Fi-nal-ee . . . It's haa-ped . . . to me!

CeCe Peniston (not to be confused with Carlos' boss, CeCe Boozer) is overjoyed by the news of Jerry Sloan calling out Kosta Koufos for shooting the damn ball so much. I must admit that I'm happy about it too. Kosta shoots the ball so damn much -- and the media never criticizes him for this (instead they heap insane amounts of love upon him, everything from him being an NBA ready talent to being the #2 center or power forward on the roster) -- that it has forced me into siding with the underdog Fesenko out of the two prospects.

Hopefully Kosta's last game of offensive quantity (5 FGA) over quality (0 FGM) will FI-NAL-EE open up the floodgates of criticism. DJ and PK (morning sports talk radio personalities on 1320 KFAN) even started to hint that (through quoting Sloan), perhaps, Kosta wasn't going to be an All-Star this season. Quoted in the Deseret News today, Sloan had this to say:

"Now Koufos is a little different story. I don't know what that was. He shot it every time he touched [the ball] . . . [When asked if Kosta had a green light to shoot he replied that] He's got a green light to go rebound. He's got a green light to pick up loose balls, and those things that young guys should do when they step out on the floor . . . he can shoot the ball, and that's one of his strengths. When he's been open, he's probably been told to shoot it (previously). But we'd like for him to fake to the other guys once in a while, just to let them known they're in the same game." (Jerry Sloan, 2008, via Desert News)

Photographed by Sam Forencich for NBAE/Getty Images	CeCe Peniston "Finally" [3:58], (thanks SuperNudel!)not officially a song about the media (and Jazz Coaches) recognizing that Kosta Koufos isn't the best thing since sliced bread, and that he shoots the ball way too much for a rookie.

Kosta's cumulative shooting stats have been unimpressive. I know, I have it all on a spreadsheet. All of his professional experience exists as a pretty small sample size . . . 8 games . . . but I can only work with what I have, right? Koufos was purported to be some sort of offensive stud -- or at the very least, NBA ready on offense. (not entirely unlike Mehmet Okur) He shoots a bad percentage, and shoots the ball a lot. Which is only compounded by the fact that he shoots a bad percentage. Which looks even worse because he shoots the ball a lot. Sound like I'm repeating myself? I think I am, but so far no one has been listening.

Mr.Koufos has shot the ball 42 times in the Rocky Mountain Review. So far he has shot the ball 6 times in 2008-2009 Preseason games. That's a total of 48 times. Out of those 48 times, how many has he actually made? 17. What's that as a percentage? 35.4 fg -- which is pretty shabby if he was drafted partly because he was a good offensive player.

Shooting the ball 48 times in 8 games doesn't look that bad though -- that's only shooting the ball 6 times per game. The problem is how often he plays. He played 96:40 minutes in the RMR, and so far has played around 11 minutes in the Preseason. That's around 107:40 total minutes. Right now I'm going to show you his ratio of shots taken and minutes played. This is simply 48 shots : 107:40 mins = 1 shot : x How often does he shoot the ball, then? Once every 2.23 minutes. That is a very high rate for someone who shoots poorly. Carlos Boozer, who last season (2007-2008) scored over 21 ppg (at 55 fg%) shot the ball once every 2.18 minutes (1297 shots in 2827 minutes). What's the difference between 0.05 minutes? That's 3 seconds. Does Kosta Koufos, a 19 year old rookie who shoots the ball 35 fg%, NEED to be shooting the ball 3 seconds less frequently than a two time All-Star and two time Olympian who is the primary scoring option of the team -- a guy who shoots 20% better?

Kosta shoots it over Greg Oden -- obviously a necessary shot to take! Photographed by Sam Forencich for NBAE/Getty Images

Absolutely not.

Obviously the main criticism of my point of view will be that RMR stats shouldn't count, and that his playing in some games shouldn't either -- because of how little he has been playing. Okay, well, let's get rid of the game against the Lakers where he only played 2 minutes. That means that he shot the ball 47 times in 105:40 total minutes, instead of 48 in 107:40. That he made 16 shots, instead of 17. And that he played in 7 games, and not 8. This results, ultimately, in shooting the ball once every 2.24 (as opposed to 2.23) at the whopping proficiency of 34.0 fg%. [And shooting the ball 6.7 times a game, and not 6]

Don't get me wrong, I like the kid. I think he'll be a pro in this league and play (barring injuries) at least as long as a guy like Pat Garrity or Michael Doleac. (Hopefully with a better looking career, though) Let's just slow down the hype and media love for a while, okay guys? He's not already better than Jarron Collins and Kyrylo Fesenko ('cept maybe in ft% and shooting range, where he kills those guys). He's not the back-up center, and he's definitely NOT the back-up power forward. He's going to need seasoning in the NBA-DL this next season. He'll end up shooting better, having a better shot selection, and be well on his way towards having a solid rookie season as a teen in the NBA playing on a contender. (That's to say, watching older guys play while he runs around in the NBA D-League)

I'm just happy that people are finally recognizing his fault. Sorry, CeCe and I are BOTH happy that people see these faults, and FI-NAL-EE it's happening to us . . . that we're not the only ones repeating ourselves about the empirically obvious problem of a 19 year old rookie who shoots 35 fg% shooting the ball as much as our All-Star and scoring meal ticket Carlos Boozer.

