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When you have a pick in the #52 range you have to be realistic. These are among the last 10 picks in the draft, and some of the guys who go undrafted may be less regarded but have a higher fire to compete. As a result you see a tale being told with the late draft picks in the modern era -- they are trending more and more towards draft and stash types. And with international scouting being what it is, and international players increasingly putting their names up for being drafted, this is a trend that is only going to continue. For example, the last two #52 picks haven't even played a minute of NBA ball, and both are foreigners. Last season the Utah Jazz had a late pick as well, #54, and selected Dani Diez and promptly traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers. That's not a bad move, history tells us so because the #52s that we see here are rarely difference makers. If anything, they are warm bodies. You need to carry at least 13 on a roster and have a maximum number of spots that ends at 15. If you are looking for a warm body you will find one here, but it's unlikely that the player will actually be distinguishable from a 2rd or 3rd year NBA DL player. There are a few exceptions:
| Draft | Tm | Player | Age | Pos | College | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | WS | WS/48 | ||||
| 1 | 1986 | CHI | Ricky Wilson | 21.3 | G | George Mason | 24 | 17.5 | 5.2 | 1.1 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 39.1% | 38.5% | 72.5% | 0.3 | 0.032 | |||
| 2 | 1987 | CLE | Donald Royal | 21.0 | F | Notre Dame | 504 | 16.8 | 6.3 | 2.8 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 47.3% | 0.0% | 77.0% | 19.1 | 0.109 | |||
| 3 | 1988 | NJN | Derrick Hamilton | Southern Mississippi | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | 1989 | PHO | Greg Grant | 22.3 | G | Trenton State | 274 | 12.2 | 2.8 | 0.9 | 2.7 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 38.3% | 28.1% | 71.0% | 1.6 | 0.023 | |||
| 5 | 1990 | CLE | Stefano Rusconi | 21.3 | C-F | International | 7 | 4.3 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 33.3% | 40.0% | -0.1 | -0.104 | ||||
| 6 | 1991 | LAL | Anthony Jones | Oral Roberts | |||||||||||||||||
| 7 | 1992 | CHI | Matt Steigenga | 22.1 | F | Michigan State | 2 | 6.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 25.0% | 0.0% | 50.0% | 0.0 | -0.126 | |||
| 8 | 1993 | SAC | Mike Peplowski | 22.3 | C | Michigan State | 68 | 10.4 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 55.6% | 0.0% | 53.1% | 1.0 | 0.067 | |||
| 9 | 1994 | PHO | Anthony Goldwire | 22.3 | G | Houston | 266 | 18.6 | 6.3 | 1.3 | 2.8 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 40.7% | 38.6% | 79.2% | 6.4 | 0.062 | |||
| 10 | 1995 | IND | Fred Hoiberg | 22.3 | G | Iowa State | 541 | 18.4 | 5.4 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 43.1% | 39.6% | 85.4% | 27.6 | 0.133 | |||
| 11 | 1996 | IND | Mark Pope | 23.3 | F | Kentucky | 153 | 10.7 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 40.1% | 17.9% | 57.3% | 1.3 | 0.038 | |||
| 12 | 1997 | VAN | C.J. Bruton | Indian Hills | |||||||||||||||||
| 13 | 1998 | SAS | Derrick Dial | 22.2 | G | Eastern Michigan | 82 | 8.4 | 3.1 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 37.2% | 19.0% | 67.2% | 0.6 | 0.045 | |||
| 14 | 1999 | POR | Roberto Bergersen | Boise State | |||||||||||||||||
| 15 | 2000 | MIA | Ernest Brown | 21.0 | C | Indian Hills | 3 | 7.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 16.7% | 25.0% | -0.2 | -0.349 | ||||
| 16 | 2001 | UTA | Jarron Collins | 22.2 | F-C | Stanford | 542 | 15.8 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 45.5% | 0.0% | 69.9% | 15.7 | 0.088 | |||
| 17 | 2002 | MIA | Rasual Butler | 23.0 | G-F | La Salle | 809 | 21.3 | 7.5 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 40.3% | 36.2% | 74.7% | 20.8 | 0.058 | |||
| 18 | 2003 | TOR | Remon Van de Hare | International | |||||||||||||||||
| 19 | 2004 | SAS | Romain Sato | Xavier | |||||||||||||||||
| 20 | 2005 | DEN | Axel Hervelle | 21.2 | F | International | |||||||||||||||
