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The entire NBA Draft did not go as planned, but that's okay. With the #54 pick in the draft the Utah Jazz selected Spanish wing player Daniel (Dani) Diez. He was selected with the purpose of being sent to the Portland Trail Blazers, a trade which hasn't yet revealed what Utah gets back in return.
The #54 pick has been traded by Utah to Portland. The Trailblazers select Daniel Diez, Spanish SF. DX Profile: http://t.co/YyARuDhW9q
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 26, 2015
It's pretty confusing to some, as the trade hasn't been announced, and some web teams didn't get the memo yet:
At #54, the Jazz have selected Daniel Diez (Forward, Spain) #NBADraft #JazzDraft pic.twitter.com/uD39VKdewY
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) June 26, 2015
Welcome to the @utahjazz! pic.twitter.com/Evk0yWSNpk
— IdahoStampede (@IdahoStampede) June 26, 2015
But at least this guy knows where he's going (unlike poor Luke Ridnour):
Muy feliz por ser seleccionado en 2º ronda del Draft NBA! Gracias a @trailblazers por la confianza depositada en mi! pic.twitter.com/wph4SoZAZF
— dani diez (@danidiez11) June 26, 2015
Player Information:
- 6'8 / 216 LB / 22 Years old
- He's not quite the athlete that Rudy Fernandez was, but he's no slouch either. He has alligator arms though (6'5.5" wingspan, 6'7" height without shoes).
- He has been a solid rebounder for his size, and has played on a lot of successful FIBA Under 16 / 18 / 20 teams
- He is a Real Madrid player (former team of Jazz property Ante Tomic), currently on loan to San Sebastian Gipuzkoa BC (former team of Jazz property Raul Neto). Small world.
How does he fit with the Jazz:
He doesn't, especially not with the wing rotation currently in Utah. I have no official clue what he was traded for, but legend tells that it was for a future 2nd rounder. Which is like what I said earlier today (somewhere), that a future 2nd rounder is more valuable than a #54 pick. And Dennis Lindsey seems to agree, as he made that trade today. So either I'm getting smarter, or Dennis is getting dumber. Either way, I'm scared.
Jazz Roster / Depth Chart:
- Point Guard: Dante Exum, Trey Burke, (Bryce Cotton), Olivier Hanlan
- Shooting Guard: Alec Burks, Joe Ingles, (Elijah Millsap), (Chris Johnson)
- Small Forward: Gordon Hayward, Rodney Hood
- Power Forward: Derrick Favors, Trevor Booker, Trey Lyles, Grant Jerrett
- Center: Rudy Gobert, (Jack Cooley)
Bottom Line:
The good folks over at Blazer's Edge seem happy, but know that it's unlikely that he's going to become a star. Apparently he has one of those great ACB contracts that would need to be bought out, you know, precisely the things the Jazz have shown no ability to manage. He is a nice asset if you can ever get him to join your team, he was on 18 of 41 mock drafts / big boards, and had an average consensus ranking of 54.78 +/- 7.03 . . . and he was selected #54. It's almost as if Lindsey knows what he's doing. So I trust in him here, even if he didn't go out and go for Mouhammadou Jaiteh (another guy the Jazz did work out) instead.