2024 NBA Draft Day One GDT

[KG4Ever]

Can’t be happier. Got arguably the best 2 bucket getters in college last year. Like Connelly said with them being a 2nd apron team it was going to be hard to that bucket getter in free agency so they had to be aggressive.

Also that 2031 pick would have been frozen next year in trades for being a 2nd apron team so it was now or never. Solid loophole Connelly found for being a 2nd apron team. Gone are the days of Kahn drafting ineligible players and signing players like Batum to an offer sheet when they didn’t have the necessary cap space.

Summer league team will be fun
PG: Dillingham
SG: Moore
SF: Shannon
PF: Minott
C: Miller
Bench: Clark and 37

Fun draft

Normally, third year guys like Moore and Minott don't play summer league. I can't say watching Moore is fun, so hopefully I don't have to watch him play. On the other hand, I look forward to getting a glimpse of our rookies and Miller is fun to watch.

[Carlos Danger]

I'm totally fine with the results of the draft. I wanted a PG. They got a PG. My own strategy would have been to just stay put and grab whichever player fell. A couple weeks ago I had listed Carlton Carrington and Isaiah Collier as two guys who might fall down to #27. Carrington went 14, but Collier did fall to us. So for me, I'm going to obviously always look back at this draft and compare Collier and Dillingham. Some mocks had Collier ranked ahead of Dillingham.

I do have concerns that TC is spending a lot of future draft capital. It would be fine if I knew he was here long term. But if he leaves after spending 10 years worth of future draft picks - things will go right back to the old Timberwolves days real quick...

Not trying to rain on the parade. Just writing down my inner thoughts post day 1...If TC hits a home run on Dillingham we are going to be a very good team for a long time. Dilly-Dilly.

[Monster]

Can’t be happier. Got arguably the best 2 bucket getters in college last year. Like Connelly said with them being a 2nd apron team it was going to be hard to that bucket getter in free agency so they had to be aggressive.

Also that 2031 pick would have been frozen next year in trades for being a 2nd apron team so it was now or never. Solid loophole Connelly found for being a 2nd apron team. Gone are the days of Kahn drafting ineligible players and signing players like Batum to an offer sheet when they didn’t have the necessary cap space.

Summer league team will be fun
PG: Dillingham
SG: Moore
SF: Shannon
PF: Minott
C: Miller
Bench: Clark and 37

Fun draft

Normally, third year guys like Moore and Minott don't play summer league. I can't say watching Moore is fun, so hopefully I don't have to watch him play. On the other hand, I look forward to getting a glimpse of our rookies and Miller is fun to watch.

As far as I can tell Moore might be fighting to be an NBA player. He should be happy to play in the summer league and for the Wolves they could hope he gets hot and looks good so they could unload him for a team that thinks maybe he can actually play. I haven't completely given up on him but it doesn't look good. I would not be surprised if he played.

Minott I would agree is less likely to play but I would not be surprised if he is with the team and maybe plays a game or two and then gets shut down.

[Monster]

Let's put Dilly's offensive stats up against some other UK guards. He is smaller than these guys but he shot the 3 better than both Murray and booker and had more assists as a bench guy that both of those guys did in college combined. If you take Dilly's stats out to like 32mpg he would be nearly 21ppg over 5 assists and doing all that with under 3 turnovers a game. Like I said I'm looking forward to watching a couple games and seeing his passing.

[60WinTim]

They finally posted TC's day one presser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2H9e79qrh8

[rapsuperstar31]

Givony's biggest winners from Round 1
Minnesota Timberwolves
The pick: Rob Dillingham (No. 8 via trade)
The Timberwolves made the most aggressive move of Round 1 by trading into the No. 8 spot to draft Dillingham. With starter Mike Conley turning 37 years old, president of basketball operations Tim Connelly knew he needed to be aggressive in finding the veteran point guard's successor. With Dillingham, Connelly has his own version of Kyrie Irving, who knocked the Timberwolves out of the playoffs in the Western Conference finals.
Dillingham is lightning in a bottle, ranking not only as one of the best scorers in this draft class already as a freshman, but also as an underrated passer who brings real creativity passing off a live dribble, a skill that he can continue to hone as his pro career moves forward. The fact he showed he can play off the ball, making 44% of his 3-pointers this season, will help him operate alongside a budding superstar in Anthony Edwards.
His biggest weakness, his defense, could be negated to an extent with NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert behind him

Which title contender helped itself the most?
Woo: Oklahoma City Thunder
Nikola Topic and Dillon Jones might not be immediate-impact additions for the Thunder, but Sam Presti added two winning players who have a realistic chance of finding roles as OKC continues to build a young, exciting roster that is already way ahead of schedule. No team has stockpiled talent as effectively as the Thunder, and these were two strong additions that fit their ethos.
I'm eager to see how Topic contributes once he returns to full health, and I thought Jones was an underrated prospect going into Wednesday night.
Pelton: Minnesota Timberwolves
We'll see how well giving up a swap in 2030 and an unprotected pick in 2031 will work out for the Timberwolves, but unquestionably Rob Dillingham is the most talented player any title contender added on draft night, and I think he can help them off the bench as a rookie.