Things to look for this season: Kosta Koufos

Really, what do you even hope for, as a Rookie playing in Jerry Sloan's system? I can only really name a few guys off the top of my head who actually got significant playing time as a Rookie here . . . Paul Millsap (18.0 mpg) did it when he was a rookie back in 2006-2007, Deron Williams (28.8 mpg) did so as well the season before, and before that some guy named Shandon Anderson (16.4 mpg) got burn on an NBA West Finals team. Usually, though, a rookie either doesn't have the opportunity to play, or the BBALL IQ to deserve playing. I have a chance of being wrong here, but I'm going to go out on a limb and strongly suggest that Koufos isn't going to play in more than 30 games for the Utah Jazz this season, and he's not going to average 10 mpg in those games. [For a point of reference, Fesenko played in only 9 NBA games last season, @ a rate of 7.8 mpg per]

Photograph by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty Images

So right off the bat the Ohio State product is getting put in a bad situation for him. I guess part of that just happens to be the fact that he was drafted lower than he expected, and thus, is going to a better team. I'm pretty sure that he could be a rookie producer for some other teams that are rebuilding, and don't have any good bigmen (you know, like Oklahoma) -- but he's not on such a team. He's on a team where the guys ahead of him on the depth chart are all vastly better than him at this point in time. And also there's another 7'1 prospect already on the team.

Mehmet Okur	Carlos Boozer	Andrei Kirilenko	Paul Millsap	Jarron Collins
Starting 5	Starting 4	Starting 3	Backup 4	Backup 5
Photograph by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty Images	Photograph by unknown for NBAE/Getty Images	Photograph by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty Images	Photograph by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty Images	Photograph by unknown for NBAE/Getty Images
Okur was an All-Star back in 2006-2007 and after the All-Star break last season he averaged 17 and 10. Okur was a power forward who was converted into a center when Boozer came back from injury a few seasons back.	Booz was an All-Star in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 and just 'won' a Gold Medal. He's one of the few 20-10 guys out there today. Boozer plays around 35 mpg, and can play either 4 or 5 depending on the team the Jazz are playing.	AK-47 is the starting 3, but at this stage you better believe that Jerry is more ready to give him big minutes at the 4 than Kosta, after all, he too was an All-Star back when he played inside the paint.	Mansap is a beast, and potentially could be good enough to mitigate any potential losses from having Boozer walk. He's short, but strong and tenacious on defense. His offensive game is highly under-rated.	Jarron Collins is a black belt jedi when it comes to flopping. He's so good at getting other people in bad situations that HE was the guy driving the golf cart when his brother got injured this off-season. He's not a very good basketball player, but he has Jerry's trust -- something Kosta does not yet have.

While Konstantine Demetrios Koufos may one day be a legit power forward of center in the league, this season he's going to be getting a lot of quality time with the Utah Flash. Well, what three things should we look out for this season from Kosta?

1. Work hard and learn quickly: Everyone raves about his work ethic. This is really a good thing, because he's on a team where you either work hard, or you don't play. What I've seen of him so far (basically just the RMR), he is talented, and if taught, he can be a solid NBA player for many seasons. He's a very good shooter (especially from the free throw line), but Deron said it best -- what the Jazz need from him is rebounds and defense. Those two things are aspects of his game that are not quite NBA ready -- but hey, if he works hard and learns quickly they will develop quite well. Let's not forget that he's a 19 year old Rookie though, so don't expect him to be the next Moses Malone or anything, but it's not like Jarron is going to last much longer here on the Jazz.
2. Be a better offensive player as a rookie than Fes was: This shouldn't be hard, especially when you compare the fact that Kosta is a 1st round pick who played NCAA ball and was a potential lotto pick, and Fes was some raw hulk playing in obscurity in a minor European league who was drafted in the 2nd round. Kosta has drawn comparisons to Mehmet Okur -- and as far as sweet shooting big men go, it's hard to find a better role model. That said, Fes was not horrible on offense as he did manage to shoot above 50 fg% and scored over 10 ppg for the Flash. You kind of expect Koufos to shoot the ball more (something he seems to have developed a taste for, as he shoots the ball nearly as much as Boozer does), and thus, he has an inside track on scoring more and being a quantitatively better offensive player. Fes was a beast in his departments, averaging 10.8 rpg and 2.7 bpg over 36 mpg in the D-league, and  12.9 rpg and 1.5 bpg over 36 mpg in the NBA. Kosta will, likewise, be a beast in his departments -- mainly ppg, ft% and rebounds.
3. Split time with Fesenko all season long: It only seems plausible that Kosta will be down in the D-league when Fes is sitting on the bench (or behind it) in Salt Lake City, and they'll switch over periods of the season. The deal is that a guy on the D-league affiliate can only be called by three times during the season, and the 3rd time they have to STAY with the NBA team for the rest of the season. So I guess the Jazz brass will keep an eye on this, and the guy who does the best will be called up a 3rd time, and maybe make it on the playoff roster. If I was the coach I'd seriously think about the development of all these young guys . . . but I'm not the coach, so don't expect much from Kosta or Kyrylo this season.

YouTube Tuesdays! Episode 1

Every blog brings something different and nice. The Internet is big, so there's enough space for everyone. I truly believe this -- but for you to truly belong you have to do something that no one else does. So this week I'm introducing one of my new, weekly features: YouTube Tuesdays.

First up? This video posted by "rightside04" titled: The Real Kosta Koufos Highlight Video. [5:00] It's completely worksafe (unless you don't like rap/hip hop) and features highlights of his first (and only) year of NCAA ball at Ohio State. There are no highlights from his FIBA U18 dominance for Greece in this video. This video makes me that much more comfortable with his offensive game (which was really a stinker in the RMR -- 38% fg stinks). He had some nice blocks as well. It's a solidly mixed video and a good introduction to the man I call The Kolossus! [Yeah, that's one of the nicknames I made up for the Jazz players . . . catch the first 5 names here!] This is a good introduction to YouTube Tuesdays as well! Watch it!