Enes Kanter Trade Bait With Emergence Of Rudy Gobert?

Dec 9, 2014; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27), forward Derrick Favors (15), and center Enes Kanter (R) talk during their game against the San Antonio Spurs at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Enes Kanter just had the light go on, finally. And the timing couldn’t have been worse. The emergence of Rudy Gobert has Enes Kanter trade bait talk swirling as madly as a funnel cloud over the Delta Center.

Kanter, in a contract year, the final year of his rookie deal, has missed the last three games with a tweaked ankle, and Gobert has made a case as a starter that’s hard to dispute.

Jazz center Rudy Gobert said its his goal to become a permanent starter in the NBA.
— Jody Genessy (@DJJazzyJody) January 8, 2015

Under Jerry Sloan, a Jazz player couldn’t lose their starting spot due to injury. It remains to be seen if the same policy — seemingly a franchise-wide one in years past — is still in place under new management and coaching that come from an entirely different tree.

It’s going to be hard to keep Gobert on the bench with recent results, both by the eyeball test and the numbers. That’s brutal for Kanter, trying to earn his first veteran contract and playing exceptionally well on the offensive end while showing serviceable defense for the first time.

We all knew Kanter was never going to be a defensive stopper. He didn’t need to be, not with that amazing ability on offense and the glass. The plan was to have Kanter stretch the floor for Derrick Favors, who would play primary defender, and give both room to operate, an edict vocalized fervently by fans and media who complained incessantly that the pair hadn’t had enough time together on the floor.

Kanter and Favors have played 593 minutes in 2014-15 posting an offensive rating of 109.0 and a defensive rating of 113.0, the latter a rather horrific number.

But we knew there was a trade-off on defense for Kanter’s ample offense. He was supposed to be hidden on defense in matchups he had no chance in, until such a time as the liability wasn’t so glaring. His offense was supposed to make up for what he gave up on the other end.

After little more than two dozen games as a starting tandem, fans and media have seen enough of the frontcourt lineup they clamored for so intensely and vocally. The new toy is Rudy Gobert, the NBA’s best rim protector.

This narrative is the opposite of the one where Kanter starts. Favors slides to the power forward spot while Gobert starts as the primary defender. We’ve been told this doesn’t work for a couple of reasons: 1) Favors can’t shoot well enough to play the 4-spot, 2) Gobert’s offense is so horrific it outweighs the defensive benefits.

Under Jerry Sloan, a Jazz player couldn’t lose their starting spot due to injury. It remains to be seen if the same policy is still in place under new management and coaching

Except it does work. Exceptionally well, in fact.

In the three games Gobert has started next to Favors, the Jazz are 2-1 with a point differential of +28 including a blowout of one of the hottest teams in the NBA in their house, the Chicago Bulls, whom many consider the favorite to come out of the Eastern Conference this season.

Mind you, this is also with multiple injuries on the Utah roster, making what the Jazz are doing with Gobert on the floor all the more prodigious.

For the year, the Jazz have a 104.3 offensive rating and a 107.3 defensive rating. Favors and Gobert have now played 129 minutes together this season. They boast a very respectable 103.6 offensive rating — representing a departure from the season average of only 0.7 points per 100 possessions — and a stunning 94.8 defensive rating.

Derrick Favors midrange field goals 2014-15

Derrick Favors has been extending his range, shooting well from mid-range this year, 44.4%. As a point of persepective, one of the game’s best big man mid-range shooters, Tim Duncan, is shooting 35.4% from the same distance.

What do you do with Enes Kanter now? After recent generous strides in his game it hardly seems scrupulous to bench him when healthy. In the same respect, it’s onerous to willfully head back to mediocrity and frustration with the tantalizing possibility of winning with Gobert.

There are no immediately easy decisions ahead for Quin Snyder, concerning Kanter and Gobert. And the brass have it even harder, with less than 50 games to decide how much they’d be willing to match a contract for the emerging Turk after Kanter’s camp declined extension overtures from the Jazz last October.

Someone will be willing to pay handsomely for the skills Kanter possesses, and it will surely be an amount intended to make Jazz brass scoff at matching it when they have Gobert waiting in the wings to take over. This leaves the Utah Jazz front office entertaining Enes Kanter trade offers.

This season’s trade deadline is February 19, 2015 at 3 p.m. ET.

To potentially use as deal sweeteners, the Jazz have no draft picks outgoing and in addition to their own, one extra first round draft pick from Golden State in 2017, and between 2015 and 2018 seven additional second round draft picks incoming.

Jazz brass may opt to hang on to Kanter for the long haul as well, a prospect made more palatable with new television money coming in over the next few seasons that will be raising the salary cap and luxury tax, choosing to delay what will be a difficult decision, ultimately, for the time being.