Q12543 wrote:We absolutely need big man depth, especially with Pek's health situation. Dieng is a decent value at his current salary, but I'm not sure he'll be worth the price he commands on his second contract. We may need to think about moving him at some point.
That being said, I'd still take the best player available in the draft, regardless of position. Mudiay might be the one exception.
While I'm generally a "draft to fill a need" guy, I'm in agreement with this take. I think we need to take BPA, and if we are 4th, I still think that could be Russell. I also am hesitant about Mudiay, although he was really impressive in his return to Guangdong Sunday. I have a sense the Lakers may like him, and maybe they choose him at 3 if they land there.
The reason I am a BPA guy in this draft is that I think a good big man will be available when we pick early in the 2nd round. Guys I am looking at that have a chance to be there are Robert Upshaw, Christian Wood, Rakeem Christmas, Dakari Johnson, and even Fatso Kennedy Meeks. Although these guys project to be backup centers at best, that would still help us in a position of need, and this draft appears to be incredibly deep with serviceable 7 footers.
There won't be a roster spot for a second round pick unless someone gets cut.
Pek, KG, Dieng, AP, AB, Wiggins, Bazz, Bud, Hummel, GR3, Martin, Lavine, Neal, Ricky, Lo Brown, 1st round pick. That's 16 alone so someone needs to go to sign the 1st round pick which will probably be Neal signing with someone else. Now you have to cut someone else to get down to 14 for a second round pick which has no point because it would cost extra money for a deep depth guy.
You're correct that we would have to cut two guys in order to roster two draft picks, but I don't see that as a big problem. We have five guys in that group who are not under contract for next year, and all of them except KG could be easily let go. I like certain things about Robbie, Neal, LoBro and GR3, but none of them are critical to our future if Flip thinks he can score some center depth in the second round.
Come on, Cool. There's a seat next to me on the KAT bandwagon. It's got your name on it my man.
Tread with caution Cool. We all know how hard the Nik Stauskas Bandwagon crashed! :thumb:
The Victor Oladipo wagon is very much alive and well, though! Was driving that bad boy a couple years ago on ESPN board hard.
(Was also a big time Ty Lawson, DeMarcus Cousins, Bradley Beal supporter in past, but you'll just have to take my word for it.)
I think most of us were quite favorable on VO...there was a lot of talk on the boards that Flip needed to try to move up to get him. That said, and despite some nice recent games, I have to say that Victor has been a disappointment. I thought all 4 wolves outplayed him in the futures game last month...he was showy, but out of control. And while many of us (me included) tried to construct an argument that his big improvement in 3-point shooting his last season at Indy was sustainable, early returns are that he is not a very good NBA 3-point shooter. But my biggest issue with VO has been his turnovers. I liked his handle in college, but his assist to turnover ratio in his first two years has been substandard. I still like Victor, but so far he hasn't been what I would have expected.
Yeah, VO was hardly a controversial guy to push, as I recall a lot of us in love with the idea of an athletic 2-guard. VO hasn't been great, but he has been steadily improving and is still only in his second year. His TOs are down and his shooting efficiency are up, so if those trends continue, he could end up being very good.
While Towns may have been a bit of an unknown to some of us earlier in the season and Cam deserves credit for pushing him at the time, I think most of us would be pretty thrilled if we ended up with him at this point. I feel the same way about Okafor and Russell. Stanley Johnson is the guy I'm starting to question a bit.
Assuming the Wolves end up with the 4th pick, my nightmare scenario is Okafor, Towns and Russell being the first three picks...leaving Mudiay as the likely pick. After an impressive Game 3 in the CBA playoffs, he had a poor Game 4 as his Guangdong team lost to Beijing...5 for 14 with 6 turnovers.
As a reality check about the quality of the CBA, the Beijing PG was Will Bynum (Marbury was the SG). Bynum was a star in the league, averaging 22.9 PPG and 7.3 APG. For those who try to make the claim that the CBA is tougher competition than the NCAA (hint...it's not), Bynum only averaged 12.5 PPG and 2.5 APG his senior year in college.
Fun fact: The guy who Guangdong released to make room for Mudiay last week?
We still need a backup PG so Mudiay would not be a terrible pick. He also wouldn't be relied on to be the guy out of the gate. He could develop behind Ricky and be a different type of player than Ricky to run the second unit. He'd also be a good trade chip. We have needs pretty much everywhere so we have to take BPA and go from there. We also really shouldn't be relying on any rookie to play 30+ minutes like Wiggins because it just doesn't lead to many wins.
