Jazz select Daniel Diez with 54th pick, traded to Trail Blazers for cash
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The Utah Jazz selected Spanish small forward Daniel Diez with the No. 54th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft on Thursday night.
The will reportedly flip Diez to the Portland Trail Blazers for cash, reports Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
The 22-year-old continued to impress this season, playing in the highly competitive Spanish ACB league. At 6-foot-8, the Blazers may be hoping that Diez can play as a stretch-four down the line, but his 6-foot-6 wingspan will limit his usefulness as a defender at that spot, particularly since he's not a great athlete.
Diez is, however, a terrific shooter. He hit on 41.4 percent of his threes this season, and those made up more than half his field-goal attempts. A high-energy player who attacks the glass effectively, he also has the sort of toughness teams like off their bench.
This probably isn't a pick with an eye toward 2015-16, but with a thin international pool, Diez is a nice draft-and-stash flier.