longstrangetrip wrote:15 minutes is my expectation for Dunn too, Pete. I'm hoping that Ricky and Zach play well enough and the Wolves are winning enough that Thibs wants to keep them on the court as much as possible.
But if either of them has to miss a game due to injury, I would argue that Dunn will be more ready to contribute than the typical rookie because of his age, physical maturity and emotional makeup. I watched several rookies in person in SL last year (KAT, Tyus, Russell, Okafor, Mudiay, Porzingis), and none of them looked nearly as ready to contribute as Dunn did in his two games this year. And there was also a clear difference between Dunn and Murray in the one game they played against each other.
You may sacrifice some upside when you draft a 22-year-old senior, but you also are more likely to have a rookie who is more able to contribute right away.
I agree... Dunn should be more ready to contribute than the kids who came out after 1 year of college, which means all of the others in the top 8 except Hield. Of course, some of them like Simmons will get the minutes anyway. You just never know even with the older rookies... Lillard came out and was ready for 35 minutes, McCollum took a couple of years.
The nice thing is we don't need Dunn to excel right away. The core from last year was young, improved a lot during the year, and should continue to improve this year, especially with a better coach. Anything Dunn adds this year is a bonus... we just need to not expect too much.
