Camden wrote:As for our second pick, I see Robinson as a competent, but not exceptional, college player, who doesn't do anything particularly well. He's kind of what I expect in a second round pick, and I don't see him making the roster.
He's going to be on the roster. Flip thinks of him as a first round talent. He's probably our second or third most athletic player on the roster. Would be foolish to dump him. If he tweaks his shot a little bit, he's going to be a huge steal. Turned 20 years old earlier this year. Love this pick.
I think his only chance of making the roster is if Flip finds a way to move a couple of our SF's. I know we malign Robbie Hummel and some of the others, but the simple fact is Hummel, Brewer, Shabazz, Bud and Brewer were all substantially more productive than Robinson in college. Scoring, rebounding, shooting...you pick the stat, and I'll show you how Robinson falls short of the current Wolves. As he should, because the guys we already have were all picked higher than Robinson (except perhaps Hummel). I think Robinson makes the roster over Robbie perhaps, but I don't see him beating out the other four. How many SFs do you think we need?
Three competent ones would be nice. I see Corey... and then who else? Budinger may never be the player he once was, not like he was great anyway. Mbah a Moute is good on defense, but head-scratching on offense. We have faith in Muhammad being a scoring option, but Robinson is a more well-rounded player than him easily, in my opinion. Hummel has no chance of sticking over Robinson, by the way.
So, I'd like to see Mbah a Moute dumped or bought out. Brewer/Budinger/Muhammad/Robinson would be what I hope for.
I would be okay with that. I'm just not excited about Robinson's prospects. He's athletic, but didn't shoot or rebound especially well in college. I'm talking myself into being okay with the pick because, even though Robinson didn't score or rebound in college like Hummel/Shabazz/Bud/Brew/, he also wasn't "the man". So perhaps his production is understated a little. I hope that's the case.
Camden wrote:As for our second pick, I see Robinson as a competent, but not exceptional, college player, who doesn't do anything particularly well. He's kind of what I expect in a second round pick, and I don't see him making the roster.
He's going to be on the roster. Flip thinks of him as a first round talent. He's probably our second or third most athletic player on the roster. Would be foolish to dump him. If he tweaks his shot a little bit, he's going to be a huge steal. Turned 20 years old earlier this year. Love this pick.
I think his only chance of making the roster is if Flip finds a way to move a couple of our SF's. I know we malign Robbie Hummel and some of the others, but the simple fact is Hummel, Brewer, Shabazz, Bud and Brewer were all substantially more productive than Robinson in college. Scoring, rebounding, shooting...you pick the stat, and I'll show you how Robinson falls short of the current Wolves. As he should, because the guys we already have were all picked higher than Robinson (except perhaps Hummel). I think Robinson makes the roster over Robbie perhaps, but I don't see him beating out the other four. How many SFs do you think we need?
Three competent ones would be nice. I see Corey... and then who else? Budinger may never be the player he once was, not like he was great anyway. Mbah a Moute is good on defense, but head-scratching on offense. We have faith in Muhammad being a scoring option, but Robinson is a more well-rounded player than him easily, in my opinion. Hummel has no chance of sticking over Robinson, by the way.
So, I'd like to see Mbah a Moute dumped or bought out. Brewer/Budinger/Muhammad/Robinson would be what I hope for.
I would be okay with that. I'm just not excited about Robinson's prospects. He's athletic, but didn't shoot or rebound especially well in college. I'm talking myself into being okay with the pick because, even though Robinson didn't score or rebound in college like Hummel/Shabazz/Bud/Brew/, he also wasn't "the man". So perhaps his production is understated a little. I hope that's the case.
I know you put stock into Shabazz being a top HS recruit. Robinson was 5-star for plenty of reasons. Sometimes when playing on a successful college team, you're not able to showcase all of your talents. I think this happened to Hardaway and Robinson actually. And GRIII did grab four-five rebounds a game while being matched up on the opposing team's power forward a lot of the times (Mich loved their small ball lineup). It's not jaw-dropping, but he's good on the glass.
As someone previously said, we could just slide Mbah a Moute to PF and use him that way. I'd rather find an alternate backup PF, but either way is fine with me.
