by Stef Siepel
With the departure of John Stockton, the
Jazz lost one of two franchise cornerstones. The Jazz hope to fill
that vacancy by picking smart in the 2003 NBA Draft. They want a
talented young man, someone who will carry the franchise to great
heights.
Yeah, honey, dream on.
The Jazz and the other 28 teams will try to get the best player
available when they pick, but that is easier said than done. After
the top three (LeBron James, Darko Milicic, and Carmelo Anthony) the
field is wide open. A lot of people around the globe try to estimate
where all the players are going to be picked, but in many cases the
closest they get is “approximately in the first round”. An example,
when I compared two mock drafts with each other I couldn’t help but
notice that one had Jarvis Hayes going to the Bulls with the seventh
pick while the other mock draft thought the Hawks would pick him …
with the 21st pick.
Welcome to the 2003 NBA draft.
All teams’ scouting machines are running, but they have a hard time
finding out how good the players really are. They followed the
Chicago camp closely, but only late first round and second round
players attended that camp. The same goes for the camp held in
Portsmouth earlier this year. To get a good look at the potential
lottery picks you will have to invite them for private workouts, but
the problem is that you can’t base a good opinion on one workout
alone. Then you also have all the international players. They all
came to the US for some private workouts, but a lot of scouts went
to Europe to look at them there as well. And take this from me,
every team has a different opinion on all the players. And with
every team having a (slightly) different opinion on all the players,
and with each team having a different need, the draft is guaranteed
to be full of surprises.
Enter the Jazz, who own the nineteenth pick in this year’s draft.
The Jazz will probably go for the best player available, although a
point guard and a small forward are two positions they most likely
will not draft, unless there will be a player available who they
can’t let go. A shooting guard who can actually shoot is high on the
priority list, and a big man (especially a power forward) is always
high on the priority list as well.
There are some big men the Jazz might have their eye on. One of the
power forwards that might slip into the Jazz’ hands is Kansas senior
Nick Collison. He is said to be one of the most consistent players
in the draft, and he has surprised a lot of people with his
athleticism. Two other positives are his passing skills and his
court sense. He does need to bulk up though, and some scouts are
questioning his upside. He already is very polished, and some are
afraid he won’t improve as much as people hope he will.
The Jazz are also taking a look at the Greek Sofoklis Schortsanitis,
probably to tease Hot Rod Hundley. The young Greek plays very
aggressively, and he is very strong. But he is very quick as well,
and he also has a good range on his shot. But the Greek is young and
very raw. He needs to be polished, and that might take some time
with this young man. He needs to work on his free throw shooting and
his mid-range jumper, as it’s not consistent enough. He also tends
to pick up quick fouls due to his aggressiveness. There’s a lot of
work that needs to be done, but the young man has the body and the
talent to be a good player in the future.
Another talented foreigner is Zarko Cabarkapa, who is from Serbia.
This young man is a versatile power forward, although he could also
play the center and small forward positionsl. He has a good jump
shot, but he can also take it to the basket. His ball handling
skills are said to be sublime for a power forward. He also has good
court vision. The problem is that he needs to gain some weight in
order to stand a chance to defend the power forwards in the West.
Then again, he needs to work on his defense overall, as it isn’t as
good as it’s supposed to be.
And since we are talking about foreigners now, let’s head to Georgia
to look at Zaur Pachulia. Just like the Greek Schortsanitis, this
young man is talented, but raw. Scouts say that he already is strong
enough to compete with the power forwards of the NBA. They also say
that he is a good rebounder. But, as said before, the problem is
that he is still very unpolished, and it might take a while to turn
him into a good player.
The United States have a few good power forwards as well, and two of
them are David West and Brian Cook. David West is a tenacious
competitor. He is a great rebounder, as he has an uncanny feel for
where the ball is going. Not surprisingly he also has great court
vision, plus the passing skills to take advantage of that. He has
range up to 18 feet, but he isn’t able to hit it with consistency.
He has a nice assortment of back-to-the-basket moves, and he has a
soft touch, which allows him to finish those moves off nicely. The
biggest problem is his height. The senior from Xavier is listed as
6-8, and that isn’t the ideal height for the power forward spot. He
doesn’t have the skills to play small forward, so power forward is
the position he is going to play in the league. He needs to work on
his defense as well. But West has the right work ethic to, despite
his height, make it in the NBA.
Brian Cook is quite the opposite, as the power forward from Illinois
University doesn’t play with the same intensity as West. As a matter
of fact, his desire is a question mark. Cook is still an intriguing
prospect, especially with his good face up game and his more than
decent jump shot all the way out to the three-point line (although
he has to improve on it as he can’t make them consistently). He’s a
pretty good passer too. He still needs to improve his
back-to-the-basket moves, and his shot selection needs improvement
as well. He lacks explosiveness, and he isn’t as good a rebounder as
you might expect from someone his size.
