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SALT LAKE CITY — Of all the issues and enigmas for the Utah Jazz this season, center Enes Kanter may be the biggest one of them all.
His performances in his best games seem to confirm that he has a strong chance to become a solid NBA contributor, but his struggles in other games would seem to indicate that he might not have all of the skills necessary to create the type of post player that the Jazz need to properly compliment frontcourt mate Derrick Favors.
As Favors continues to sit out with a hip injury, it appears that one of the few positives of his absence may be that Kanter continues to get large amounts of minutes with solid offensive production.
Kanter had one of his more conflicting performances of the season against the Minnesota Timberwolves Saturday. He tied a career-high with 25 points while adding seven rebounds. For the night, the Turkish center made 11-of-14 shots from the field. Even with his offensive efficiency, the Jazz struggled in a 121-104 loss to the Timberwolves to to 0-3 against Minnesota this season.
"Especially when Derrick (Favors) is out, we want to try and go to (Kanter) more on the block," Jazz coach Ty Corbin said.
Also, Kanter allowed Timberwolves center Kevin Love to dominate the game, allowing Love his first triple-double (37 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists).
With Favors out, Kanter has seen additional minutes and starts, and has taken advantage of them offensively. Over the last three games, Kanter is averaging 22.6 points a game — nearly 10 points a game more than his season averages. Even with his offensive prowess in Favors’ absence, the third-year player said it isn’t enough.
“I’m not really worried about my scoring,” said Kanter, who scored 25 points two games in a row. “We just had three straight losses, and I’m not really worried about my scoring. (Although) my teammates trust in me (offensively).”
Jazz coach Ty Corbin said Kanter’s performance was positive, yet still disappointing in wake of the loss.
“He scored,” said Corbin, whose Jazz fall to 19-36 on the season. “Especially when Derrick (Favors) is out, we want to try and go to him more on the block. I thought we did a good job getting the ball on the block. We’re still not controlling the paint defensively, and that’s one of the areas we’ve got to get better at.”
Obviously, Kanter and bench player Rudy Gobert are now the primary post weapons for the Jazz. Jazz guard Trey Burke said getting Kanter involved early was a goal of his.
“It was a focus (to get the ball into Enes),” said Burke, who finished with six assists. “(Kanter) can get us some easy buckets, and get to the free throw line. He can open things up, for himself and others, so it was something that we wanted to try to execute.”
With Kanter having a career night offensively, the Jazz hoped to push the ball inside even more, but couldn’t due to Minnesota’s defensive plan.
“We had a plan to make (the Jazz) an outside-shooting team and not give them easy baskets or points in the paint,” Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman said. “We had some patience that we’d be able to score (to offset their scoring), and we did that.”
As the Jazz prepare to face the Celtics Monday at home, and with the status of Favors very much in question, forward Marvin Williams said Kanter will continue to be a focus.
“He’s huge,” noted Williams, who scored five points in under 20 minutes of playing time. “He’s been playing really well in Derrick’s absence. Obviously, everybody knows he can really score the basketball, so we are going to continue to go to him.”