I really like the LaVine pick. At #13, the prospects who were generally regarded as elite prospects were off the board. We could have used the #13 pick to take someone who projects as a role player (e.g., Harris). But that would have been the wrong move for a team that will probably lose it's one current elite player. LaVine was the one guy on the board at that point who has the potential to be an elite NBA player. He's probably the best overall athlete in the draft - both vertically explosive, fast and super quick. But he's not just a super athlete. He's an excellent ball handler and a good shooter -- apparent in his 37.5% three point shooting as a freshman. His combination of athleticism and shooting will fit well with Ricky.
I also liked the Robinson pick. He was widely regarded as a first round talent and we got him 10 deep in the second. Like LaVine, he's another phenomenal athlete with a good shooting stroke even if his shooting stats didn't match the high regard for that stroke. He's known as a great teammate who plays unselfishly and does the little things for the good of the team.
What I like is that both picks reveal an actual sensible strategy -- something we haven't seen here in a long time. You can see that Flip has already moved on from Love. He's now building around Rubio. He understands that Ricky is at his best surrounded by fast, athletic players who can take advantage of Ricky's gift for passing to the spot rather than the man - the same thing you see from elite QBs on football. I suspect that having Wes Johnson, Beasley, and Webster was a big part of why Ricky looked better his first season compared to last season.
The only reason I didn't give the Wolves an A was because we sold two 2nd round picks rather than trading them for future picks or using them on Euro stashes. I just can't accept selling picks for amounts that are just rounding errors in the Wolves basketball budget. No justification for that.
Overall, a nice night for the Wolves. Now we wait and see what happens with Love. Interesting that Chicago got McDermott for the Bulls' two first round picks. That suggests to me that Flip turned down something better than those two picks, Gibson and Snell for Love. We will probably never know. Flip seems intent on dealing for Klay or, if that doesn't pan out, keeping Love.
Hummel is toast. He's a shooting specialist that can't shoot. I don't know what Robinson can be but the Wolves should find out at the expense of Hummel at the least. If he doesn't pan out it's not as if the Wolves lost anything of substance.
Hummel was a nice story for a year but his neck is first on the chopping block for any space the wolves need to create. I would be very surprised if he survives passed summer league/training camp.
By the way, there are some who have questioned LaVine's defense. But note that the players he guarded shot only 25% from the field against him. The Wolves are convinced LaVine has the makings of an elite two-way player.
I'm very excited about LaVine. Long-range shooting, ball-handling, and THIS: http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/538f75486bb3f75807722536-1023-682/zach-lavine-vert.jpg
LST Robinson has a mentality of a team player and doesn't look to be a star. That became even more apparent this year when he could have stepped up with Burke and Hardaway gone and he continued to be more of a glue guy. Thats why he was never going to go up the draft boards too high. However I like young athletic guys that want to play team ball. He could be a Danny Green type player he is a very solid young player and I like getting someone with actual basketball skills which he has with a mentality of being a role player. His skills fit in with Rubio and he had some games when he had to play PF all the time because of injuries to other guys and put up some nice rebound and block numbers. He will do whatever you ask him to do. I think he has a good shot of making the roster, but there is only 3 open spots right now and Hummel's spot from last year (I wouldn't count him out yet) is one of those and we are gonna sign some FA at least.
EDIT:
I'm not a fan of Burke, but he was a much better passing PG than Walton JR was this year. Stauskus was by far the best passer on that team. Not surprisingly the fantastic percentages Robinson had his freshman year dipped. Just pointing that out.
I have no problems with LaVine's defense at all...he looked quite competent there as a freshman and promises to be an acceptable NBA defender. It's his inability to convert his potential offensive gifts into production that concerns me. I'm not going to take the time to research this, but I suspect Flip has made an historic unprecedented lottery pick...I cant imagine there has ever been a non-center that was drafted in the top 13 with a single digit scoring average. Can anyone think of someone that meets this criterion before LaVine? I can't.
I have to hand it to Flip...this is a gutsy move. Maybe Steve Alford is a terrible coach and couldn't find a way to coach LaVine up. If Flip can somehow turn this guy into a basketball player, I will be quite impressed with him as a coach.
I am usually a Wolves optimist, but I just don't get this pick. Gary Harris could have contributed on both sides of the court right away.
Monster, lip and cam...you guys make some good points about Robinson. Maybe I underrated him. I wasn't on the ledge about the Robinson pick, I just wasn't very excited about his numbers and his tendency to disappear in games I watched. But I'm willing to accept that there is more to him than I thought.