| 21 | 2006 | LAC | Guillermo Diaz | 21.1 | G | Miami | 6 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 25.0% | 0.0% | 60.0% | 0.0 | 0.033 | |||
| 22 | 2007 | POR | Taurean Green | 20.2 | G | Florida | 17 | 4.4 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 28.0% | 18.2% | 91.7% | -0.1 | -0.066 | |||
| 23 | 2008 | MIA | Darnell Jackson | 22.2 | F | Kansas | 138 | 7.5 | 2.2 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 44.9% | 23.5% | 64.4% | 1.3 | 0.059 | |||
| 24 | 2009 | IND | A.J. Price | 22.3 | G | UCONN | 261 | 15.1 | 5.8 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 38.0% | 31.6% | 74.2% | 4.7 | 0.058 | |||
| 25 | 2010 | BOS | Luke Harangody | 22.2 | F | Notre Dame | 70 | 12.4 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 37.6% | 24.1% | 73.7% | 0.9 | 0.048 | |||
| 26 | 2011 | DET | Vernon Macklin | 24.3 | F | Florida | 23 | 5.9 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 54.3% | 57.1% | 0.5 | 0.161 | ||||
| 27 | 2012 | GSW | Ognjen Kuzmic | 22.0 | C | International | 37 | 4.4 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 52.0% | 60.0% | 0.2 | 0.061 | ||||
| 28 | 2013 | MIN | Lorenzo Brown | 22.3 | G | NC State | 63 | 13.2 | 3.3 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 36.9% | 15.2% | 66.7% | -0.2 | -0.013 | |||
| 29 | 2014 | PHI | Vasilije Micic | 20.2 | G | International | |||||||||||||||
| 30 | 2015 | DAL | Satnam Singh | 19.2 | C | International | |||||||||||||||
| 31 | 2016 | UTA | To Be Determined |
Thanks to Basketball-Reference for the data, by the way!
Donald Royal. Fred Hoiberg. Jarron Collins. Rasual Butler. These are the only #52 picks over the last 30 seasons who played in at least 500 career games. Common thread here? Three of those guys could play defense, one of them was a solid shooter. Does that mean that #52 is chock full of "three and D" types? Nope. Also, this is a startling reminder of just how invisible Jarron was. His career numbers are 3.9 ppg and 2.9 rpg. If the best chance for a #52 could be a Jarron Collins it is easy to say "pass" on this pick.
Don't: even expect to draft Jarron Collins.
Do expect: that it's someone who you could be seeing very shortly in the Salt Lake Summer League!
Prediction: this pick is the result of trading the Jarnell Stokes draft rights. I predict that whatever happens, we're still going to be scratching our head after. It's more likely that the Jazz trade this pick unless there's someone they really want. The team did spend a lot of time scouting guys who are bubble 2nd rounders, so maybe they know something special about one of the guys on the board. I'm okay with being surprised. We were last year with Trey Lyles -- who was a way better Pro player than NCAA guy. If the Jazz are going to draft around this spot it could be a draft and stash (lots of the same bigmen from #42 could be around, like Rade Zagorac (Serbia) and Georgios Papagiannis (Greece)). But I'd actually like to see a player at some point . . . remember that Jarrod Uthoff guy? The skinnier stretch big from Iowa who is athletic, blocks shots, and hit threes? Let's just pencil him in here. There are sexier names, of course, like Wayne Selden and Anthony "Cat" Barber. But the Jazz didn't work those guys out. They did work out Uthoff.
Gut Feeling: Utah could trade his pick. And really, all this pick is right now is an asset. And if anything, we shouldn't get too attached to our picks, it's the players they eventually turn into that matter. Right now I have the Jazz trading #12, likely to be trading #42, and should be trading #52 as well. That doesn't mean Utah isn't getting any new guys. I think it's more than fair to assume a 2013 Draft style for the 2016 Draft. The front office will get the guys they want, but they may not start the night off picking at those spots (#14 Shabazz Muhammad, #21 Gorgui Dieng, and #46 Erick Green turned into #9 Trey Burke, #27 Rudy Gobert, and #47 Raul Neto). I don't think anyone would pick the hand the team was dealt (Bazz, et al.) over the team they turned their cards in for (Rudy, et al.). So my gut is that we may also be trading #52. But the team may be leaving the draft with some of the guys they did work out pre-draft.