[Carlos Danger]

Givony's biggest winners from Round 1
Minnesota Timberwolves
The pick: Rob Dillingham (No. 8 via trade)
The Timberwolves made the most aggressive move of Round 1 by trading into the No. 8 spot to draft Dillingham. With starter Mike Conley turning 37 years old, president of basketball operations Tim Connelly knew he needed to be aggressive in finding the veteran point guard's successor. With Dillingham, Connelly has his own version of Kyrie Irving, who knocked the Timberwolves out of the playoffs in the Western Conference finals.
Dillingham is lightning in a bottle, ranking not only as one of the best scorers in this draft class already as a freshman, but also as an underrated passer who brings real creativity passing off a live dribble, a skill that he can continue to hone as his pro career moves forward. The fact he showed he can play off the ball, making 44% of his 3-pointers this season, will help him operate alongside a budding superstar in Anthony Edwards.
His biggest weakness, his defense, could be negated to an extent with NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert behind him

Which title contender helped itself the most?
Woo: Oklahoma City Thunder
Nikola Topic and Dillon Jones might not be immediate-impact additions for the Thunder, but Sam Presti added two winning players who have a realistic chance of finding roles as OKC continues to build a young, exciting roster that is already way ahead of schedule. No team has stockpiled talent as effectively as the Thunder, and these were two strong additions that fit their ethos.
I'm eager to see how Topic contributes once he returns to full health, and I thought Jones was an underrated prospect going into Wednesday night.
Pelton: Minnesota Timberwolves
We'll see how well giving up a swap in 2030 and an unprotected pick in 2031 will work out for the Timberwolves, but unquestionably Rob Dillingham is the most talented player any title contender added on draft night, and I think he can help them off the bench as a rookie.

Good stuff - thank you for posting.

[FNG]

I agree with the general consensus here and with pundits that this was an exceptional day 1. While I was on the Baylor train with many here, I have to thank TC for saving us from years of awkward misspellings of his last name. Frankly I was on the fence at 27, and I'm more than fine with the direction we went.

Now, what are the next moves (other than 37). I am already fearing a second until that includes Naz and Rob...even with a NAW out there, that would be too easy to score on. So I'm more convinced than ever that we need to move a very marketable Naz this summer. Adding two bench scorers like Rob and Shannon (and maybe even another at 37) makes Naz's superb bench scoring less essential, and I have little hope for him becoming an adequate defender. SloMo, Naz and JMac are three of my favorite players, but I would let them all go. Naz might bring back some draft capital, and moving away from his and SloMo's contracts will significantly reduce the already painful lux tax. Also, this will leave room on the roster for the M trio...I don't hold out much hope for any of them, but let's see what one more year does for them.

I'm felling quite optimistic about next year after last night!

[Coolbreeze44]

I'm not going to worry about trading someone in 6th grade for Rob Dillingham. We have 7 years to figure out 2031. I'm celebrating a tremendous draft that did exactly what we needed, added players who can help right away and keep our championship window open. Getting Dillingham was absolute thievery, Connelly is one of the best in the business.

[Lipoli390]

I'm not going to worry about trading someone in 6th grade for Rob Dillingham. We have 7 years to figure out 2031. I'm celebrating a tremendous draft that did exactly what we needed, added players who can help right away and keep our championship window open. Getting Dillingham was absolute thievery, Connelly is one of the best in the business.

I agree completely, Cool. I started a thread questioning TC’s draft acumen. We can’t know exactly how this draft will turn out for the Wolves down the road, but I’ll go out on a limb and declare TC redeemed. . Seriously, this was a fantastic first round draft for the Wolves and full credit to TC for pulling it off. We got two guys who can help us now as we compete for a championship next season but also over the long terms as part of a talented young core with Ant, Jaden and Naz.

I might have scowled a bit if we had traded our 2031 unprotected pick for an aging veteran, although one pick 7 years out doesn’t really bother me too much in any case. In this instance, we used that pick to get a really talented player who will turn 26 years old (just entering his prime) in the year that pick goes to the Spurs. Moreover, I can still see us getting at least one future unprotected pick in exchange for KAT in a year or two.

So well done, TC! I’ll put this draft alongside TC’s tremendous DLO deal, his signing of Slo Mo and the success this team has had with Rudy and declare TC the best president of basketball operations this franchise has ever had. Now I know that’s pretty faint praise, but it’s great to see competence in the Wolves front office. What i can say is that, even if I disagree with TC as I did on the Rudy deal, there’s no doubt that he’s highly competent and puts a lot of sound thought into all his moves. I find that really refreshing.