Recently my good friend Brett asked me which team would be better in 3 years out of the Jazz and Magic. A bunch of factors come in to play here. Management, market, draft picks, free agency, trades and current roster are really the main things that come into play. Since we can’t really predict what free agents they will sign or what trades they will make, all we can really do is judge what we have currently on the two rosters. If you have ever listened to David Locke’s tip off show every morning than you know one thing he likes to do when trying to determine if the Jazz are a better team is to hold a draft between the two teams to determine which roster has the better players. I find this as a very useful exercise which led me to doing that here to try and determine who I would rather have.
NBA Team Draft has been born and I will do this with the Jazz and a few other rosters throughout the season. Here’s how the draft will work.
-All players from the two teams will be pooled together and considered to be players who have no current team.
-The players will be drafted 1-15.
-Players will be drafted considering current talent level as well as future potential.
After reading this please chime in by adding comments below, Locked on Sports community or on twitter @TNewm2215.
Utah Jazz Roster- Trey Burke, Alec Burks, Gordon Hayward, Enes Kanter, Derrick Favors, Dante Exum, Rudy Gobert, Rodney Hood, Trevor Booker, Steve Novak, Ian Clark, Jeremy Evans, Carrick Felix, Dahntay Jones, Toure Murry.
Orlando Magic Roster- Elfrid Payton, Victor Oladipo, Tobias Harris, Channing Frye, Nikola Vucevic, Ben Gordon, Luke Ridnour, Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier, Peyton Siva, Andrew Nicholson, Maurice Harkless, Seth Curry, Willie Green, Drew Crawford, Devyn Marble.
Team Draft
1st Pick- Gordon Hayward
Gordon Hayward got paid a lot of money this off-season for a reason. He does a little bit of everything and makes his team better. Out of everyone on these two teams I would pick Hayward as the guy to start my team with.
2nd Pick- Derrick Favors
Picking the second player was tough and I tried really hard not to be biased but I take Favors second because of his ability to effect teams defensively to go along with his offensive game.
3rd Pick- Nikola Vucevic
Vucevic could have very well gone second here and if you would have taken him ahead of Favors I would have a hard time arguing with that. He’s a great player and an offensive force down low.
4th Pick- Alec Burks
Magic fans probably haven’t seen much of Burks but Jazz fans sure know of his ability. With Burks ability to get to the rim and finish I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends the season as the Jazz leading scorer.
5th Pick- Victor Oladipo
Picked 2nd in last year’s draft and Oladipo had a pretty good rookie year. I would expect him to play even better this season since every player seems to progress after getting rid of that rookie tag.
6th Pick- Trey Burke
Tough decision here still but I believe Trey deserves this spot. Burke struggled last season in Ty Corbin’s system but has looked great in the preseason so far and seems to be the leader on for this young Jazz team.
7th Pick- Tobias Harris
All around Tobias Harris is a good player with good size. Averages about 15 points a game and 5+ rebounds. I think that’s worthy of the 7th spot here.
8th Pick- Channing Frye
Frye can really stretch the floor as a big man with the ability to shoot the 3. I thought this was a great pick up for the Magic and can see him being very useful for this team.
9th Pick- Enes Kanter
It’s hard for me to argue that Kanter should go higher in this draft but I can’t really see him going lower either. If he can shoot the 3 this season fairly consistently then his value will significantly increase.
10th Pick- Dante Exum
Exum has a ton of potential but also at a big risk. The 19 year old still looks like he’s trying to get a custom to the NBA game after playing high school basketball last year in Australia. The potential here is too hard to ignore.
11th Pick- Elfrid Peyton
Peyton’s stock rose significantly for the draft and the Magic had a plan to snag both him and Aaron Gordon and got it done. He should get significant minutes this season for the Magic.
12th Pick- Aaron Gordon
Gordon was snagged at number 4 by the Magic in the draft and does a little bit of everything. He should fill stat sheets like AK47 used to for the Jazz back in the day.
13th Pick- Andrew Nicholson
Nicholson is a solid player with good size. I think 13 is a fair place for him to fall here. Can stretch the floor and shoot outside shots as well as go inside and score the ball.
14th Pick- Rudy Gobert
I think that if we were doing this draft next season that Rudy Gobert would be drafted quite a bit higher. He has progressed quite a bit over the off season but since he hasn’t proven anything in the NBA yet he falls to 14.
15th Pick- Rodney Hood
Hood is a much better player offensively then he gets credit for. He can shoot, drive and pass very well. He seems to have the desire to be a good defensive player as well.
There you have it. Please chime in as I would love to hear how you all would draft these two teams. Again leave comments below, in the Locked on Sports Community post or send me a tweet at @TNewm2215.