Will he save the Utah Jazz franchise? Well, gosh, that's a lot to expect from a 19-year-old kid, even if he is 6-foot-11 and 260 pounds.
Honestly? I'm not sure Enes Kanter is a savior.
He's big and talented and certainly appears to be capable of playing in the NBA for a long time to come. But a savior? No. He's a piece to the puzzle, an important piece.
Go back six months ago, consider where the Jazz were. Jerry Sloan had just left, tired of begging Deron William to put aside his own frustrations and keep the team on a winning path.
Then Williams was sent packing, the result of a surprise deal just before the trade deadline. Rather than keep the unhappy point guard around for another year, only to risk losing him and getting nothing in return, the Jazz shipped him off to New Jersey for power forward Derrick Favors, veteran point guard Devin Harris and the Nets' first-round pick in the 2011 draft.
Six months later, that picked turned out to be Enes Kanter. And suddenly, the Jazz and their fans are feeling a whole lot better about the world.
But as I wrote in last Sunday's column, it's way, way too soon to know if Kanter will be successful in the NBA.
While it was easy to evaluate the importance of the 2011 draft to the Jazz franchise, it's impossible to evaluate exactly what Kanter means to its future.
For that, you need a crystal ball or maybe some tarot cards and tea leaves. So, for now at least, let's just call Kanter what he is: a big, fun-loving, exciting kid from Turkey.
For now, that's all Jazz fans have to go on. My hunch is, that's more than enough.
Kanter is as likable as he is big, and as full of life as he is promise.
Last week, after arriving in Utah for the first time, he couldn't stop smiling. His eyes were huge and full of excitement as he looked around the room at his introductory press conference.
Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor said Kanter's playing style is mostly power and strength; he compared him to a "bull in a china shop."
Sitting there, watching Kanter in his nice suit and youthful exuberance, just itching to put on a uniform and go run over someone, I understood what O'Connor meant.
If I owned a team, I'd certainly want him playing FOR me rather than AGAINST me.
For goodness' sake, the kid wants to be a professional wrester when his playing career is over. He said he knows it's fake, but he doesn't care. He just likes the rough and tumble aspect of it.
Oh to be 19 again ... and 6-11, 260.
When asked if he'd actually ever tried that pro-style kind of wrestling, he just smiled, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Maybe like with my roommates?"
There's an image, huh? Some other 19-year-old college kid jokingly saying, "Hey Enes? You want some of this?" Then coming at him with plans for a Polish Hammer and a Mongolian Chop?
Ouch. I'm guessing Enes and his roommates didn't get their security deposit back.
I don't know how it'll all translate into the NBA, but I think Jazz fans will absolutely love Enes The Menace and his knack for attack.
"Some guys shy away from contact," said O'Connor. "Some guys accept contact. Some guys initiate contact. This kid likes to initiate contact."
Where did that come from? Kanter said it all began when he was 15 or 16 years old, playing professionally in Turkey. He found himself going against grown men, 10 or 15 years older than him.
They played rough, so he played rough, too.
"That made me tough," he said.
Looking back on it, that 2010-11 season was especially rough and tough on the Jazz and their fans. So perhaps it's only fitting they were ultimately rewarded with Enes The Menace.
He may not be a franchise savior, but he'll be fun to watch.
Jim Burton is the Standard-Examiner's sports columnist. He also covers the Utah Jazz and the NBA. He can be reached at 801-625-4265 or at jburton@standard.net. He tweets at http://twitter.com/jmb247
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