Can Mehmet Okur Be a Fit?

I’d would do Harrington for Okur and a 1st in a heartbeat – I would do Harrington for just a first!

Okur could compliment Lee quite well, but could you manage that and still play Chandler and Gallo? Add Steph Curry to the mix and seems like you have Mike D’s dream shooting team.

Basketball wise:

Harrington for Okur would help us tremendously. Many of us including myself have pointed out that Lee only functions in our front court when the other big is an outside shooter. That is why Lee plays center for us, and that is why Okur would be so great for us. It would allow Lee to play center for us on offense (which he does very well,) but power forward on defense (which we all agree would be a huge improvement to both his game and the team’s record.) Pretty much this allows us to have four shooters on the floor, without having to play a week and undersized SF/PF combo player at the 4 spot.

And even if we get rid of Lee, a player like Okur is the solution to a problem that will always be present in a D’Antoni system.

The Sun’s solution to this was to have Marion at the four, because he was an excellent defender and could guard any PF in the league, but was still able to function as strictly a wing player on offense.

This would be a different look from the Suns of old because now the range is coming from the five spot AND the wing players, which could prove even more effective, as long as our wingmen are both highly capable shooters and slashers.

Lastly, and obviously, Harrington is expendable because of Chandler and Galo.

Business wise:

Harrington and Okur are both expiring for roughly 10 mil, and I think the Jazz consider Okur to be just as, if not more valuable to them than Harrington would be. So i don’t think they would be willing to trade away their first rounder just to get him… just my opinion. It would probably have to be a straight up swap, which i still don’t think they would do. Even so, there’s still probably some way we could get him, but…

For us: Unless we are planning on keeping Okur for the future, we should probably save Harrington for something more vital than a simple swap of expiring contracts. I want draft picks or rookie contracts; otherwise, i say let them walk.

All that being said… Curry, Galo, an improving Chandler, Lee, and Okur would be a devastatingly lethal, relatively inexpensive, and awesomely (lack of a better word) young shooting lineup.

Jeff… You are right. I am not sure how much more Okur would help us than Harrington, but he would add a different element to this team.

I am not sure if Utah is really considering dealing Okur, but I have read in many places that they want to mix things up out there.

Harrington is our most valuable chip that is 1) under contract, and 2) not a young player.

And I agree with you also on the fact that Harrington might be able to get us something more valuable than another short term player.

I like Okur but he runs like a snail.
Who thinks he’d fit in D Ant’s system?

Dont know if anybody caught this stephon marbury interview on espn last night, but it was very informative and interesting!! Check it out:

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh8Fh0VR850PCJ3V6h

rico- You are right about that. He does not run the floor well. But I think that can be masked on this team.

Getting Okur still doesn’t change the fact that we suck on defense and we won’t get anywhere until we get better defensively.

If you say Okur I say Goran Sutan hes cheaper and does the same things that Okur can do, but I don’t think that 1 – 5 has to be able to shoot the three we were 1st in 3pters attempted last year we don’t need another guy coming in and chucking up 4 more a game not to mention that Bustinari is getting shiatsu massages and will be back next year “at 100%” and will have free rain in the offense to shoot us outta games. We need a go to post scorer (and Rubio or Eric Maynor) to get to the playoffs next year, its all about FG % closer you are the better chance you have to score.

an improving Chandler??? how bout a non-point guard in Stephen Curry, a soft horrible defensive PF in David Lee, a reoccurring back problem waiting to happen and also has not proven that he deserved the 6th pick in Danilo Gallinari and another horrible defensive PF in Mehmet Okur. I think you may have forgotten to write.

“not to mention that Bustinari is getting shiatsu massages” hahaha.

Doesn’t Okur have a player option in 2010-2011? In that case, that would be a terrible addition because that guy will exercice it in my opinion. That’d throw the whole plan out the window.

I would much rather have a physical inside player who’s willing to do the dirty work. Jordan Hill would be a nice fit from that perspective, or maybe Varnado if Donnie Walsh buys a second-round pick.

Yes, D’Antoni likes players who can shoot. But, the big man on a D’Antoni team needs to be freakishly athletic or a tough nosed defender. Kurt Thomas was perfect for them. Stoudemire was perfect for them. Not Okur.

Chris, I think your closing thought of Camby for AH being the best deal is right on.

Okur would be better than Lee at C, but not a quantum leap. Also, the only way that I could envision the Jazz doing that deal is if they lose Milsap and either Fesenko or Koufos are ready to start in place of Okur.

Haha yea i don’t think that would be a starting lineup that would take us to the playoffs or anything, if even a starting lineup at all. And i know Galo has not proven he’s start worthy. I was just pointing out that we would have a solid group of very young guys with very good shots, and who other than chandler, have high basketball IQ’s and playmaking abilities.

If you’re talking about making the playoffs next year, obviously there are plenty of things we ‘need’ and plenty of good players to be had. No one is calling Okur any sort of solution by any means.

The rest of us are thinking more along the lines of handling the priorities (flexibility and development of young players) while still trying to get even a little bit better, if we can.

Yea, i want rubio more than anything, but that’s besides the point.

We did shoot the most three pointers but they were bad shots coming from not great shooters, and if we have a Healthy Galo (which i don’t know if we will) plus another sharp shooter like Curry, our 3 point shooting would become much more effective. Right now everything we do is disorderly.

I’m not saying these players will solve our problems, but i am looking at the options that appear to be available and seeing how we can work with what we have.

im 99.99% sure (only because i found an error on hoopshype once last month) That Okur’s option is for next summer, the same as Harringtons.

I like Camby, but that leaves no room for Lee. If we keep Lee, he probably should be starting next year, but if we have camby, we can’t start Lee next to him. We need at least one shooter in the frontcourt.

Lee’s shot doesn’t look so bad, it’s just inconsistent… maybe he’ll work on it this summer knowing that its the one thing he’s missing (offensively) that could really open him up as a player.