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The Utah Jazz added another player today, Patrick Christopher, a 26 year old swingman who looks to be a three and D candidate from California who also played in the NBA-DL and in Europe for a few years after graduating and going undrafted in 2010. The Jazz roster now sits at 15 players.
- Point Guards: Trey Burke, Dante Exum, Toure' Murry
- Wingmen: Gordon Hayward, Alec Burks, Joe Ingles, Rodney Hood, Ian Clark, Patrick Chistopher
- Bigmen: Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter, Trevor Booker, Rudy Gobert, Steve Novak, Jeremy Evans
Furthermore, there are a number of players who were on the team, or training with the team, or should be with the team:
- Training camp cuts: Dee Bost, Kevin Murphy, Brock Motum, Jack Cooley
- Post training camp, but no games cuts: Carrick Felix, Jordan Hamilton
- Foreign Assets: Ante Tomic, Raul Neto
If you add it all up, here's what the full Utah Jazz team has looked like so far this season.
So, secret question for those actually reading this . . . which players look capable of being a good defender? Does the anthropometric data support the eyeball test?
Personally, I don't know how much this data (which I am obsessed with) is useful. Jeremy Evan's jumping data is from being an NBA player going to P3 for five years, while everyone else has data from their NBA Draft year. I know that Alec Burks is now part of the 12' club in max reach, but that doesn't help him become a better defender -- but it does help him get those rebounds. A guy who is a good defender (most of the time) is Gordon Hayward, who has Alligator arms (shorter wingspan than height). Yet, he still gets passing lane steals . . .
Christopher was Player of the Month years ago in a European league, and was all 2nd team for NBADL-Defense last season. It will be interesting to see if he gets in the rotation, and how quickly it happens. And then the question will be, well, "can he defend at the NBA level?"
This experimental season just got a little more interesting.