2024 Wolves Draft thread

[kekgeek]

There was a report today that wolves are 1 of 5 teams interested in Bronny (if Bronny is there in the 2nd round) and there is mutual interest if Arod/Lore are owners. However they will not work out for the wolves because Glen is the owner

[Q-is-here]

There was a report today that wolves are 1 of 5 teams interested in Bronny (if Bronny is there in the 2nd round) and there is mutual interest if Arod/Lore are owners. However they will not work out for the wolves because Glen is the owner

Hard to see a scenario where Bronny makes sense for the Wolves, as I see no way it ever leads to LeBron being here. As a prospect independent of his family ties, I'll keep a somewhat open mind. He was terrible at USC, but that was coming off of cardiac arrest surgery, so he deserves some benefit of the doubt there. He certainly has the body of an NBA player and the scouting reports say he is a willing defender.

[FNG]

There was a report today that wolves are 1 of 5 teams interested in Bronny (if Bronny is there in the 2nd round) and there is mutual interest if Arod/Lore are owners. However they will not work out for the wolves because Glen is the owner

Hard to see a scenario where Bronny makes sense for the Wolves, as I see no way it ever leads to LeBron being here. As a prospect independent of his family ties, I'll keep a somewhat open mind. He was terrible at USC, but that was coming off of cardiac arrest surgery, so he deserves some benefit of the doubt there. He certainly has the body of an NBA player and the scouting reports say he is a willing defender.

Q, why do you think there’s no way lebron would end up here? I think he has stated he wants to play with his son someday, and he likely wants another shot at a championship…and he has to know he’ll never win another with this cast of lakers. If bronny went to one of maybe 8 teams with a decent chance of winning a championship (the Wolves being one of those), don’t you think he’d want to go join his son on a vet minimum? He’s played twice in Cleveland, so he’s not adverse to playing in the Midwest.

I teed up this idea in a thread a few months ago. I’m not advocating for this, because bronny seems to have limited offensive potential. But it’s not out of the question that lore/arod would consider moving kAT, drafting bronny, and signing lebron. They might see that as a twofer: upgrade the roster (lebron had a better VORP than KAT last year) while reducing payroll.

[Q-is-here]

There was a report today that wolves are 1 of 5 teams interested in Bronny (if Bronny is there in the 2nd round) and there is mutual interest if Arod/Lore are owners. However they will not work out for the wolves because Glen is the owner

Hard to see a scenario where Bronny makes sense for the Wolves, as I see no way it ever leads to LeBron being here. As a prospect independent of his family ties, I'll keep a somewhat open mind. He was terrible at USC, but that was coming off of cardiac arrest surgery, so he deserves some benefit of the doubt there. He certainly has the body of an NBA player and the scouting reports say he is a willing defender.

Q, why do you think there’s no way lebron would end up here? I think he has stated he wants to play with his son someday, and he likely wants another shot at a championship…and he has to know he’ll never win another with this cast of lakers. If bronny went to one of maybe 8 teams with a decent chance of winning a championship (the Wolves being one of those), don’t you think he’d want to go join his son on a vet minimum? He’s played twice in Cleveland, so he’s not adverse to playing in the Midwest.

I teed up this idea in a thread a few months ago. I’m not advocating for this, because bronny seems to have limited offensive potential. But it’s not out of the question that lore/arod would consider moving kAT, drafting bronny, and signing lebron. They might see that as a twofer: upgrade the roster (lebron had a better VORP than KAT last year) while reducing payroll.

I just don't see him playing on a vet minimum (he has a $51M player option!) and his son would likely spend the vast majority of his time in Iowa (although there are camps and breaks where he'd join the big league team).

You mentioned KAT. One idea is for LeBron to pick up that player option and then to trade KAT for him straight up (or in some sort of 3-team deal where the Lakers gets picks/young guys from another team). If LeBron played like he did last year, he'd be an upgrade at the 4 to KAT and his salary would be off the books after next season.

[WildWolf2813]

I get it. Defense, cool, but can this team pretend they give a damn about adding shooters?

This team can clearly work with subpar defenders and make them look passable, but we can't turn guys into knock down shooters on good volume. Get that and work on the defense later.

[Carlos Danger]

I get it. Defense, cool, but can this team pretend they give a damn about adding shooters?

This team can clearly work with subpar defenders and make them look passable, but we can't turn guys into knock down shooters on good volume. Get that and work on the defense later.

