"You Gotta Love It Baby" Official Jazz thread

[MarkGrace]

Travis Hansen likes Tomic.

SALT LAKE CITY — He can't help them next season, for contractual reasons.

But after playing with center Ante Tomic this past season in Spain, Utah Valley State product and former BYU star Travis Hansen — recovering himself from recent back surgery — has no doubt that the Jazz's 2008 second-round draft choice can play in the NBA.

"Ante Tomic is nice," Hansen, with extra emphasis on 'nice', said during an appearance Sunday night on KSL-TV Ch. 5's "SportsBeat" show. "I really like him, man.

"He's 7-(foot)-1, 7-2. He's a little bit skinny, but he's a lot like (Los Angeles Lakers All-Star) Pau Gasol. He can move. He's got great lateral quickness. He's got a great touch. He can shoot the 15-footer — you know, right, left, back-to-the-basket. He's phenomenal."

Tomic, now 23 years old, was selected 44th overall by the Jazz in '08.

He played for Zagreb in his native Croatia from 2004-09, and earned Adriatic League MVP honors in 2009.

Expected to represent Croatia later this summer at the FIBA World Championships in Turkey, Tomic joined Real Madrid last January.

He signed a 3 1/2-year deal with the traditional Spanish League/Euroleague power, but because he has no immediate NBA out clause in his contract Tomic couldn't join the Jazz until the 2011-12 season at the earliest.

So Utah — in desperate need of size and length that it hopes to find when the NBA's summer free-agency shopping market opens later this week, especially if starting power forward Carlos Boozer signs with another team and starting center Mehmet Okur struggles to bounce back from recent surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon — must be patient.

But the wait will be well worth it, suggested Hansen, a Mountain View High product who played 41 NBA games for the Atlanta Hawks during the 2003-04 season and since has spent his career in Spain and Russia.

"Yes, he can help them," Hansen told KSL's Tom Kirkland. "I mean, he's got to gain a little bit of weight. And it's tough in Europe, because they're not big on lifting weights; they're huge on being quick.

"But give him one, maybe two more years there (in Madrid), and they (the Jazz) are gonna have to pay him some money to come over here. I mean, he's a player."

It remains to be seen how Tomic's situation will impact the length of contract the Jazz offer to backup center Kyrylo Fesenko, a restricted free agent who on Monday received his qualifying offer for next season.

Hansen, meanwhile, was injured late last season and is recovering from surgery to repair L4-L5 (lower-back) disc damage.

He remains under contract with Real Madrid for one more season, but hopes to perhaps play elsewhere in the coming season, specifically mentioning Athens, Greece, during his SportsBeat appearance.

Traditional Greek League/Euroleague power Olympiakos plays out of Piraeus in the greater Athens area and could be in need of another perimeter player, especially if former Atlanta Hawks small forward Josh Childress returns to the NBA as a restricted free agent.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700043994/Jazzs-08-pick-has-potential.html

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

A star will be born this summer:
[YOUTUBE]
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I was hoping that was going to be the lights-still-pretty-much-on shooting performance he put up at a 3-point shooting contest.

[Blueintheface]

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/pos...gordon-hayward

Why do all these reports keep referring to Hayward as playing the 4? Sloanhater asserts he never played PF and couldn't possibly have been evaluated to play that position in ANY scenario, small lineup or not. If SH says it is so, it is so.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Why do all these reports keep referring to Hayward as playing the 4? Sloanhater asserts he never played PF and couldn't possibly have been evaluated to play that position in ANY scenario, small lineup or not. If SH says it is so, it is so.

Brad Stevens seems to think Hayward played some PF for his team. And Hayward talked about not being accustomed to playing around the paint because it was new to him.

[MarkGrace]

Why do all these reports keep referring to Hayward as playing the 4? Sloanhater asserts he never played PF and couldn't possibly have been evaluated to play that position in ANY scenario, small lineup or not. If SH says it is so, it is so.

I don't think he'll play the 4 in the league, and I also didn't watch Butler play much, but everything I've read suggests he spent a lot of minutes there as a Soph.

[Sizzle]

Very positive words about Tomic.

I am torn about the Jazz bringing back Boozer now. A lineup of Booz, Deron, with Hayward as a third scorer could be a very nice combo. But we still lack a defensive presence at the 5. Sap is better at the 4 defensively than booz but is shorter. With Sap seeing bigger minutes at the 4 the Jazz can't get away with memo at the 5 but the combo of Fesenkous isn't ready to step in either.

I am leaning towards a best case scenario of the Jazz moving Boozer for a nice trade exception and future picks, and seeing how the team plays sans Booz. Having AKs expiring deal and a similar exception at the trade deadline could be huge for the Jazz making a push come playoff time.

