Calbert Cheaney was a stand-out in college and, not suprisingly, picked up by Washington with the sixth pick. Especially his shooting was a factor for Washington as he shot 56% from the field and 44% from beyond the arc. He almost averaged 20ppg in his college career and 22.4 points in his final year. He was an unanimous college player of the year but what was supposed to be a glamorous NBA career turned out to be a very mediocre one. He had the starting job in Washington for 4 years, he didn�t have it in his first year and not in his last year, but didn�t really impress. His three-point shooting wasn�t very good and although he did average 16.6 ppg in his sophomore year he didn�t
So the Jazz get a good mid-range shooter who can also go to the basket and the 6-7 Cheaney can also overpower other shooting guards inside. Some of his strengths are shooting and driving to the hoop while his main weakness is lack of a three-point shot and he isn�t a great ball handler. So, is he an useful addition to this Jazz team?
My answer is yes. The Jazz system gets the best out of three-point shooters but also out of good mid-range shooters and Cheaney is just that. Despite converting 0 of his 4 three-point attempts last season he did shoot 48% from the field and with the Jazz he will get a lot more open looks which will help him a lot, especially since Cheaney isn�t the world greatest one-on-one player. But he is an excellent shooter, which is a very big plus if you work in the Jazz system and if he is able to keep his average at 48% while playing something like 30 mpg while getting more touches then he is very valuable because the only thing he needs to do is shoot at a high percentage, something Russell, who previously had the starting job, wasn�t able to do.
Does he already have the starting job then? The short answer, no. DeShawn Stevenson has played very well in the RMR and if he can continue playing like that in the pre-season then he could get the starting spot, but Cheaney enters the fight as a favourite. Because Cheaney has proved he can hit the mid-range shot at a consistent level while Stevenson only has proven that he can hit it, but it is far from consistent. Cheaney also is known for his hard work and defence, things that the coach Jerry Sloan loves to see. And Cheaney knows that: �I know if I don't play hard here, you won't play at all, that's coach Sloan's motto. I play hard anyway so I won't have any worries.�Also in favour of Cheaney is that he can also play the small forward spot and Stevenson can�t. Kirilenko has proven that he is a great defender and next year the Jazz will probably want to put Kirilenko on the other teams star if that star plays either the SF or SG spot, and there are more great SG�s than SF�s. What Sloan probably doesn�t want is a SG that can�t shoot, that is why they signed Cheaney, so it is unlikely that on the offensive end Kiri is going to be the shooting guard. So what happens? Cheaney starts at SG and is an SG offensively while Kirilenko starts the game at SF and is the SF offensively but at the defensive end they can switch, which means that Kiri will for example play Bryant, who Kiri already shut down once last year, and Cheaney plays George or Fox. You can�t do that with a lot of other guards without creating a mismatch at the SF position while you yourself create a mismatch at the SG position in your favour by having the quick, athletic 6-9 forward from Russia guarding a much smaller shooting guard. Cheaney himself isn�t too sbad on the defensive end either. As said before he is known for his defence and hard work, and he knows that of himself: �I've been known for my defense over the past few years. Coach Sloan stresses defense. I'm going to go out there and give it 110 % and do the best I possibly can for this organization."
Those are all advantages, but are there any disadvantages? Yes. As stated earlier the Jazz will stay weak at the three-point line. Last year the top three-point shooters came off the bench as Padgett and Crotty were the best shooters from beyond the arc. And with both of them being free agents who might not return the only one who can shoot the three-pointer seems to be Stockton, who�s long range shot wasn�t as accurate last year as the year before.
Talking about Padgett and Crotty, that is another thing that the signing of Cheaney means, namely that Lewis, LaRue, Padgett, Russell and Starks won�t come back. With Cheaney, Raul Lopez and Borchardt only 2 roster spots remain. One seems to be for a third point guard because of the surgeries Stockton (elbow) and Lopez (knee) have had. Leading candidates for that spot are Crotty, Avery and Bell. And one seems to be for Marshall, although the Jazz are still in a heated discussion with him and his agent Manley about a contract. And if not Marshall the Jazz will probably try to get either Harpring, Rodney Rogers or Scott Padgett because there would be no back-up SF if he doesn�t sign. With Miller saying he doesn�t want to have more than 12 players on the roster the signing of Cheaney will probably mean that those 5 free agents will not come back to the Delta Center to play in a Jazz uniform. The last big bad thing about Cheaney is his free throw shooting. Cheaney only connected on 69% of his free throw attempts which was the highest he had averaged in 5 years as he even shot below the 50% at one point. Russell on the other hand always seemed to make clutch free throws so that�s something the Jazz should watch out for.
So what can we expect from Cheaney? He himself thinks he will give the Jazz an offensive and defensive presence. Something that I noticed when I looked at his stats was that his ft% went down with his 3pt% after his third year. He attempted 283 three-pointers in his second year, only 4 last season. The big question is why? Normally I don�t make a prediction unless it is based on facts but this time I will. I think that a lot of it has to do with concentration and confidence. I think that his ft% and 3pt% will go up if he has a good start with the Jazz
