NBA Mock Draft Pick #21 -- Kelly Olynyk, Forward, Gonzaga
SB Nation's Jazz blog SLC Dunk explains the pick:
The Jazz currently field Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter. They are the future towers that the team will build around, and their exploits are apparent. Favors routinely emasculates other big men by blocking their shots or dunking on them; while Kanter is a throwback bruiser who has already had a 20/20 game by the tender age of 20. They both rebound and play defense. But neither have that stretch ability that all good big men of this era need to have. That's where Kelly Olynyk comes in.
He is a stretch big who shot 33.3 3pt% over his three year collegiate career. At the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago he was one of the few bigmen to participate in the Pick and Pop, and Spot up around the world from three drills. He surprised me by actually being a way better shooter from deep (NBA three point range) than I had anticipated. I guess this is a product of working on his game for three years in college.
Olynyk is actually older than both Favors and Kanter, which is a plus, and finished his last NCAA season with a robust line of 18 / 7 / 2 / 1 / 1. He's more than just a jump shooter, and it's obvious that Utah needs some more polished younger guys on their roster. But probably the best thing about Kelly is that he's not going to challenge Favors and Kanter for the lion's share of the minutes in the frontcourt. It (Mehmet) Okurs to me that he could be a solid third big on an up and coming team.
Updated 2013 NBA Mock Draft Board: