erudite23 wrote:Listen. Enes Kanter was a 19 year old rookie. This poppy cock of his outside shot not being utilized or him not getting enough PT is dumbfounding. Memhet Okur, who was a proven Euro League player and 23 years old when he came over to the NBA, played 19mpg in his rookie season and despite the fact that his BEST quality as a player was his ability to stretch the floor as a near 7 footer, attempted 1.6, 0.7, and 0.8 3-pointers per game during his first 3 years. He didn't begin to really establish himself as a deadly outside shooter until his 5th season at the age of 27. In the meantime, he was being used as a defender/rebounder, finisher and mid range shooter. It took him time and experience to grow into his skill set.
Huh?
Let's compare him with Okur. Okur was picked by Detroit Pistons at 39th overall in 2001. He spent one season in Turkey. If you check his Turkish league stats, you'd notice that in his last two seasons he averaged only 1.4 3-pointers per game. Rick Carlisle believed in his rookies Prince and Okur. Okur managed to get 19 mpg and 1.6 3 pointers on a team which lost the conference finals to Nets. My point here Carlisle played him and let him take 3s since it's an area where Okur could develop himself. Then came Larry Brown and Rasheed Wallace. Okur was not getting the minutes that he wanted. He did not get along with Larry Brown. That's why his 3pt attempts are reduced significantly. Also mostly he played as a back up for Ben Wallace since Rasheed Wallace took the PF position. I think in his first season with Jazz he was trying to adjust himself to Jazz offense. Actually I believe that Sloan adjusted himself to a center who can shoot 3s. I cannot think of anyone else other than Okur who played as center and had so many 3 pt attempts in Jazz. They started to run the pick and rolls with Deron.
Kanter on the other hand is the 3rd overall pick. Last year Jazz was not expected win the title or conference finals. Also Jazz have many young talented guys that can become a lot better within a year (hayward,kanter,favors..). So I'd expect these talented guys to become better and better every day. Kanter got only 13 mpg. I had the chance to watch him in Turkey when he was younger and I don't see much improvement in his offense. I also noticed that he's hesitant to shoot from outside the paint. I believe most of his points are coming from offensive rebounds. He tries to execute similar type of post up moves. Some of his post up moves are excellent but he needs to add versatility. As far as I am concerned, he needs to increase his mid range attempts, even try occasional 3s (25-30 per season). In the last two years, he could have improved a lot more.
