th:
Rondo, Williams, Paul, MVP, Parker, Westbrook, Curry, Wall

Next tier young:
Felton, Tyreke, Jennings,

Old Men:
Billups, Nash, Kidd

Will be better next season:
Jrue, Augustin, Conley, Lowry


We'll see rookies:
Rubio (not a fan myself), Irving, Knight

And I don't think Burks will get blocked much at all. If you watch his style of play he really enjoys the dribble drive with a fade away. Hard to block. Plus he rarely takes contested shots. Typically shoots on the move or transition/screen 3s. Both of which are hard to block. Burks is gonna straight ball it out this year. He'll have better percentages than Jimmer. I like Jimmer, but Tyreke is gonna make it hard on him.

Watching his tapes I didn't see much of a fade away jumper at all. He takes them when he's driving and gets forced to the baseline, then throws up prayers while flying out of bounds. Fade away's go away from the basket, not perpendicular to it.

Seems like he's reliving the horror of watching DeShawn Stevenson's entry into the league.

Hey now, we can't all be homer fans. Someone has to save the fan base from being the most sensationalistic, hopeless homers.

[QuantumMacgyver]

I always felt the biggest problem with most of our SGs is shot selection. We've had a history of acquiring SGs who have little, or no, shot selection. None of Quincy Lewis, Morris Almond, CJ, and DeShawn ever saw a shot they didn't like. Ronnie had no shot, but Ronnie was a solid player here. Couldn't shoot, but we were definitely a better team with him than without. Snyder was outside of his mind so... 'nuff said.

The biggest difference between these guys and Burks is that he actually seems to have a pretty decent basketball IQ. In fact one ESPN writer was warning people not to be surprised if the Jazz play Burks at PG ultimately. He went on to say he'd heard rumblings that Corbin liked the idea of playing Hayward at Point Forward with Burks playing the off-ball 1 position. Can't say I hate it.

but... ultimately I have high hopes for Burks. He was the guy I wanted out of this draft more than anyone. So, I am definitely biased.

[QuantumMacgyver]

PG spot is stacked. Here are 7 top notch, and Parker an 8th:
Rondo, Williams, Paul, MVP, Parker, Westbrook, Curry, Wall

Next tier young:
Felton, Tyreke, Jennings,

Old Men:
Billups, Nash, Kidd

Will be better next season:
Jrue, Augustin, Conley, Lowry


We'll see rookies:
Rubio (not a fan myself), Irving, Knight

Definitely a lot go good PGs in the league. I am old school in that I don't like to consider players out of position. For instance. Tyreke, Jennings, Westbrook and Curry I'd have to slot in at SG. I'd also consider Harris better than Conley and Lowry. Maybe even Jrue and Augustin. Augustin did come on strong tho, so that'd be tough. Hmmm... solid point tho. Given your first 14 players, I'd have to drop Harris to borderline top 15. 15-20 range.

[jazzfan1971]

Hey, I'm pleased with early reports on the guy, but, didn't Morris Almond have pretty stellar reports in the pre-season as well?

I hope the hell he pans out, but, you have to admit our track record there is very poor. Maybe this is the year we get lucky, maybe this is just a continuation of a terrible track record.

I guess as long as we don't see Raja Bell getting minutes I'll be ok.

[QuantumMacgyver]

And I don't think Burks will get blocked much at all. If you watch his style of play he really enjoys the dribble drive with a fade away. Hard to block. Plus he rarely takes contested shots. Typically shoots on the move or transition/screen 3s. Both of which are hard to block. Burks is gonna straight ball it out this year. He'll have better percentages than Jimmer. I like Jimmer, but Tyreke is gonna make it hard on him.

Watching his tapes I didn't see much of a fade away jumper at all. He takes them when he's driving and gets forced to the baseline, then throws up prayers while flying out of bounds. Fade away's go away from the basket, not perpendicular to it.

I don't see his baseline jumpers as prayers. Definitely under control and square to the basket when releases. Great shot. You are right about the fade away thing. I should've said step back jumper instead of fade away.

[phrizzo]

That's an interesting idea. What 15 PGs are you thinking?

PG spot is stacked. Here are 7 top notch, and Parker an 8th:
Rondo, Williams, Paul, MVP, Parker, Westbrook, Curry, Wall

Next tier young:
Felton, Tyreke, Jennings,

Old Men:
Billups, Nash, Kidd

Will be better next season:
Jrue, Augustin, Conley, Lowry


We'll see rookies:
Rubio (not a fan myself), Irving, Knight

You listed 3 guys who have yet to play in the NBA, 4 guys you only assume will be better next season, and Brandon Jennings. Just...pointing that out.