FanPost

NBA Draft: The Case for Dennis Schroeder

A big thanks to all of you who participate on this website. There's not too many Jazz fans in Brooklyn, New York--in fact, I may be the only. So, it's nice to have a place where I can converse with other passionate fans.

With that said, tomorrow is the NBA draft, which I expect to be slightly underwhelming and still exciting.

Over the past three weeks, I've started doing homework on the draft in terms of where the Jazz sit at 14. During that time I've gone back and forth between 3-4 different guys, most of them being point guards. Although I have recently become intrigued by several non-PGs, I have finally come to my decision:

Dennis Schroeder.

Here's my reasoning. We're not going to be that good next year, correct? Is there any rational Jazz fan out there who expect us to be in contention for anything? Good. But at the same time there is an excitement floating around here on SLCDunk. David Locke seems excited. I'm excited. So, whereas other contending team's fans are looking forward to next year's greater possibilities, we're actually elated with the possibility of not being that good and still having a fantastic season.

Next year is going to be some outstanding growing pains. We're excited to see Burks, Favors, Hayward, and the UnderKanter do their thing (hopefully with DeMarre Carroll in tow). It just sounds like a lot of fun.

So, why not Schroeder? We do need a PG. And every single draft guy out there is saying that there isn't one in this draft that is anything more than a wild card. That sounds like fun.

His scouting report reads that he's not heavy enough and that he's going to make a ton of decision errors at the NBA level. That's fine. The better part of it is that he's got blazing speed, a developing pick-and-roll game, a very good defender, and can actually shoot the ball despite slow mechanics.

The growing pains will allow Dennis Lindsey to evaluate several things if we decide to stay young. Can Burks be a starting 2-guard in this league? Who is Enes Kanter when he gets reasonable playing time? Is he the same guy who torched Charlotte? Can we dump the ball down to Favors? Etc.

And with a pretty stacked draft in 2014, losing next year while winning experience won't be a bad thing. There's not too much to lose by taking Schroeder. He fills a need. He's got an NBA-style speed that we've lacked at PG. We're in desperate need to improve defensively at that position.

Why not?

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.