Wolves Draft and Free Agency Grades

[Leado01]

I'm pretty thrilled with our draft and FA moves considering the apron and how close we are to contending.

If someone had told me we would lose Anderson and jMac and bring in Joe Ingles, Terrence Shannon, and Dillingham going into the off-season I would have been thrilled.

We lost some defensive flexibility with Anderson leaving but we picked up Shannon who can shut down better then Anderson but can't guard as many positions. All three players are bigger offensive threats than the two we lost, and I think we'll get more total minutes in season out of these three than the two that went out.

Dillingham is a variable with great upside...but c'mon, even as a variable he's better than jMac

[Q-is-here]

To both of your guys' point; I still hope we're looking to add a league average PG somehow someway. We're one lengthy injury to Mike away from a bad ripple effect.

Dillingham is an unknown. You hope he can take on that kind of pressure and thrive, but we're a contender. We can't really stomach him not being able to. NAW hasn't shown to be able to shoulder a primary ball handler role. Dozier hasn't played in the NBA for awhile and wasn't exactly established when he was. Ant can iso, and he'll playmake enough to rack up some assists. But he doesn't have a PG, get everyone set, run the offense type mindset. And less wear and tear on him during the regular season is pretty necessary.

As for the G-League, players have talked about how it is hard for young players to develop there because it is a pack of wolves mentality league wide. Older guys aren't necessarily trying to help you improve to take a NBA roster slot when their window to eat is constantly narrowing. Which makes perfect sense.

Maxey is a solid example, although I'd argue Philly weren't legit contenders the year they drafted him. He did average 19 points and 5 assists per 36 minutes though off the bench. So while he wasn't particularly efficient in that first year, he did flash some scoring and playmaking prowess right away.

Here is another reference point I just thought of: Tony Parker.

The summer Parker was drafted, the Spurs were coming off a Western Conference Finals loss where their two PGs were the 37-year old Terry Porter and 35-year old Avery Johnson. The 19-year old Parker was taken with the 28th pick (granted, not a lottery pick like Dillingham, but Parker fit the super young "lead guard" description).

As a rookie, Parker came off the bench for the first 4 games of the regular season and then took over the reigns from Antonio Daniels and became the Spurs permanent starter. This is as a 19-year old, but playing with the likes of Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Steve Smith, and Bruce Bowen. They went on to lose in the Conference Semis that year with Parker as their second leading scorer after Duncan. He started all of their playoff games. The next year they won the Finals.

Other than playing with those 2 HoFers, Parker had been playing professionally over in France since he was a teen. So it's a bit different.

I know it's a possibility that he takes off running and potentially relegates Conley to the bench sooner rather than later. Obviously I hope that is the case. But Parker and Maxey stories are the anomalies, not the norms. I just err on the side of caution, or just seen too many Wolves flubs not to be very cautiously optimistic.

Playing college ball at Kentucky for a season may prepare a prospect for the NBA as good or better than European ball did for a guy like Parker. And I don't think TP piled up a ton of games and minutes in the same way Rubio or Doncic did over there, but I could be wrong. When you look at Coach Cal's track record with guards, it's absurd how many have gone on to have successful NBA careers after just a year or two in his program. That bodes well for Dillingham.

I definitely don't think he relegates Conley to the bench as quickly as Parker did in San Antonio. But I am hoping he can be a wild card for us in the playoffs next season as a change-of-pace guard off the bench that sparks the offense. JMac and Monte were good game manager/ball-security PGs, but they were totally dependent on others doing the scoring for the most part. If NAW and Naz were having an off-night, well, there wasn't much those guys could do. Dillingham can actually be a protagonist out there!

(we'll sweep the defensive concerns under the rug for now. I'm sure he'll grow two inches and gain 30 lbs by training camp )

[Q-is-here]

I'm pretty thrilled with our draft and FA moves considering the apron and how close we are to contending.

If someone had told me we would lose Anderson and jMac and bring in Joe Ingles, Terrence Shannon, and Dillingham going into the off-season I would have been thrilled.

We lost some defensive flexibility with Anderson leaving but we picked up Shannon who can shut down better then Anderson but can't guard as many positions. All three players are bigger offensive threats than the two we lost, and I think we'll get more total minutes in season out of these three than the two that went out.

Dillingham is a variable with great upside...but c'mon, even as a variable he's better than jMac

Mmm, I wouldn't say that yet. It depends on how inefficient he is. JMac couldn't do much to create his own shot, but he was incredibly good at not shooting himself and the team in the foot. His calling card was "not screwing up" while at the same time getting the ball moving quickly. If Dillingham is mis-firing a bunch and turning it over along with porous defense, he'll be doing far more harm than good. In fact, I'd almost expect that to start the season.

