Utah Jazz: Enes Kanter Tearing It Up, Terry Stotts’ Coaching

News and notes, including former Utah Jazz big man Enes Kanter’s playoff performance, an awesome argument for Terry Stotts as COY and belated birthday wishes for a Jazzman.

So this is a touchy subject for Utah Jazz fans; if it had been the case last year, I definitely would have been among the detractors. However, with more than a year having passed since “the incident” in Dallas and with a little more clarity, let’s call a spade a spade.

Enes Kanter is kind of amazing right now.

While the former No. 3 overall pick by the Jazz in the 2011 NBA Draft probably tops the power rankings for hated former players, there’s no denying that he’s been incredible for the Oklahoma City Thunder in this year’s playoffs.

Just how incredible has he been? Try league-leading. Here are the playoff leaders as of the morning of April 30 in Player Efficiency Rating (PER)–

Like him or hate him, Kanter is earning his sizable paycheck by helping OKC capture playoff wins. In five postseason games, the former Jazzman is averaging 15 points in only 20 minutes per game and is making better than 70 percent of his field goal attempts.

That’s seventy. Seven-zero.

Say what you will about his defense, the Thunder are still outscoring their opponent by 17 points per 100 possessions with Kanter on the floor in playoff games. To put it lightly, that is a substantial margin.

Earlier this week, The Oklahoman put out a feature on how the Thunder gave Kanter a new lease on life by embracing him, catering to some of his needs as a practicing Muslim and really going out of their way to make him comfortable in their organization. Clearly their work has paid off.

I’m not going to downplay the things the Jazz did for Kanter; frankly, I think a lot of what the organization did for him goes under-reported. I’m also not advocating for franchises to bow to every whim of their players. What I will tell you, though, is that there’s something to be said about how OKC has handled Kanter.

I won’t second guess the decision to trade him, and I can’t say that Kanter would have had the same impact on the Jazz had he stayed in Utah, but make no mistake about it–the Thunder won that trade by a substantial margin.

Terry Stotts Got Robbed

If you’re an avid follower of all things Jazz, Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune is undoubtedly one of your go-to guys for news, opinion and analysis of the team. His column on Saturday sheds some light on something that people need to be aware of.

Namely, the fact that Portland Trail Blazers head man Terry Stotts should have been coach of the year.

From The Salt Lake Tribune–

"While Kerr has done a wonderful job, Stotts has performed a miracle. While Kerr has the best point guard in the league, an All-Star at shooting guard and power forward, and the best bench in the league, Stotts has gotten it done with a bunch of cast-offs and young guys who were unproven."

For the record, we chose Stotts as Coach of the Year in our year-end awards here on the site. The Warriors’ record-breaking regular season notwithstanding, what Stotts and the Trail Blazers were able to do this season after losing ⅘ of their starting lineup has been one of the greatest achievements I have ever seen.

If you’re not convinced, go read Jones’ column now. You will be — Tony Jones: Steve Kerr’s team had the best record, but Blazers’ Terry Stotts was the NBA’s best coach

Next: Assessing Gordon Hayward's Olympic Chances

Belated Birthday Wishes

Finally, we’d be remiss in our duties if we didn’t send Chris Johnson some belated birthday wishes. The Jazz wing just turned 26 years old.

Whether or not Johnson remains with the Jazz remains to be seen; the team desperately needs more help on the wings and he’s probably the odd man out. Still, his defensive tenacity always made him fun to watch and NBA teams will undoubtedly keep calling thanks to his effort on that side of the floor.

Happy birthday, CJ.