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The Draft Night of the Jazz |
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There was a poll on the official Utah Jazz site in which they asked the fans what they should do with their pick. 21% said that they should trade for a higher pick and that is exactly what the Jazz did, they moved up in the draft. One place to be exact. The Jazz went from the 19th pick to the 18th pick by giving up the 19th pick and their second round pick. But moving one place up in the draft surprisingly could have an effect greater than many could expect.
With the 19th pick in the 2002 NBA draft the Utah Jazz select Ryan Humphrey. Say what? I really didn�t know a lot about Ryan Humphrey. I didn�t even consider him a first round pick as you can see in the draft reports, in which I left him out. But I wasn�t the only one as many of the Jazz fans couldn�t believe their ears. |
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�Stay Tuned�, Kevin O�Connor said in the Delta Center standing in front of a crowd mad enough to eat him up alive and they were probably going to if they weren�t stunned by the pick. �Stay tuned�, those words appeared to be magical.
After the first round O�Connor told the crowd what he was up to. Before the draft the Jazz already spoke to the Magic about a possible trade if they got Borchardt and they arranged a deal which would ship Borchardt to Utah for Ryan Humphrey and the second round pick of the Jazz, which would be the young and talented center Jamal Sampson. Borchardt knew he went to Utah when he was drafted and apparently they teach how to act in Stanford as he couldn�t say a word about the trade and had to look excited about going to Orlando. In fact, he was going to Utah. And Salt Lake City was relieved.
First some general information about Borchardt the 7-0 center from Stanford. He is a |
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| a junior in college, he is just 21 years old, and weighs approximately 230 lbs. In his last year in college he averaged 16.5 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 2.9 bpg and 2.2 apg. He shot 58% from the field, 44% from beyond the arc, he connected on 10 of his 23 three-point attempts, and a solid 67% from the free throw line, which still should improve. Scouting reports and experts were unanimous that he was the second best center in the draft behind Yao Ming. He is an excellent shot blocker, a great rebounder and has a good range on his shot. He is a nice passer and has a good understanding of the game. He is pretty mobile and will protect the paint. He still has a lot to learn offensively and doesn�t have the confidence to shoot every time. He played two years with Jarron Collins, who was picked by the Utah Jazz last year in the second round. The biggest concern probably is his right foot, which he has broken twice. But the medical staff of the Jazz says that it is nothing to worry about and that he is completely healthy. He excelled in the first round of the NCAA tournament this year as he got 19 points and 12 rebounds while adding 5 blocks. Kansas was too strong in the second round but Brochardt had another solid performance as he got 13 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks. He played against Drew Gooden, who was selected 4th in this years draft. Gooden only had 15 points and 6 rebounds. That just proves how good he is on the defensive end. |
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Now I will give my opinion. First of all I am relieved that we didn�t keep Humphrey, although he is a pretty good player according to many draft experts. Brochardt is, in my opinion, a lot better. But letting Rush and Jacobsen, who also went to Stanford, slip through our hands is something I am not so thrilled about. Three-point shooting has been a problem last season and Rush and Jacobsen were the best shooters available and maybe even the best shooters in the draft. But we also needed a big man who can do everything and Brochardt is able to do everything. I really think we might belong to the winners of the draft with Brochardt, who was expected to go in the top 10. If we can acquire a shooter via free agency or a good trade then I really think picking Brochardt was a great action. I really think he can help the team and that he will compete for the center spot right away. He should be able to out-play Amaechi and Ostertag in his first season for the Jazz. I think many Jazz fans were upset about picking Humphrey and O�Connor did the right thing trading him. Not only for the Jazz but also for his health.
There haven�t been many experts that have commented on this trade yet but the few |
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that did all think that the Jazz did a good job. ESPN�s Chad Ford gave the Jazz a A- for this draft and that was one of the higher marks. But is everything as great as it looks?
What consequences does this have? One is that the gap at the shooting guard position still has to be resolved, either via a trade or via free agency. And, unfortunately for the Jazz, there aren�t many good shooters out there. If the Jazz can take care of that then I will be very pleased. This trade has another consequence, Jarron Collins will most likely move to the power forward position to take the majority of back-up minutes on that position. That could scare away some of our free agents, like Padgett and Marshall, who get their minutes at both forward positions and now see that they will only get a few minutes on the PF spot and have to battle a lot of other guys for the back-up minutes at small forward, which isn�t that much anyway. So a sign and trade involving Padgett and/or Marshall for a shooting guard is one of the possibilities and is maybe the option that could help the Jazz the most. In the worst case we will lose both of them or one of them to free agency. |
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| But the tall center is happy to play for Utah next season. �Oh my goodness, yes, it's wonderful. A team with a |
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structured offense, that plays smart basketball, that has twoof the best players of all-time and one of my best friends -- those are the sort of things I was hoping for," Borchardt said. "I'm genuinely excited about being in Utah.� So he thinks he will play very well in the Jazz system and if he at first seems to struggle a bit, he can always learn the system. After all Borchardt has received A�s in all but one of his academic classes since the seventh grade.
Okay, this is what happened. The Jazz traded their picks for Borchardt, who was projected to be picked in the top 10 by many draft experts. The Jazz however still have a gap at the shooting guard position and could lose one or two free agents because they think they would get less minutes. All in all not a bad day but to make every Jazz fan perfectly happy they still should acquire a shooting guard that can shoot the ball from beyond the arc. |
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