I think they may need to take a chance on a shooter like you suggest. We finally have a solid defense and you are correct that we should be able to hide one player on that end because of our strong overall defense with guys like Rudy, McDaniels, NAW and an improving Edwards. Even DLO could boast about being part of a top 10 defense when he was here the first season with Rudy. So yes - I'm fine prioritizing shooting over defense in this specific draft.

[Q-is-here]

I get it. Defense, cool, but can this team pretend they give a damn about adding shooters?

This team can clearly work with subpar defenders and make them look passable, but we can't turn guys into knock down shooters on good volume. Get that and work on the defense later.

I think they may need to take a chance on a shooter like you suggest. We finally have a solid defense and you are correct that we should be able to hide one player on that end because of our strong overall defense with guys like Rudy, McDaniels, NAW and an improving Edwards. Even DLO could boast about being part of a top 10 defense when he was here the first season with Rudy. So yes - I'm fine prioritizing shooting over defense in this specific draft.

We almost NEVER draft pure shooters. Been a bugaboo of mine with this franchise.

[Lipoli390]

I get it. Defense, cool, but can this team pretend they give a damn about adding shooters?

This team can clearly work with subpar defenders and make them look passable, but we can't turn guys into knock down shooters on good volume. Get that and work on the defense later.

I think they may need to take a chance on a shooter like you suggest. We finally have a solid defense and you are correct that we should be able to hide one player on that end because of our strong overall defense with guys like Rudy, McDaniels, NAW and an improving Edwards. Even DLO could boast about being part of a top 10 defense when he was here the first season with Rudy. So yes - I'm fine prioritizing shooting over defense in this specific draft.

We almost NEVER draft pure shooters. Been a bugaboo of mine with this franchise.

TC’s had two drafts so far and hasn’t drafted anything close to a pure shooter in either one. He’s obviously been hyper focused on the defensive side of the ball — signing Slo Mo, trading for Rudy, trading for NAW, and drafting the likes of Kessler, Moore, Minott, Miller and Jaylen Clark. He wanted to build a defensive team and he’s done that. Perhaps he’ll now turn his attention to adding shooters with his two draft picks and perhaps through a vet minimum free agent signing.

[Lipoli390]

As I see it, the Wolves have three significant needs for next season:

1. Better outside shooting/scoring off the bench. This won’t come from within and the second apron leaves us only two options - the draft, and a vet minimum free agent signing. Neither option is particularly reliable.

2. Another high quality ball-handler who creates for himself and others to take some of that burden off Ant’s shoulders. I don’t see this coming from within either, except perhaps from a significantly improved Jaden.

3. More toughness. As good as we were defensively, I don’t think this team is mentally or physically tough enough to win an NBA championship. It’s telling that our two best defensive players, Rudy and Jaden, are not physically strong. Jaden will get physically stronger and seems to have a lot of fight in him. But Rudy is easily overpowered physically and that’s not going to change. There’s no toughness in him. This is something we could remedy with a vet minimum FA signing, although I don’t have anyone in mind at the moment.

[FNG]

As I see it, the Wolves have three significant needs for next season:

1. Better outside shooting/scoring off the bench. This won’t come from within and the second apron leaves us only two options - the draft, and a vet minimum free agent signing. Neither option is particularly reliable.

2. Another high quality ball-handler who creates for himself and others to take some of that burden off Ant’s shoulders. I don’t see this coming from within either, except perhaps from a significantly improved Jaden.

3. More toughness. As good as we were defensively, I don’t think this team is mentally or physically tough enough to win an NBA championship. It’s telling that our two best defensive players, Rudy and Jaden, are not physically strong. Jaden will get physically stronger and seems to have a lot of fight in him. But Rudy is easily overpowered physically and that’s not going to change. There’s no toughness in him. This is something we could remedy with a vet minimum FA signing, although I don’t have anyone in mind at the moment.

Lip, don't you think almost every team out there wants more scoring/shooting off their benches? But here are the 3-point shooting stats for some of our bench players:

Naz: 41.4%
NAW: 39.1%
JMac: 47.2%
Morris: 42.4%

Granted the last two guys averaged fewer than one make per game. But I don't know that I can come up with any team that had 4 rotation reserves making more than 39.1% of their threes. Certainly not any of the three teams we faced in the playoffs, and not Boston either. We have guys who can make shots on our bench. The question is: is Finchie utilizing them properly?