Is Dunn a PG or a SG?

[Monster]

Drew, the reality is that Dunn is still somewhat an unknown in a lot of the factors you listed. There is also a fairly practical angle to this and that is we simply don't have that many wings. Dunn almost has to play some time at SG.

I agree with everything you say here. Is there something I'm writing that you disagree with?

Not really, but you went through a fairly exhaustive analysis of the relative strengths/weaknesses of our various perimeter options above and the reality is that we need Dunn to play some SG no matter what just based on not having a ton of options there. I do appreciate the analysis though, being of a similar ilk myself!

Wasting my time overanalyzing the Wolves is my favorite hobby!

I agree with you on the need to play Dunn at the 2, though I'm pretty sure some on the board would disagree for 2 reasons.

1) Some people think Dunn can't or shouldn't play the 2 (I disagree).
2) Some people think Wiggins should get all the non-LaVine minutes at the 2. (I'm slightly more sympathetic to this argument, though it would be a stronger argument if Wiggins was a better ball handler).

So I agree with you, and at the end of the day, I think the need to play Dunn at the 2 is also because:

1) He's not going to get enough minutes just backing up Ricky.
2) He looks capable of doing it and good enough to need the minutes.

But I still enjoy analyzing the various skills our guards bring to the table! Given the skills I described above, I'd like to see a lot of Ricky-LaVine, Ricky-Dunn, and Dunn-LaVine pairings.

What is great is all the guards including Tyus bring some complimentary skills and you really can put some interesting (in a good way) combinations together.

[The Rage Monster [enjin:8010341]]

Dunn certainly hasn't looked like a "shooting" guard...

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Dunn certainly hasn't looked like a "shooting" guard...

19-35 from the field...54.3%. I'll take that from my shooting guard all day.

But I think you may be referring more to his 1-6 on threes. I agree that's not good, but it's also not indicative of how he shot in college. And all SGs aren't created out of the same mold. He's more of the Dwyane Wade style...slashing and finishing at a high rate. If he can make 35% of his threes on top of that like he did in college, he could end up being a big-time scorer.



!if he can get over his injury proneness)

[Duke13]

LST, this seems more like your trying convince yourself Dunn and Ricky can play together long term. Two years from now, I take Dunn/Lavine backcourt versus a Rubio/Dunn. I know we can have this great 3 guard rotation, somebody will be moved by the start of next year. The front office was obviously very high on Dunn, he was the guy they targeted all along.

[Monster]

LST, this seems more like your trying convince yourself Dunn and Ricky can play together long term. Two years from now, I take Dunn/Lavine backcourt versus a Rubio/Dunn. I know we can have this great 3 guard rotation, somebody will be moved by the start of next year. The front office was obviously very high on Dunn, he was the guy they targeted all along.

The idea that basically the reason Dunn can't be a SG because he doesn't hit 3's is also flawed IMO. We all have our biases here. We all have certain angles we take both because of preferences for players or style of play or whatever. Some of us are also looking at things from a certain objective angle too both on Dunn as a PG or SG or just a guard etc.

I tend to think I would be not a believer in Dunn and a stud PG even if we didn't have Rubio and that's from watching him play. I've been open in one fashion or another to finding his replacement for years because of concerns with his injuries so it's not like I am opposed to Dunn as a PG because we have Rubio. I've said for months take BPA regardless of position. This team is set up for that. What I am against very strongly is the idea Rubio is gone or shipped out etc before we actually know what the heck we have in Dunn. I hope he is a terrific players everyone does. I don't see him as a stud type player though but I think he could be a sort of a stud in what he can bring to the team of he turns out to be the type of defensive guy he has the potential to become. I think he can be a versatile guard and thats why I see him as a guy that could be a legit SG for decent chunk of minutes either now or possibly long term. People compare him to Westbrook. That dude would be a top SG of you played him there. Like others have said physically Dunn long term at PG (and a guy like Westbrook or Derrick Rose) gives him more physical advantages so him reaching his ceiling at that position is the preference. I think that it is possible the guy becomes a guy you play at SG not just to get him on the court but because he is good at it. Some people seem to want to dismiss that quickly I think because they just assume he will be a PG. I'm not so sure. The good news is we can take some time to figure this all out. Let's sit back and enjoy this roster that's been assembled. It's fun to have another big guard with this type of ability. He and Lavine could really fit well with each other especially at the end of games possibly on both ends of the floor.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Dunn's performance in his 2 SL games has certainly increased my enthusiasm about him. I didn't think he looked particularly good running the point, but his performance was about what I expected and I saw nothing to show me he can't play there in a pinch (by the way, I think Zach can fill in there if necessary too). But the way he looked off the ball and on defense both exceeded my expectations. I don't know how Thibs plans to use him, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out. He clearly isn't close to being ready to challenge Ricky for the starting PG job, but that doesn't preclude that happening someday. And as much as I like Zach, if Dunn's defense is clearly superior to LaVine's, I could see him challenging Zach for the starting 2 job this year.