Those six big men are probably the guys who will be drafted around
the nineteenth pick, and the following shooting guards are believed
to go somewhere around that pick as well.
One of the shooting guards that could fall to the Jazz or that could
be picked in the lottery is Jarvis Hayes. Hayes probably is the best
shooting SG in this year’s draft. He moves very well without the
ball, and he comes off screens like the best. And that comes in
handy when you have a shot as sweet as his. He is also a pretty
smart player, who won’t get out of control. The main problem with
Hayes is that he has some problems on the defensive end, as well as
some problems taking his defender one-on-one. And, similar to
Calbert Cheaney, he doesn’t do a great job of drawing fouls. But, to
come back to his main quality, he is a great shooter.
Another solid shooter is Reece Gaines, a senior who went to
Louisville. His shot is solid, his defense is solid, and everything
is solid. The only thing that might stand out is his passing. And
that has to be good, because he is listed as a combo guard. He’s a
smart player with a good game overall. That also means that he
doesn’t have any major weaknesses, which is a good thing. An
interesting little thing is that Gaines seems to be more suited for
a half court offense, and guess what the Jazz are running…
After two Americans it is time to tour the world again, and the
first stop is Serbia, Aleksandar Pavlovic’s homeland. Pavlovic is
listed as a small forward/shooting guard, and with his 6’6 he can
play both. He is a very aggressive player, which has its advantages
and disadvantages. In his case it might be more of a disadvantage
than an advantage. He tends to pick up quick fouls because of his
aggressiveness, and his poor shot selection is also a result of
that. He also needs work on his ball protection. Nevertheless he is
a good prospect. He is a good passer and mid-range shooter, and he
has range all the way out to three-point land. He shows promise
defensively while he has a whole arsenal of moves for at the
offensive end. He can successfully complete these moves because of
his above average ball handling.
The second stop in our world tour is Argentina, the land where
Carlos Delfino was born. This young man is praised for his defense.
Reports about his shot vary. Some say that he is one of the best
shooters in the draft while others say that he is very streaky. One
thing I heard about his shot was that his release is a little bit
too slow and his shot might be a little too flat. But despite those
reports he is still considered a marksman. He’s a solid passer as
well.
The third stop of this world tour leads us to France, where Boris
Diaw currently resides. Diaw is an explosive athlete and a good
defender. He also has great passing skills, enough to play some time
at the point, and he always looks for open teammates. The biggest
problem with Diaw is that he seems to be struggling with his jump
shot. Some people also say that he doesn’t work hard enough to
become a star. Another minus that might be related to that is that
it seems he isn’t all that active on offense when he doesn’t have
the ball.
The final stop before we head back to the US is the homeland of
Zoran Planinic, namely Croatia. He is listed as a combo guard,
although many see him ultimately playing the point guard position.
But with his length (6’6) he can play the other guard position as
well. Zoran is constantly on the move on the offensive end, which
makes him difficult to defend. He is a good passer with good court
vision, and he has the ability to read the defense. He’s also a good
shooter, and he won’t force the shot. He might force the pass
though, as he tends to leave his feet a little bit too soon. He also
needs to bulk up, as some say that he is skinny even for European
standards, let alone for American standards.
Then we head back to America to take a look at one more American
prospect. Many people think he is going to be drafted in the second
round, but after strong showings in several private workouts and in
the Chicago draft camp, he is now considered to be a (late) first
round pick. But the Jazz might consider taking him with their pick
anyway, which might have something to do with him being from BYU. He
has a pretty nice shot, and his defense is said to be great. Word
has it that he is more athletic than everyone thought he was. He
does need to work on his shot off the dribble, but he has surprised
everyone in the past weeks with a string of strong performances.
Travis Hansen might even have worked his way up to the nineteenth
pick, although many still believe that he is a late first round
choice at best.
The guys I’ve just mentioned probably have the most chance to be in
a Jazz uniform next year. But I did something similar, even more
extensive, last year, and I didn’t really get it right. Ryan
Humphrey, who the Jazz originally picked, didn’t make my list
because I thought he would go lower. Humphrey was traded for
Borchardt, who I also didn’t have on the list because I thought that
Borchardt was a sure lottery pick. It proved once again that the
draft can’t be predicted. Some players go a lot higher than anyone
thought while some will fall lower than anyone could’ve imagined.
This draft will be just the same. Some players will go higher than
expected, and some will go lower. And then, of course, we have the
trades on draft day, which make sure that predicting the draft is
entirely impossible. And word has it that the Jazz are looking to
trade their first round pick
If the Jazz don’t trade their pick then I still think that they will
most likely pick one of the above players. But you never know how
the draft will go, so just sit back, relax, and be ready to be
amazed.
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