Wooden Watch: Utah's Poeltl deserves consideration

Jakob Poeltl, Utah Utes

According to the official Wooden Watch thought-meme weathervane, recent weeks have seen a massive spike in statements like the following: “[Player X Who Isn’t Buddy Hield] deserves to be in the national player of the year conversation. He may not win. But he deserves to be in the conversation.” Usually — heck, almost always — those brackets are filled by Kentucky guard Tyler Ulis, and understandably so. Ulis has been better than ever in recent weeks, and the Wildcats have been transformed accordingly.

Less understandable? No one is making the same argument about Jakob Poeltl.

Poeltl had 29 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 1 block in Utah’s 80-69 win at USC. He shot 11-of-13 from the field. Great, great game. Except that Poeltl has been playing pretty much that well for the better part of February. In Utah’s past four games — all wins — the Austrian center is averaging 23 points and 10 rebounds. He attempted 54 field goals … and made 40 of them. Yeah. That happened. Or, to be more precise, that’s happening.

Besides protecting the rim and rebounding at high rates on both ends of the floor, Poeltl is shooting 67 percent from the field on the season. It’s worth noting, too, that he isn’t just cleaning up tip-ins and lobs. Per Synergy data, 38 percent of Poeltl’s plays are pure post-ups on the block. More than two-thirds of those possessions end with one of the sophomore’s ever-multiplying array of polished post moves. The ones that don’t — when he passes to a cutter or a spot-up shot — generate 1.38 points per trip.

In other words, before he was already having a great season before he spent two weeks averaging 23 and 10 and 74 percent shooting from the field. Will he win the Wooden Award? Probably not. But now, at least, he deserves to be in the conversation.

ESPN – Wooden Award Watch