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Salt Lake City — With the NBA draft on Thursday, Jazz play-by-play voice David Locke breaks down some of his most intriguing players of the NBA draft.
Kelly Olynyk:C, Gonzaga, 7-0, 238 lbs
Locke: "BYU fans know him. He's a refined product. He's 22-years-old, he's 7-feet tall, he may be able to shoot as well, maybe, become as a Ryan Anderson, but he has no athleticism. When he comes into the lane, he's not elevating over anybody, he has short arms. He lacks in physical tools. You project him as maybe a 25-minute guy in the NBA, probably not going to be a primary starter, star in this league, but probably pretty darn ready to play."
Rudy Gobert:C, France, 7-2, 240 lbs
Locke: "This is one, I don't know how you pass on him if you're a GM. He's 7-2 and when he stands under the basket and reaches straight up, there's only three inches to the rim. He's unbelievably long. He's got a chance to be one of the great defensive players in the league. His dad was a French pro, so he comes from a basketball background and he has no offensive game. If you gave him 20 free-throw line jumpers, he'd probably make seven or eight. Does he learn that one day? That's the gamble you are taking."
Steven Adams:C, Pittsburgh, 7-0, 255 lbs
Locke: "Look at his body. He's 19-years-old, he can run like a deer. It's the complete paradox to what Kelly Olynyk is, this guy and Gobert, every single one of the physical tools are there. Can they develop around it? Where as Olynyk lacks some of the physical tools, but he's got the game smarts and experience. Again, lacking some offensive skills, but he's a big guy, he can run. If you watch Pittsburgh games, he just simply out ran guys at 7-1, which scouts look at and it's pretty hard to pass on the possibilities. Gobert has still got to grow, this guy doesn't need to grow any, he's all there at that age. New Zealand guy, a little quirky, we'll see how that plays out."
Lucas Nogueira:C, Brazil, 7-0, 220 lbs
Locke: "A year ago, people thought he would be a top 5 pick. When he came on the scene, people were very, very excited about him. This year he went to a higher level of competition and did not have a good year. Maybe that's not surprising, he's pretty raw, so if you're a scout and a year ago you loved him, why wouldn't you still love him? The fact that he struggled at this young age, with this inexperience doesn't necessarily mean that you should suddenly stop liking him. He came in, the Jazz had him in for a workout, but he was injured, so they didn't see a lot of him up close and personal."
Shane Larkin:PG, Miami, 5-11, 176 lbs
Locke: "More than 5-11 (height), 5-11 wingspan. If you look in the NBA, there's never been any player in the combine who became an NBA player at 5-11 with under a 6-foot wingspan. It hasn't existed. Is his speed going to overcome his physical deficiencies. Name the under 6-feet tall point guards. The best you can come up with is kind of a Damon Stoudamire, but otherwise you are talking about a J.J. Barea and those type of guys. You can see in the highlights, he's got a little chutzpah to him. He's got a little this and that, he turned Miami into a winner, he's got that element to him. His physical limitations are really severe."
Dennis SchroederPG, Germany, 6-2, 165 lbs
Locke: "Again, we're almost right back to where we were with Kelly Olynyk compared to the other bigs. Shane Larkin has the physical limitations, but he's got the established game. Here's a kid who is 19, in the Nike Hoops Summit he wowed people, but that's not against a structured defense. He's really dominant right hand, with very little left hand. There's some character questions out there on him, but he's got a burst, he's got a speed burst. He's 6-2 with a 6-7 wingspan which excites people."
Isaiah Canaan:PG, Murray St., 6-1, 195 lbs
Locke: "I've watched him a lot the last three nights. I'm not sure why Shane Larkin is necessarily ahead of him on boards. I look at them and they are both similarly sized, but Canaan's got a wingspan. Canaan seems to be just as good a shooter as Larkin. Frankly, neither of them played a lot of defense in college because their coaches wanted them on the floor, it's kind of the Jimmer phenomenon all over again. He seemed to have that same sort of strut to him. Both of them have their limitations in their size, but both of them can shoot. I kind of like this kid, I think he's someone we should keep an eye on."