[rapsuperstar31]

Assuming Dillingham holds onto that #2 PG spot as Conley's main backup (although I think we will see a regular dose of NAW/Ant backcourts where they share PG duties), I really can't find another reference point comparable to this situation. I just can't think of past situations where a lead guard got picked in the lottery and went to a contending team.

There have certainly been rookies that have contributed to NBA Championships. Christian Braun is a recent example of a rookie that played regular minutes off the bench in Denver's title run two years ago (he also came into the NBA with three years of college under his belt).

Then you have Derek Lively II who was arguably Dallas's 3rd best player throughout the playoffs. And while they didn't win the title, it was truly remarkable to me that someone his age became absolutely pivotal to their playoff run...even more so than their vet Center Daniel Gafford!

But neither of those guys were even close to being primary ball handlers. Braun especially had a very narrowly defined role.

I expect a very rocky start to Dillingham's regular season. Our hope should be that he sticks with it and eventually finds a rhythm after the first 30 or 40 games.

I just thought of another one, he was an old rookie but Sam Cassell played 17 minutes his rookie season and 23 is 2nd season helping Houston win two titles in his first two seasons.

[Q-is-here]

Assuming Dillingham holds onto that #2 PG spot as Conley's main backup (although I think we will see a regular dose of NAW/Ant backcourts where they share PG duties), I really can't find another reference point comparable to this situation. I just can't think of past situations where a lead guard got picked in the lottery and went to a contending team.

There have certainly been rookies that have contributed to NBA Championships. Christian Braun is a recent example of a rookie that played regular minutes off the bench in Denver's title run two years ago (he also came into the NBA with three years of college under his belt).

Then you have Derek Lively II who was arguably Dallas's 3rd best player throughout the playoffs. And while they didn't win the title, it was truly remarkable to me that someone his age became absolutely pivotal to their playoff run...even more so than their vet Center Daniel Gafford!

But neither of those guys were even close to being primary ball handlers. Braun especially had a very narrowly defined role.

I expect a very rocky start to Dillingham's regular season. Our hope should be that he sticks with it and eventually finds a rhythm after the first 30 or 40 games.

I just thought of another one, he was an old rookie but Sam Cassell played 17 minutes his rookie season and 23 is 2nd season helping Houston win two titles in his first two seasons.

Good one Rap! Yeah, he was absolutely pivotal coming off the bench during those playoff runs for Houston. The one caveat to the comparison though is that Cassell was 24 as a rookie and had quite a lot of college ball experience. He's more similar to Shannon, Jr. in that regard.

Edit: Just saw you called out his older age too. But yeah, otherwise the role he played would be very similar to what I imagine is envisioned for Dillingham.

[kekgeek]

Assuming Dillingham holds onto that #2 PG spot as Conley's main backup (although I think we will see a regular dose of NAW/Ant backcourts where they share PG duties), I really can't find another reference point comparable to this situation. I just can't think of past situations where a lead guard got picked in the lottery and went to a contending team.

There have certainly been rookies that have contributed to NBA Championships. Christian Braun is a recent example of a rookie that played regular minutes off the bench in Denver's title run two years ago (he also came into the NBA with three years of college under his belt).

Then you have Derek Lively II who was arguably Dallas's 3rd best player throughout the playoffs. And while they didn't win the title, it was truly remarkable to me that someone his age became absolutely pivotal to their playoff run...even more so than their vet Center Daniel Gafford!

But neither of those guys were even close to being primary ball handlers. Braun especially had a very narrowly defined role.

I expect a very rocky start to Dillingham's regular season. Our hope should be that he sticks with it and eventually finds a rhythm after the first 30 or 40 games.

I just thought of another one, he was an old rookie but Sam Cassell played 17 minutes his rookie season and 23 is 2nd season helping Houston win two titles in his first two seasons.

Good one Rap! Yeah, he was absolutely pivotal coming off the bench during those playoff runs for Houston. The one caveat to the comparison though is that Cassell was 24 as a rookie and had quite a lot of college ball experience. He's more similar to Shannon, Jr. in that regard.

Edit: Just saw you called out his older age too. But yeah, otherwise the role he played would be very similar to what I imagine is envisioned for Dillingham.

I guess how many times in history has a team that made the conference finals then picked a player in the top 10. Has to be just a couple of times. Hard to know how those players would do with a smaller role on a good team because theoretically Dilly should have more natural talent than every other rookie mentioned who did and did not contribute.

[Q-is-here]

I just thought of another one, he was an old rookie but Sam Cassell played 17 minutes his rookie season and 23 is 2nd season helping Houston win two titles in his first two seasons.

Good one Rap! Yeah, he was absolutely pivotal coming off the bench during those playoff runs for Houston. The one caveat to the comparison though is that Cassell was 24 as a rookie and had quite a lot of college ball experience. He's more similar to Shannon, Jr. in that regard.

Edit: Just saw you called out his older age too. But yeah, otherwise the role he played would be very similar to what I imagine is envisioned for Dillingham.

