Bucks, Bulls, Heat, Hawks Pursuing Kyrylo Fesenko

parson · Post #1 » by **parson** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 4:39 am

If you really need the link, here it is: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/21 ... lo_Fesenko

I get MIA and us, MIL makes a little sense, but what in the world are the Bulls doing? If they want Fesenko that badly, could we offer to take Asik off of their hands?

Anybody got a theory as to what the Bulls are thinking?

parson · Post #2 » by **parson** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 4:51 am

Bulls have a good discussion going on as to why. Short answer: maybe they're trading Asik.

THIS, however, is a little gem one of their posters found:

KYRYLO FESENKO, C (FREE AGENT -- UNRESTRICTED)
No projection | Player card

• Enormous center whose size makes him a major defensive presence.
• Hugely foul-prone and mistake-prone offensively. Horrid foul shooter.
• Professionalism needs improvement. Also struggles to finish around rim.

The best-kept secret in the NBA right now is Fesenko's monstrous defensive stats. It's not that one or two metrics point out his defensive value; it's that all of them do, without any pointing to the contrary.

Last season the Jazz were an eye-popping 11.91 points per 100 possessions better on defense with Fesenko on the floor, and this is not a new trend. The season before it was 8.67; in limited minutes his first two seasons he also had a strong differential.

Synergy Stats, meanwhile, rated Fesenko as the second-best defender in the entire league among players who faced at least 150 opponent plays; the season before he was first. And according to 82games.com, opposing centers had a PER of just 10.4 against him; the season before it was 12.9.

Despite his size, Fesenko doesn't block a ton of shots or dominate the boards. He just uglies up the game for opponents with his sheer hugeness, especially since he moves his feet fairly well for his size. And he can still get better -- he wasn't always fully engaged in Utah and needs to step up his commitment.

Now for the bad news. Fesenko has been fairly disastrous offensively. He tends to bring balls back into shot-blockers when finishing at the rim, he's a 39.8 percent career foul shooter, he's clumsy, and he has no shooting range or ball skills.

Additionally, his towering foul rate limits his impact -- Fesenko commits one every 4.94 minutes for his career, making it virtually impossible for him to play extended minutes. Nonetheless, he can be a very effective, low-cost backup center, and if he can make a few more plays offensively he'll have real value.

And this is the link:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/2011-12-uth-preview/utah-jazz-player-profiles

theatlfan · Post #3 » by **theatlfan** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 4:05 pm

The quote you have there is behind a pay-wall. You might want to trim that a bit...

Still, you can see why CHI would want to sign Fes - very little risk with some reward. There's potential there - he's young and has shown ability on the defensive end. If he gets his O to passable levels, then he could make for a fine backup C. Right now, he's a #3 C whose right place is at the end of the bench and improving every day in practice... why would acquiring someone like this that they'd look to deal Asik? I don't think they would. If Fes develops under them, then having 3 competent C's on the roster isn't a bad problem to have. Just deal with it then.

Hopefully, Fes will see that we offer the most immediate path to the court though. We got a hole @ the 5 now, and even at full strength, we've still got a placeholder on the short rotation for the role that his current abilities are suited for. I don't know if he'd be willing to take the 10-day contract that we're offering up, but all things being equal, we have the advantage in both immediate and future PT.

parson · Post #4 » by **parson** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 8:45 pm

theatlfan wrote:The quote you have there is behind a pay-wall. You might want to trim that a bit...

Normally, of course, I would. In this case, I got it from the CHI board. I didn't cut-and-paste from the ESPN board.

Maybe I should have linked THAT instead but I thought folks might respect an ESPN article more than some poster's opinion.

parson · Post #5 » by **parson** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 8:52 pm

theatlfan wrote:... why would acquiring someone like this that they'd look to deal Asik? I don't think they would.

I was summarizing what I saw as the consensus of the CHI board. Most of them were of that opinion. I don't know. Asik is going to be more expensive next year - I think he'll have to be paid a little bit more than $5 million for the Bulls to keep him. Maybe the Bulls don't want to pay that for a backup.

At first I thought the Bulls might be afraid of losing him, but their fans assure me he must be paid the $5 million+ and nobody can pay him more, so they're not worried about losing him. If the Bulls are really thinking about trading him, I guess it can only mean that they don't want to pay him.

Orrrr, you're right and they want 2 backups.

theatlfan · Post #6 » by **theatlfan** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 8:27 pm

parson wrote:I was summarizing what I saw as the consensus of the CHI board. Most of them were of that opinion.

Gotcha. I wouldn't look any more into it than your typical fan overreaction to something seen as a minor move by the FO. Could Fes affect Asik's status with the team? Sure, if Fes plays lights out, then CHI could change some of their plans with regards to the roster and Asik. In all probability though, I'd guess CHI's FO is thinking that an end of the bench C that could give 6 fouls on Dwight Howard is better than an empty roster spot. If he turns into anything more than that, then it can only be seen as a win - by both the FO and the fans.