i'm intrigued. keep in mind, this was the best player in his age group in Europe, before his sit out. He dominated Valanciunas early on, although Valanciunas was a quick learner and caught up at the end. And Kanter was a high skilled center who was so good because of his combination of toughness, rebounding and sweet little turnaround jumper / foot work. He took no jumpers last year, maybe in part because the Jazz had enough big jump shooters and used him purely in a Nikola Pekovic role. But in big part because he had no elevation on his jumper and was easy to deny. So I'm very intrigued. This might limit his physical dominance. But this might also open up his jump shooting and let him move to PF. That would be perfect for Kanter's career. Derrick Favors is a pure center skill-wise. A leaner, jump shooting, mobile and still tough, big, rebounding Kanter would be a much better fit next to Favors going forward.
btw, if this works out and Kanter has a breakout season - nothing crazy, just more time on the floor with similar stats, maybe 10-8 in 25 minutes, maintaining same toughness and having smoother offense... wouldn't you give the Jazz a decent chance to knock the Lakers out? To me, they are one of the teams that best match up with them. Alec Burks-Hayward-Marvin Williams-Millsap-Jefferson with Randy Foye, Kanter, Mo Williams, Derrick Favors off the bench.. you can swap many of these players in-out of the starting lineup.. that's a big, tough team with a lot of depth. They have enough size, toughness, talent and versatility upfront to bang up the Lakers frontline, and they have several solid defenders with good offense in the back. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works.
good luck with that lol Dwight is not Odom or Bynum, hes gonna still play elite D, patrol the paint even if his Offense is going south or hes not getting the ball, which works perfectly in the playoffs for Kobe and Lakers
Dropping 51 pounds in just 2 months is radical, particularly for a professional athlete. I don't care how hard Kanter worked out over the summer, he lost a lot of strength too.
One of the joys of living in Utah is I hear all the Jazz talk (until I want to vomit). From what I hear Kanter is playing more above the rim and has worked on his 10-15 foot jumper. I'm interested to see if he changes his game this year from a banger to more of an athletic player. I can't imagine he can be as physical this year like he was last year considering how much weight he has lost.
I've done it. It certainly can affect your game. Didn't change how much I could lift or bench, but you miss that weight when leverage becomes involved. In today's NBA, I think he will better off.
Badass. If I had the summer off, I'd probably go out and get hammered 3-4 nights a week, and sit on the beach and drink beer all day.
