2024 NBA Draft Day One GDT

[rapsuperstar31]

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.

IF Dillingham is a good player that plays next to Ant for the next decade, that pick doesn't matter much at all. If things go downhill, hell Brooklyn just traded for its picks back, Houston just traded for Phoenix picks in an attempt to trade them back to Phoenix for Durant one day. You can always recoup your picks back or other picks if things don't go well, but I think this is going to work out very well for us.

[Lipoli390]

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!

Interesting take, FNG. I’m much higher than you on Naz improving defensively, but I think you make a good point about having less of a need for him, which makes trading him this summer more sensible and perhaps the most prudent thing to do. Nevertheless, I still wouldn’t deal Naz this summer and I’d be shocked if TC trades him. One of my concerns with KAT is his durability. He started his NBA career as an iron man. But at some point along the way his body appears to have started breaking down. With Garza gone, Naz is our only front court player who can step in and pick up a good chunk of KAT’s offensive contribution. And I’m not ready to conclude that Rob or Shannon will be ready to provide 6th man of the year caliber production.

[Phenom]

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.

IF Dillingham is a good player that plays next to Ant for the next decade, that pick doesn't matter much at all. If things go downhill, hell Brooklyn just traded for its picks back, Houston just traded for Phoenix picks in an attempt to trade them back to Phoenix for Durant one day. You can always recoup your picks back or other picks if things don't go well, but I think this is going to work out very well for us.

I love that the team identified a point guard they loved and made it happen. The KG era brass took the sit back and wait approach and wasted his career here.

[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!

Interesting take, FNG. I’m much higher than you on Naz improving defensively, but I think you make a good point about having less of a need for him, which makes trading him this summer more sensible and perhaps the most prudent thing to do. Nevertheless, I still wouldn’t deal Naz this summer and I’d be shocked if TC trades him. One of my concerns with KAT is his durability. He started his NBA career as an iron man. But at some point along the way his body appears to have started breaking down. With Garza gone, Naz is our only front court player who can step in and pick up a good chunk of KAT’s offensive contribution. And I’m not ready to conclude that Rob or Shannon will be ready to provide 6th man of the year caliber production.

Fair point, Lip. If SloMo is gone and KAT got hurt, a roster without Naz might lack a suitable PF replacement (unless Miller surprises us). I'll amend my summer wish. I would be looking to trade Naz for a PF who is not as highly regarded as Naz right now and some draft capital.

[Monster]

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!

Interesting take, FNG. I’m much higher than you on Naz improving defensively, but I think you make a good point about having less of a need for him, which makes trading him this summer more sensible and perhaps the most prudent thing to do. Nevertheless, I still wouldn’t deal Naz this summer and I’d be shocked if TC trades him. One of my concerns with KAT is his durability. He started his NBA career as an iron man. But at some point along the way his body appears to have started breaking down. With Garza gone, Naz is our only front court player who can step in and pick up a good chunk of KAT’s offensive contribution. And I’m not ready to conclude that Rob or Shannon will be ready to provide 6th man of the year caliber production.

Fair point, Lip. If SloMo is gone and KAT got hurt, a roster without Naz might lack a suitable PF replacement (unless Miller surprises us). I'll amend my summer wish. I would be looking to trade Naz for a PF who is not as highly regarded as Naz right now and some draft capital.

If Garza is actually gone then the Wolves have nobody behind Gobert and Towns at C that's proven anything. If you worry about defense then based on Q's observations then you REALLY don't want Miller playing minutes at that spot. Naz was a huge part of the Wolves success this season and while he isn't a guy that anchors a defense he is switchable and is a shot blocker. Meanwhile teams have problems guarding him. I know the Wolves had problems guarding Dallas but to be honest they struggled scoring at times in the playoffs. The Wolves are likely going to still be pretty good defensively and Shannon has the tools to not be a disaster on that end of he plays. It doesn't make sense to me to deal Naz if you are trying to win a championship now and I think that's exactly what the Wolves are trying to do as they should. Let's also remember that Naz has gotten better every single season of his career and he turns 25 in August. Maybe he doesn't get better or even regresses some but there is a real chance he improves again. What then? Since he has a player option the Wolves should keep in mind they could lose him for nothing but what exactly could they get back that would be as valuable as this season with him on the roster? I don't know what Naz is worth if the Wolves were to deal him but I see him being pretty valuable to the Wolves. You take Dilly at 8 assuming he is gonna help at least as a scorer this year but I want more than a rookie or 2 for scoring off the bench.

[Lipoli390]

https://www.kentucky.com/sports/college ... 76844.html

I nice summary of pundit draft grades on the Wolves Dillingham pick.

[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.

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, your hope for value out of Moore was never going to happen. He's a negative asset who got shipped off with our 37th pick to Detroit. We do recoup the 53rd. Good riddance. Moore was a horrible pick that cost us three second rounders and now another and I ranked Vince Williams ahead of him and he showed out for Memphis. Jabari Walker would have also been a better pick and I ranked Jovic, Nembhard and TyTy ahead of Moore too. I'm just happy I don't have to watch Moore again.

[Lipoli390]

https://www.nba.com/timberwolves/videos ... y-06-26-24

Tim Connelly post-draft presser. Some main takeaways:

1. Dillingham will play right away. Best bucket-getter in the draft.

2. When asked whether they will take steps to "protect Dillingham's defensive deficiencies on the court" TC responded: "We're not going to protect him; we're going to challenge him." I love that!

3. Terrence brings toughness.

4. TC said he wanted to get faster and more athletic. These two picks were intended to do that.

5. Dillingham is incredibly competitive. He mentioned his competitiveness several times emphatically.

Summing up, I see the following:

1. We needed to add 3-point shooting and scoring next season and beyond. Both picks provide that.
2. We needed another candidate to back up Conley next season. Dillingham provides that.
3. We needed more speed and athleticism. Both picks provide that.
4. We needed to improve our offensive firepower off the bench. Both picks do that.
5. We needed a potential elite PG to eventually succeed Conley. Dillingham provides that
6. We needed more competitiveness and toughness. Both picks do that.
7. We needed a high level ball-handler/shot creator to take some of that burden off Ant. Dillingham provides that.

[FNG]

Terrance Shannon is older than both Ant and Jaden.

Dane Moore said on his podcast today that Shannon is the 6th oldest player on the roster. I guess he's not including unsigned free agents in there and a couple of them may be back, but still...

[Porckchop]

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