NBA Mock Draft: Utah Jazz Select Steven Adams from Pittsburgh

NBA Mock Draft Pick #26 -- Steven Adams, Center, Pittsburgh

SB Nation's Jazz blog SLC Dunk explains the pick, which they acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves:

Steven Adams is a steal at #26 and needed to be picked up. He's a 19 year old 7 footer, his agent is Arn Tellen, and the super raw young man has only been playing basketball for a handful of years. As a result, he hasn't learned any bad habits yet. He's primed to get better and with the right coaching could be a rotation player in this league for a very long time. As a Freshman he averaged 2.0 bpg in less than 24 mpg. That's not too shabby for a guy who doesn't know how to play yet. While he's young and inexperienced he has an NBA ready body at 255 pounds, and NBA ready athleticism for a 7 footer with a 33.0 Maximum Vertical , 6.7% body fat, and a 3.40 second sprint time. Adams could be a bubble lotto pick who fell down to the bottom of the first. This is a no brainer. And that's fine, because Karl Malone was hired on to work with the bigmen. Adding Adams to Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter, and Kelly Olynyk - and brains aren't his specialty. Brawn is.

SB Nation Jazz blog SLC Dunk explains the trade:

Jeremy Evans was a troublemaker in Utah, with his consistently poor work habits, penchant for arriving to practice and flights late, and his better left unstated "$5,000 a day Faberge egg" habit. It was the last straw when instead of working on his game in the off-season he took off with two UtahJazz.com employees to go on a road trip - more like a vision quest - to remote locations of the American South West. Okay, only the last part is true, and he's doing charity work right now to underserved communities. He's a great guy, but not a very useful basketball player. He has been in the league three seasons and has not yet developed the skills needed to be a power forward, or transition to a small forward. No ball handling skills. No jumper. No post moves. Did not gain any weight. He is really good a jumping though. J.J. Barea is a little pricey right now, but last season Mo Williams and Randy Foye cost the Jazz $11 million alone. He does what they do, but at less than half the cost. Jub Jub also brings championship experience to the lottery Jazz. Utah takes on some salary here, but they also get a late 1st round pick.

SB Nation's Timberwolves blog Canis Hoopus explains the trade:

While we knew there would be a player or two at 26 that we liked (though the fact that Muscala went off the board made us feel better about this deal; he would have been our pick), we also felt that we could not allocate two guaranteed contracts (and roster spots) to rookies this season. In addition to everything else, Rick Adelman would have punched us in the face. Our main goal was to move one of our undersized guards, and we were able to move the smallest one with the biggest contract. Getting out of two years of Barea gives us a little more breathing room to make the moves we need to make in the rest of the off-season. Jeremy Evans has not been able to consistently get in the rotation in Utah, but we've always been intrigued by him. He adds some much needed athleticism to our front line at a very low cost over the next two years. As bench depth, we're happy to have him. When he swats an Enes Kanter shot at the buzzer to win a game for the Wolves, turns to GM Amar sitting courtside and gives him the Sam Cassell nutsack gesture, we'll be even happier.

SB Nation Scouting Report: Steven Adams

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