Thunder Fans…Meet Enes Kanter and Steve Novak

 A whirlwind NBA trade deadline ended with the Oklahoma City Thunder engaging in a 3-team trade that brought Enes Kanter and Steve Novak from the Utah Jazz (along with Kyle Singler and D.J. Augustin from the Detroit Pistons). We spoke to Spencer Wixom (@JazzJargon) of FanSided’s Utah site, Purple & Blues, to find out what Thunder fans can expect from two of their newest additions.

1. First of all, as a Jazz fan and writer, what was your overall reaction to the trade deadline? Was it more or less what you expected and do you think the Jazz came out ahead in the deal?

My phone began to overheat with so many Woj Bombs.  This was easily the busiest trade deadline I can remember.  Just about any player who was rumored to be traded was.  No one expected this level of activity, but it sure was fun, right?  

 The Jazz are always very conservative when it comes to trades, and more times than not, they stand pat.  I expected them to sit still at the deadline, so trading Kanter was a shock to me.  The casual Jazz fan will hate the trade they made, but I loved it.  Kanter was likely gone at the end of the season.  So we got two picks, a good European prospect that the Jazz liked, Grant Jerret, and huge amounts of cap space for the offseason.  The Jazz will likely get a high draft pick, and that to the core, and then go all in.  If this core adds a solid bench they could make a splash next year.

2. Give us some basics about Enes Kanter – strengths, weaknesses, etc. His shooting range is expanding considerably but is that sustainable? 

Enes Kanter is a fun player to watch.  Thunder fans will be amazed at his offensive arsenal.  Running hooks, spin moves, jump shots, he has it all.  Think of Al Jefferson on the offensive end – watch this and tell me thats not who you think of:

He was mentored by Al, and his offense is almost identical.  He will score a lot of buckets with KD spreading the floor.  

 Synergy Sports noted one of his weaknesses with this tweet:

Kanter is an amazing offensive player but he turns the ball over a lot.  This is because he forces things too often.  He has not learned to pass out of a double team effectively.  In fact, he has not really learned how to pass at all.

Defense is Kanter’s biggest weakness.  Before Enes entered the NBA he had only played something like 30 basketball games in his life.  So due to that inexperience he still looks confused on defense.  The problem is that he lacks the lateral quickness to recover from his mistakes.  I would imagine Kanter will play most his minutes next to Ibaka for this reason.  The Jazz would hide his defensive flaws by playing him next to Gobert and Favors.

His shot is no fluke.  Kanter is a great shooter.  He has experimented with the three-pointer this year as well, and early returns look positive.  There is no reason to believe that he can’t become a 36% three-point shooter.

3. What are his intangibles? Replacing a guy like Kendrick Perkins who doesn’t exactly dominate statistically but was always valued by fans and teammates won’t be easy.

Kanter is the life of the party.  Everyone loves the guy.  Best way to describe him is that he is a goofball.  You know that person in high school everyone wanted to talk to?  That is Kanter. Teammates will love him in the locker room.  He can be the guy to lighten the mood.  He is humble and polite, but at the same time he knows he is talented.

4. What of the recent contract drama? Any potential for “locker room cancer” status or just a young guy trying to get big bucks? Was Kanter in the right or wrong here?

The drama was drastically over hyped becuase it was around the trade deadline.  Kanter just wants to play basketball and feel like he is being given a chance.  The drama was really lingering feelings from the previous coaches.  Last year he was told he would have the keys turned over to him, but then the Jazz proceeded to play Marvin Williams over him for the year.  That upset him.  Then when Gobert started to break out of this atmosphere while Kanter was hurt, I think he just felt like that was happening all over again.  At the same time his agent was in his ear telling him he deserved to be a starter.

I think Kanter just spoke out of anger after a bad night.  He didn’t handle the situation correctly, but we have to remember he is only 22 years old.  He felt like his chance to prove he is worth a good contract was slipping away.  There should be no concern for Thunder fans about Kanter as a locker room guy.  Especially now that there are significant leaders like Durant that Kanter has never had.

As far as the contract drama, this is solely related to his agent.  Max Ergul is Enes agent, and Kanter is his sole client.  To put it politely, his agent is terrible.  The Jazz offered him $32 million, and his agent instantly countered with a max contract.  His agent is some what absurd and will be in for a rude awakening when Kanter hits the market.  In the end I imagine he will get a deal around the $8 million a year range.  Enes has very few people influencing him here in the United States as his family is still in Turkey.  So his agent gets in his ear.  I would be surprised if you dont hear about Kanter getting a new agent before he hits restricted free agency.

Nov 29, 2014; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz forward Steve Novak warms up prior to the game against the Los Angeles Clippers at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

5. Does Steve Novak have anything left in the tank? I imagine his range is still what it used to be but he rarely plays – was he just a casualty of wrong team/bad fit?

Novak actually started playing the last couple games and looked great.  He can shoot like very few players in this league can.  I watched Novak hit about 20 straight threes while warming up for a game the other day.  You have to realize that is all you are getting though.  He is not a good defender.  So if you can hide that by pairing him next to a good defender, you can get by.  There is no reason to believe that he cannot shoot like he did with the Knicks in OKC.

The reason Novak didn’t get any run at the first of the year was simply the fact that he was on the young team.  Instead of playing Novak the Jazz decided to play younger players or try out D-League guys.  They are looking for a diamond in the rough, so Novak’s minutes suffered as they already know what he is.

What you lost from Perkins in the locker room, you are gaining in Novak.  He was just about everyones favorite player on the team.  Our young players flocked to him to learn about the game.  They looked at him as a leader.  The should be a great mentoring presence for players like Lamb and Roberson.

6. Last question – what’s something you can tell us about Kanter and Novak that only hardcore Jazz fans would know? Any particular quirks, either on the court or off?

Kanter is a very faithful Muslim.  As I mentioned before he has hardly played any basketball before he became the 3rd pick of the draft.  He first picked up a basketball at age 15.  His father is a prestigious professor in Turkey.  He forced Kanter to study non-stop.  Basketball was the first thing Kanter was able to do that did not involve books.  Because of that he is almost experiencing life for the first time.  Which is why some may say he is childish.  He was also a really funny Twitter follow before the Jazz PR team asked him to tone it down. He was constantly tweeting things like this:

Steve Novak is someone that I honestly know very little about as he has just been with the team for a short period of time.  He was a four-star recruit out of high school where he averaged 20.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 5.0 assists.  One funny story is that he found out he was traded to the Jazz through a text from his Toronto Raptors teammates.  Kyle Lowry texted him “damn”.  To which Novak responded “Damn what?” Lowry replied “Dude, you’ve been traded!”.