Shams: Ekpe Udoh to Utah | 2 years $6.5M

[Catchall]

Ekpe Udoh is likely Rudy's backup. I think he's a good deal at $3M per.

[Catchall]

Rodney Hood, Donovan Mitchell and Joe Johnson can hunt shots. Rudy will score off of pick-and-roll actions with Rubio. Ingles, Thabo and Jerebko can spot up. They'll get by.

[Chi]

Bringing in more defensive minded players with Thabo, Udoh and Jerebko. Jazz talking a lot about looking for more scoring, maybe even a primary scoring option, does not align with these moves.

Well we got some scorers:

Gobert: 18+ ppg (just look at his splits, plus they got Rubio who can lob the ball to Gobert all day)
Favors: 16+ ppg (if healthy)
Hood: 18+ ppg (if healthy)
Mitchell: 10-15 ppg (prediction based on 24-30mpg)
Exum: 10+ ppg
Rubio: 10+ ppg

If they get enough minutes:
Burks: 10+ ppg
JJ: 10+ ppg

Obviously we wont have 8 guys scoring 10+ ppg, but we did have 6 guys scoring 9+ ppg. Since we are going to lose a 21ppg and 17ppg guy, I expect to have a lot of guys step up and provide 10-15ppg range, and I expect atleast 5 players to average over 10ppg, and atleast 3 of those over 15ppg.

We are more of a system player than feeding one guy or ISO plays, so we get scoring across the board. We don't score a lot (28th in the NBA last season), yet we were 12th in offensive rating last season. so we are efficient with each possession, but naturally we get fewer than most teams because we hold the possession to the end of the clock. I rather all our players atleast put some effort on defense than to have a ton of superstars on offense than don't play a lick of defense. I have a hard time not seeing our team as the best defensive team in the NBA.

I agree it's going to be nice to see a team with so many lock down defenders. But my thing is why not get an offensive player or 2 now?

You guys can afford to take on one of those volume scorers that no one else wants because they don't play D.

Mixing in a little offense in that defensive juggernaut that's being built won't hurt the defense...

[oaktownwarriors87]

Scoring is going to be a real struggle for that team

Yeah, probably, but the Jazz kept their best catch-n-shoot players and their most efficient ISO scorers.

Rodney Hood could pick up his scoring. Without Hill/Hayward and with Gobert he scored just over 20 per36 and he averaged 1.16 points per possession. That's pretty good.

I can see him being much more efficient and productive as the featured scorer. It's also a contract year for him.

[Nate505]

The Jazz are plotting to be the most defensiest non offensiest team ever.

I tend not to buy that philosophy in basketball, but hey, I'm intrigued to see it in play.

[mudsak]

The Jazz are plotting to be the most defensiest non offensiest team ever.

I tend not to buy that philosophy in basketball, but hey, I'm intrigued to see it in play.

They'll be the most annoying team for other teams to play... other players and coaches in the league will hate playing the Jazz.


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[Daddy 801]

The Jazz are plotting to be the most defensiest non offensiest team ever.

I tend not to buy that philosophy in basketball, but hey, I'm intrigued to see it in play.

They'll be the most annoying team for other teams to play... other players and coaches in the league will hate playing the Jazz.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

As a bigger fan of defense than offense, this makes me so happy. It's like the grind house times a million.

[Winglish]

The Jazz are plotting to be the most defensiest non offensiest team ever.

I tend not to buy that philosophy in basketball, but hey, I'm intrigued to see it in play.

They'll be the most annoying team for other teams to play... other players and coaches in the league will hate playing the Jazz.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

As a bigger fan of defense than offense, this makes me so happy. It's like the grind house times a million.

I agree with both of you. Teams are going to hate playing against the Jazz because it will be a physical fight all night long.

[Duke4life831]

I love it. I wanted the Jazz to explore getting him back to the league and this looks like a good deal. He looked almost Draymond-like in Euroleague final 4.

Edit: Here's a sample:

Watch on YouTube

Sorry off topic, but man that crowd puts the Cameron Crazies to shame. Gotta love European sports fans, after every bucket they were acting like someone just hit the game winner.

[stitches]

Sorry off topic, but man that crowd puts the Cameron Crazies to shame. Gotta love European sports fans, after every bucket they were acting like someone just hit the game winner.

Try this:

Watch on YouTube

It's weird... probably because of enclosed space, but the best game I've been to (fans, athmosphere-wise) was a basketball one. You put football/soccer/ fans into a basketball arena and it gets wild. Part of it is - in Europe most sports clubs have teams across different sports. So for example, you'd have Utah Jazz football club, Utah Jazz basketball club, Utah Jazz volleyball club, etc... so different sports draw support from eachother.

This game was in final 4 so yeah... almost like every basket was a winner.

[Catchall]

I think the Jazz are going to give significant minutes to Mitchell and Exum, so they're not bringing in vets to play in front of those guys.

They could use more of a scorer at the 4 though.

[Pachinko_]

Sorry off topic, but man that crowd puts the Cameron Crazies to shame. Gotta love European sports fans, after every bucket they were acting like someone just hit the game winner.

Try this:

Watch on YouTube

It's weird... probably because of enclosed space, but the best game I've been to (fans, athmosphere-wise) was a basketball one. You put football/soccer/ fans into a basketball arena and it gets wild. Part of it is - in Europe most sports clubs have teams across different sports. So for example, you'd have Utah Jazz football club, Utah Jazz basketball club, Utah Jazz volleyball club, etc... so different sports draw support from eachother.

This game was in final 4 so yeah... almost like every basket was a winner.

Fans are half the reason we go to games, we are part of the show. Sometimes the game becomes secondary, in some cases it becomes irrelevant, you just scream your lungs out anyway
NBA fans are strange man, I don't know, they're more like customers than they are fans. They kinda sit there watching and if they don't like the product they don't buy it again. And they eat a lot LOL

[stitches]

Fans are half the reason we go to games, we are part of the show. Sometimes the game becomes secondary, in some cases it becomes irrelevant, you just scream your lungs out anyway
NBA fans are strange man, I don't know, they're more like customers than they are fans. They kinda sit there watching and if they don't like the product they don't buy it again. And they eat a lot LOL

Yep, I know what you mean. I've been to both NBA games and to some Euro basketball games as well as at a ton of Euro football games... There really is not much of a comparison. It's a bit like fandom is a completely different exercise at each place. With that said - US sports atmosphere is much more family friendly.

[stitches]

Here's a cool article on Ekpe and his fit with the Jazz(go on the link, there are video clips to go along with the analysis):

http://fansided.com/2017/07/13/ekpe-udoh-fit-jazz-signing-gobert/

Ekpe Udoh is back, and better than ever
by Trevor Magnotti



The Jazz became the latest team to dip into the well of European talent on Monday, signing Ekpe Udoh away from Fenerbahce on a two-year, $6.5 million deal. On the surface, the signing doesn’t look too consequential for the Jazz. It’s a short-term deal for a 30-year-old backup center, who’s going to spend most of his time behind Rudy Gobert.

When we last saw Udoh in the NBA — well, “saw him” isn’t really the right term — he played just 128 minutes in 33 games for a Clippers team that finished with the third best record in the Western Conference. A rough start to the year ended up with him getting buried on the depth chart behind Glen Davis and Spencer Hawes, and Udoh was out of the league that summer, five seasons after being selected sixth in the 2010 NBA Draft. His averages of 16.9 minutes, 4.0 points and 3.2 rebounds per game were nothing to get excited about. He was known more for his off-court exploits and personality than his on-court skills.

He landed a deal at Fenerbahce in Istanbul, and has been reborn as a potential NBA rotation player two years later. He immediately found traction at the five in the Euroleague, and it’s hard to have a better two years in Europe than Udoh did. In 2015-16, he led the Euroleague in blocks with 53 (an all-time record); led his team in scoring with 12.4 points per game; made All-Euroleague 2nd Team; and helped Fener to a Turkish League title and the Euroleague final, which they lost to CSKA Moscow.

This past season, Udoh again led the Euroleague in blocked shots, as well as rebounds; again helped Fenerbahce win the Turkish League; made All-Euroleague first team and Final Four MVP; finished 2nd in Defensive Player of the Year voting to Adam Hanga; and, of course, dominated in Fenerbahce’s Euroleague championship win over Olympiacos.

[...read more here...]

[Daddy 801]

Sorry off topic, but man that crowd puts the Cameron Crazies to shame. Gotta love European sports fans, after every bucket they were acting like someone just hit the game winner.

Try this:

Watch on YouTube

It's weird... probably because of enclosed space, but the best game I've been to (fans, athmosphere-wise) was a basketball one. You put football/soccer/ fans into a basketball arena and it gets wild. Part of it is - in Europe most sports clubs have teams across different sports. So for example, you'd have Utah Jazz football club, Utah Jazz basketball club, Utah Jazz volleyball club, etc... so different sports draw support from eachother.

This game was in final 4 so yeah... almost like every basket was a winner.

This is amazing. I wish the Jazz stadium was this insane. I want to move to Europe so I can get wasted and set of flares at basketball games!