Rookies

[Leado01]

Does anyone else think Terrence Shannon already fits the T-wolves mode as a tenacious defender who creates havoc in transition and can hit open shots?

It's the time of the year where you see a lot of poorly prepared prognosticators pontificate on predicted performances, and 90% of what I'm reading is about Dillingham.

I love the Dillingham pick, but I also think Shannon already has the skills and drive to contribute fairly early on and frankly I could see him slipping into the NAW role easily when we can't afford to resign NAW.

The Dillingham pick has upside...no doubt, but I also think he's at least a year of really hard work and 15 pounds away from actually contributing....I hope it's faster than that, but I do think that's realistic

[Q-is-here]

Does anyone else think Terrence Shannon already fits the T-wolves mode as a tenacious defender who creates havoc in transition and can hit open shots?

It's the time of the year where you see a lot of poorly prepared prognosticators pontificate on predicted performances, and 90% of what I'm reading is about Dillingham.

I love the Dillingham pick, but I also think Shannon already has the skills and drive to contribute fairly early on and frankly I could see him slipping into the NAW role easily when we can't afford to resign NAW.

The Dillingham pick has upside...no doubt, but I also think he's at least a year of really hard work and 15 pounds away from actually contributing....I hope it's faster than that, but I do think that's realistic

I think Shannon fits 2/3rds of the mold, but we've been burned so many times by shooting (or lack thereof in our historical prospects) that I'm not fully convinced yet. Ingles is an old dude and will be preserved for the playoffs, which gives Shannon and Minott a huge opening to compete for minutes in a 10-man rotation. But both are unproven NBA 3-point shooters and that's the shot we need to see go down if either are to have a sustained role on this team....otherwise Old Joe will be playing more minutes than Finch would like him to.

[FNG]

As one of the resident rubes here, I'll admit that I am excited about Shannon's potential as a 2-way player. But I'll also offer this cautionary tale: he comes into the league not nearly as highly regarded as another seasoned college player with an excellent reputation as a defender and a shooter. Yep, Smilin' Wes. And while some here may argue that their respective demeanors are quite different, I don't remember anyone questioning Wes's character and demeanor coming out of college.

I think Shannon will end up being a much better pro than Wes, but we also need to recognize he could end up looking like a typical late first rounder.

[Monster]

As one of the resident rubes here, I'll admit that I am excited about Shannon's potential as a 2-way player. But I'll also offer this cautionary tale: he comes into the league not nearly as highly regarded as another seasoned college player with an excellent reputation as a defender and a shooter. Yep, Smilin' Wes. And while some here may argue that their respective demeanors are quite different, I don't remember anyone questioning Wes's character and demeanor coming out of college.

I think Shannon will end up being a much better pro than Wes, but we also need to recognize he could end up looking like a typical late first rounder.

Wes Johnson was at least a useful player for a few years. Shannon is a late first round guy he doesn't have to be a star to make the pick worthwhile. I think of Shannon as a guy that likely will not be a disaster on defense eventually becoming an asset there while giving you at the very least energy and transition buckets. Being able to hit some 3s is likely what is going to make him a good or really good late first round pick. We have seen some older players make an impact sooner rather than later.

For Dillingham I keep coming back to his 3 point shooting. It was REALLLY good in one year of college. If that's anywhere close to legit he will help the team just as a shooter and this team needs a shooter and has for what seems like decades.