I guess how many times in history has a team that made the conference finals then picked a player in the top 10. Has to be just a couple of times. Hard to know how those players would do with a smaller role on a good team because theoretically Dilly should have more natural talent than every other rookie mentioned who did and did not contribute.

But wait! The latest podcast from Dane reminded me of another one: Jayson Tatum.

God, I forgot that the Celtics missed the playoffs ONE YEAR between their 2008 title and their 2024 title. Man, that is some sustained success spanning multiple rosters, coaches, and front office personnel.

In 2017, the Celtics lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the LeBron-led Cavs. The Celts leading scorer in that run was the 5'9" Isaiah Thomas. That summer, 19-year old Jayson Tatum was drafted #3 out of Duke, where he played one year. Boston had acquired the pick from a prior trade with Brooklyn when they blew up the KG-Pierce Celtics team.

In Tatum's rookie year, he started every game and averaged 14 PPG. In the playoffs he averaged 19 PPG where Boston lost once again to the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals.

[Monster]

Good one Rap! Yeah, he was absolutely pivotal coming off the bench during those playoff runs for Houston. The one caveat to the comparison though is that Cassell was 24 as a rookie and had quite a lot of college ball experience. He's more similar to Shannon, Jr. in that regard.

Edit: Just saw you called out his older age too. But yeah, otherwise the role he played would be very similar to what I imagine is envisioned for Dillingham.

I guess how many times in history has a team that made the conference finals then picked a player in the top 10. Has to be just a couple of times. Hard to know how those players would do with a smaller role on a good team because theoretically Dilly should have more natural talent than every other rookie mentioned who did and did not contribute.

But wait! The latest podcast from Dane reminded me of another one: Jayson Tatum.

God, I forgot that the Celtics missed the playoffs ONE YEAR between their 2008 title and their 2024 title. Man, that is some sustained success spanning multiple rosters, coaches, and front office personnel.

In 2017, the Celtics lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the LeBron-led Cavs. The Celts leading scorer in that run was the 5'9" Isaiah Thomas. That summer, 19-year old Jayson Tatum was drafted #3 out of Duke, where he played one year. Boston had acquired the pick from a prior trade with Brooklyn when they blew up the KG-Pierce Celtics team.

In Tatum's rookie year, he started every game and averaged 14 PPG. In the playoffs he averaged 19 PPG where Boston lost once again to the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The supposed knocks on Tatum coming out of college was lack of upside and shooting. He has been a pretty good 3 point shooter in his NBA career although couple years he was only hitting around 35% but on a huge volume. I was curious to see how many corner 3's he takes. The last 5 years the percentage of 3's he takes from the corners has gone down each season. Last season he took less than 6% of his 3's from the corner!

[Carlos Danger]

Assuming Dillingham holds onto that #2 PG spot as Conley's main backup (although I think we will see a regular dose of NAW/Ant backcourts where they share PG duties), I really can't find another reference point comparable to this situation. I just can't think of past situations where a lead guard got picked in the lottery and went to a contending team.

There have certainly been rookies that have contributed to NBA Championships. Christian Braun is a recent example of a rookie that played regular minutes off the bench in Denver's title run two years ago (he also came into the NBA with three years of college under his belt).

Then you have Derek Lively II who was arguably Dallas's 3rd best player throughout the playoffs. And while they didn't win the title, it was truly remarkable to me that someone his age became absolutely pivotal to their playoff run...even more so than their vet Center Daniel Gafford!

But neither of those guys were even close to being primary ball handlers. Braun especially had a very narrowly defined role.

I expect a very rocky start to Dillingham's regular season. Our hope should be that he sticks with it and eventually finds a rhythm after the first 30 or 40 games.

I agree with your assessment. I don't expect them to throw him directly into Jmac's role to start last year (primary backup). But (at the risk of becoming a broken record) I just hope Finch finds a way to mix in these young guys so they can get meaningful minutes with professional NBA players. The G league didn't turn out to be the development league I had hoped - not sure what happened there. But it seemed to turn into an exhibition league (think every pick up game at the gym) vs. developmental.

McLaughlin wasn't the primary backup to start the season last year that was Shake Milton getting those minutes.

McLaughlin absolutely was the primary backup as far as I could tell. Shake did get minutes to start the year. But I think part of that was because JMac was banged up to start the season. So yes, they used Shake there a little as well as guys like SloMo and later NAW. But I never got the impression they were looking at Shake as Conley's primary back up/PG2.

https://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/j ... ury-update

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... melog/2024

Personally, I thought things ran better with a true PG and the fact that they drafted a pure PG makes me think they thought the same.

[KG4Ever]

I'm changing my free agency grade to an F for TC. Had TC figured out a way to get Tyus on the roster for a minimum deal, I'd be singing his praises, as I love Tyus's fit here. I view this as a major missed opportunity.