Utah Jazz has not been on the right end of the win-loss record recently at 19-34 and sitting 12th in the Western Conference standings, so as expected, there are some frustrations mounting in Utah.
It seems like there are some large frustrations from some big men in Utah with their former 3rd overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, Enes Kanter, has expressed some frustrations with his minutes and wants to be traded.
Following from Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune:
Frustrated by his role during his three-plus years in Utah, center Enes Kanter told The Salt Lake Tribune he hopes to be traded before this year’s deadline.
Kanter expressed his frustration after Wednesday’s 87-82 loss to the Mavericks, a game in which Kanter left with an eye injury but never returned despite his claim that he was healthy enough to play.
“It was not my eye at all. I don’t know what it was, but it was not my eye at all. So we’ll see what’s going to happen,” Kanter said after the game, declining to elaborate further.
Kanter is a very talented big man on the offensive end averaging 14 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game, but there have been questions about his defense throughout his career.
The 6-foot-10 native of Turkey played 13 minutes per game his rookie season, 15 minutes per in his second year and 26 last season, which is is a nice steady increase. His 27.3 minutes per game are a career high, but on a night to night basis there are constant bouncing of minutes between the Jazz big men like Kanter, Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors and Trevor Booker who somehow all manage to steal minutes away from each other.
Kanter being available could either be a value for a team trying to win this year or a headache for a team possibly wanting to build with him. He will be a restricted free agent this summer after he and the Jazz failed to reach a deal to extend him before the season. Any team interested in Kanter would have to give up assets also assuming the risk and uncertainty involving the big man’s future salary to go along with his current salary of about $6 million this season.