[Mormon Red Death]

Why don't the Jazz try and trade Kirilenko to New Jersey for Cap space let Boozer walk then sign Tayshaun Prince or David West and JJ Redick? Tayshaun plays awesome D and is relatively young and JJ can shoot and write poetry.

[MarkGrace]

Why don't the Jazz try and trade Kirilenko to New Jersey for Cap space let Boozer walk then sign Tayshaun Prince or David West and JJ Redick? Tayshaun plays awesome D and is relatively young and JJ can shoot and write poetry.

I'm about the same age as Prince, I don't play professional hoop, and I already consider myself pretty old.

My hope is that AK's expiring deal becomes the catalyst for landing Jefferson. That's one of the few moves that I think could keep us going in the right direction, if we moved him back to the 4 and could find a defensive fit at the 5. Supposedly they want to move Sessions with him, and that guy would be a huge upgrade at the backup point.

Deron/Sessions
CJ/Matthews
Hayward
Jefferson/Sap
Haywood (?)

I love that team and it's potential, plus I think the ages work well together in terms of getting everyone to gel. Haywood is a bit older than the rest of the group, but he could play that defensive anchor role for another 3 or so years.

[MarkGrace]

Also, that's finally some legit size all around the board.

[Mormon Red Death]

I'm about the same age as Prince, I don't play professional hoop, and I already consider myself pretty old.

My hope is that AK's expiring deal becomes the catalyst for landing Jefferson. That's one of the few moves that I think could keep us going in the right direction, if we moved him back to the 4 and could find a defensive fit at the 5. Supposedly they want to move Sessions with him, and that guy would be a huge upgrade at the backup point.

Deron/Sessions
CJ/Matthews
Hayward
Jefferson/Sap
Haywood (?)

I love that team and it's potential, plus I think the ages work well together in terms of getting everyone to gel. Haywood is a bit older than the rest of the group, but he could play that defensive anchor role for another 3 or so years.

you are right.... he is going to be 30 this year.

[MarkGrace]

He's already 30. He'll be 31 sometime during the next season.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

I'm about the same age as Prince, I don't play professional hoop, and I already consider myself pretty old.

My hope is that AK's expiring deal becomes the catalyst for landing Jefferson. That's one of the few moves that I think could keep us going in the right direction, if we moved him back to the 4 and could find a defensive fit at the 5. Supposedly they want to move Sessions with him, and that guy would be a huge upgrade at the backup point.

Deron/Sessions
CJ/Matthews
Hayward
Jefferson/Sap
Haywood (?)

I love that team and it's potential, plus I think the ages work well together in terms of getting everyone to gel. Haywood is a bit older than the rest of the group, but he could play that defensive anchor role for another 3 or so years.

And Sessions really isn't a bad contract based on how he played his last year in Milwaukee. It is steep for a PG playing behind Deron, but he'd be a huge improvement.

Any idea when Jefferson is going to be ready to play again? I believe his ACL surgery was done towards the end of February. I don't know what is being alluded to when articles specify "lingering doubts" about his knee when discussing possible trade scenarios. I'm not aware of other knee issues he may have had. An ACL tear return is fairly routine nowadays, especially for a guy that doesn't rely on freakish athleticism to get things done.

Mentioning a name like Haywood brings up an interesting aspect of Boozer just walking away. If Boozer is resigned, we know the Jazz aren't using AK's contract to bring any other pieces in, unless some crazy deal falls into their laps. And my assumption is that if Boozer resigns, they also aren't using their salary exception on anyone. But if he just walks, they'll be around $55 M, and would be able to stay well under the tax threshold even if offering the full salary exception to a player.

So similar to the scenario mentioned before, move Booz in a S&T so he can get his max years, send him to a team with cap space so Utah can collect another big trade exception and maybe some future picks, bring in a significant addition via the salary exception or using the trade exceptions, then see how the team plays before using AK's expiring deal at the deadline.

[MarkGrace]

He played 76 games this year. The only knee surgery I see was Feb of last year, and he spent most of this year trying to come back from it.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

I pulled up an article and it was dated 2/18/10, but the surgery was performed in '09.

So I wonder if he looked less mobile or if he had some other symptoms with the knee this year and that is what some media have alluded to, about teams being concerned about his knees.

[MarkGrace]

I pulled up an article and it was dated 2/18/10, but the surgery was performed in '09.

So I wonder if he looked less mobile or if he had some other symptoms with the knee this year and that is what some media have alluded to, about teams being concerned about his knees.

His production was notably down, so I'm guessing that he was less mobile/explosive and teams question whether he'll get that back. He averaged 17/9 this year while still trying to recover, and I think he could get back to being a 20/10 player.