What do I think is going to happen? Zach will dramatically improve his defense in his third year and continue to show the offense he showed at the end of last year. And Dunn will be a good bench player this year backing up Ricky and Zach,

[petecorcoran [enjin:6658618]]

Dunn has looked good. However, so have some of the other top picks, including Hield, Jaylon Brown, Simmons, and even Murray had real a good game. But we know from history that few if any of these guys will be real factors as rookies.

We need to remember that these rosters in Summer League include mostly D-league level talent. And we need to remember that Adrian Payne went down to D-league for a few games last year and dominated. That's how different the talent level is from the NBA.

So, for me the question isn't SG or PG... it's how much we can realistically expect Dunn to contribute this year. In my mind, anything more than 15 minutes of energetic defense that we didn't have last year is a plus. Then, hopefully, he can expand from there as the season moves toward the end.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

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.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

LST, this seems more like your trying convince yourself Dunn and Ricky can play together long term. Two years from now, I take Dunn/Lavine backcourt versus a Rubio/Dunn. I know we can have this great 3 guard rotation, somebody will be moved by the start of next year. The front office was obviously very high on Dunn, he was the guy they targeted all along.

LST does sort of come off that way, and as much as I love Ricky, I do not not believe the two of them are a long-term starting backcourt, although you never know.

However, I do think they can play together for stretches in a dual-point guard lineup, something that is not at all unusual in today's NBA and something both Layden and Thibs have mentioned repeatedly over the last few weeks.

If for some reason Dunn proves capable of being a top 10-15 PG and we can get something of value for Rubio, then yeah, it's time to move on. Given the fickle nature of draft picks, player development, and injuries, I'm certainly not ready to make that move yet. I think it would be incredibly risky.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

LST, this seems more like your trying convince yourself Dunn and Ricky can play together long term. Two years from now, I take Dunn/Lavine backcourt versus a Rubio/Dunn. I know we can have this great 3 guard rotation, somebody will be moved by the start of next year. The front office was obviously very high on Dunn, he was the guy they targeted all along.

LST does sort of come off that way, and as much as I love Ricky, I do not not believe the two of them are a long-term starting backcourt, although you never know.

However, I do think they can play together for stretches in a dual-point guard lineup, something that is not at all unusual in today's NBA and something both Layden and Thibs have mentioned repeatedly over the last few weeks.

If for some reason Dunn proves capable of being a top 10-15 PG and we can get something of value for Rubio, then yeah, it's time to move on. Given the fickle nature of draft picks, player development, and injuries, I'm certainly not ready to make that move yet. I think it would be incredibly risky.

Hmm...I don't mean to come off that way, and it's not where my head is currently. I have a little more excitement about Kris Dunn than I did on draft night, and I am curious to see where he ends up.

He was a PG in college, so it's natural to assume that will be where he begins his career in the pros. But while I was consistently impressed with his college defense in video I have watched, video of him on offense and some of his stats make me question whether he has a future as a starting PG in the NBA...and what I saw in his two SL games didn't make those questions go away. Conversely, my first impression about Dunn at SG was that he didn't have the size or 3-point shooting ability to shine there. I know it was only 2 SL games, but visions of SG Dwyane Wade popped into my head more frequently than PG Russell Westbrook, so my opinion about his best position migrated as I watched him.

It's early, so there are miles to go before his best position becomes clearer. I teed up this thread, though, because I think there were a few other posters here who warmed to the idea of him potentially being a pretty good 2-way SG. I think this will be a good thread to revisit from time to time as we watch more of Dunn in preseason and once the regular season starts.