Second Round: Official Draft Day Thread

[Monster]

Here are the stats on Rocco:

PHYSICAL STATS
Age: 18
Standing Reach: 9’6.5 (Same as Malauch)
Wingspan: 7’4.75
Weight: 257 (second to Sorber)
No-step vertical: 27.5 (Better than Fleming and Yang)
Max vertical: 31.5 (Better than Yang and same as Raynaud)
Agility Drill: 11.92 (not good but better than Kalkbrenner)

GAME STATS - (36 minute equivalent)
15.3 PPG
10.7 RPG
3.4 BPG
0.8 SPG
56% FG
53.7% 3-Pt on 4.5 attempts

Overall, has great length and strength and is very young. Should have lots of upside. Think Steven Adams.

Watching around 3 minutes of highlights I would not have guessed he was that big... Which is a good thing. He moves reasonably well.

[Lipoli390]

This is just me but I think there was a player that if they had dropped to 36 the Wolves may have taken them and been happy to have those future 2nds. Maybe they did simply didn't think a pick was worth having to have that open roster spot and went with another option with Rocco but I think there is a chance my theory is correct. Either way I'm kinda fine with it because Rocco is intriguing and having some more future picks is something that I think is a good outcome.

Could be true, Monster. I can’t complain since we got my guy, Rocco. But seriously, It’s interesting that TC went all in on size and upside, drafting two 18 year old bigs with excellent length. And don’t forget that we still have Miller. So we have lots of young front court length in the pipeline.

I’m a firm believer in drafting on talent rather than need but if the choices are roughly equal then it makes perfect sense to draft the best talent at a position of need. That’s what TC did in this draft. Our guard/wing pipeline is already full with Dilly, TSJ and Clark. Our two core guys, Ant and Jaden are guards/wings and still young. We have Donte who is still only 28 years old. In fact, Miller could be viewed as a wing. So it made no sense to draft a guard or wing other than someone who was clearly better than any of the available bigs. I like where we’ve ended up so far. Before this draft we had no young bigs in the pipeline except for maybe Miller and Minott. I like Garza but don’t see a rotation player there. Miller still shows promise, but Minott is starting to lose his gloss. And neither Miller nor Minott is a true big who can play the five. So this draft made sense. I would have stayed at 31 and drafted Fleming or if trading down to 36 I would have drafted Raynaud. But I’ll trust in TC’s judgment of talent, which has more information behind it than I have at my disposal.

[Monster]

This is just me but I think there was a player that if they had dropped to 36 the Wolves may have taken them and been happy to have those future 2nds. Maybe they did simply didn't think a pick was worth having to have that open roster spot and went with another option with Rocco but I think there is a chance my theory is correct. Either way I'm kinda fine with it because Rocco is intriguing and having some more future picks is something that I think is a good outcome.

Could be true, Monster. I can’t complain since we got my guy, Rocco. But seriously, It’s interesting that TC went all in on size and upside, drafting two 18 year old bigs with excellent length. And don’t forget that we still have Miller. So we have lots of young front court length in the pipeline.

I’m a firm believer in drafting on talent rather than need but if the choices are roughly equal then it makes perfect sense to draft the best talent at a position of need. That’s what TC did in this draft. Our guard/wing pipeline is already full with Dilly, TSJ and Clark. Our two core guys, Ant and Jaden are guards/wings and still young. We have Donte who is still only 28 years old. In fact, Miller could be viewed as a wing. So it made no sense to draft a guard or wing other than someone who was clearly better than any of the available bigs. I like where we’ve ended up so far. Before this draft we had no young bigs in the pipeline except for maybe Miller and Minott. I like Garza but don’t see a rotation player there. Miller still shows promise, but Minott is starting to lose his gloss. And neither Miller nor Minott is a true big who can play the five. So this draft made sense. I would have stayed at 31 and drafted Fleming or if trading down to 36 I would have drafted Raynaud. But I’ll trust in TC’s judgment of talent, which has more information behind it than I have at my disposal.

One possible take away from what they did in the draft is that they feel stronger about what they have at PG than we do on this board likey because of your last point. They see Miller and or Minott every day And it might mean they plan to have Randle and Naz here for at least this coming year. Let's be honest as much as Miller hasn't gotten a chance and still probably has some issues or flaws or whatever is Fleming a better prospect?

Connelly said a few weeks ago that he didn't see much difference between 17 and 31. Obviously they are gonna say great things about the guy a they picked at 17 but it would make sense than Joan was a guy they thought was above that 17-31 tier of players. Watching Lloyd from last night he seemed really pumped up about Joan...like really excited. Lol I wonder what they thought about guys past 31. Maybe they didn't see anyone that was better than say Minott or even Garza. Like FNG said about Raynaud is he for sure better than him? He is bigger and obviously has some upside but it's not like Garza can't play and physically Garza has done everything you could want from a guy. You might want that type of guy around your young centers.

Meanwhile the Wolves had Jesse Edwards as the only true center behind Gobert. Garza is an offensive guy with size but he isn't gonna help the defense even at his best. Miller would be kinda the same thing if he played as a C. It was clear C was the biggest hole in a future roster and the Wolves used 2 picks on guys to fill those roles. With PG at least they have Dillingham.

Back to PF for a moment. I still think Minott has the skills to play there if you need him to for a few minutes a game as a depth guy. McDaniels has improved his do shit stuff and improved as a PG option but Minott still has that to his game. He wasn't a disaster last year. I saw he was going to play for...shoot I can't remember what team in FIBA qualitying this year and that could be good for him. Minott is also the other big SF on the roster which could be needed if McDaniels were to get injured. Meanwhile Miller still has some shine on him.

Like Lloyd said last night the Wolves have some youth at every spot. That's what you want.

[Coolbreeze44]

So we sold a pick for cash, Is it still 2008? And we look destined to run it back again. GREEEAAAAAATTTTT

[Monster]

So sources tell me that the money from the trade down from the Lakers to #45 is being donated by both the Lakers and Wolves in Lip's honor to an undisclosed charity. Now we know why Lip was so emotional.

[kekgeek]

So we sold a pick for cash, Is it still 2008? And we look destined to run it back again. GREEEAAAAAATTTTT

If you're wondering why the Wolves traded down the way they did tonight, I'd recommend listening to this full explanation from Tim Connelly.

There were roster spot and apron restrictions to navigate for the Wolves, for sure -- and maybe that's justification enough. But it sounds like the 2nd round this year got a little pre-determined by agents between Day 1 and Day 2. (Last year was the first year of the two-day draft. Would make sense that some new strategies/loopholes were found in last year's process that were taken advantage of by agents this season.)

"It was really curious how agent-driven the 2nd round became. We called players left and right, and there was 20 deals done before (the second night of) the draft even started... 31 is fun, but maybe not as fun as we thought it was gonna be."


-Dane Moore

[Phenom]

So we sold a pick for cash, Is it still 2008? And we look destined to run it back again. GREEEAAAAAATTTTT

If you're wondering why the Wolves traded down the way they did tonight, I'd recommend listening to this full explanation from Tim Connelly.

There were roster spot and apron restrictions to navigate for the Wolves, for sure -- and maybe that's justification enough. But it sounds like the 2nd round this year got a little pre-determined by agents between Day 1 and Day 2. (Last year was the first year of the two-day draft. Would make sense that some new strategies/loopholes were found in last year's process that were taken advantage of by agents this season.)

"It was really curious how agent-driven the 2nd round became. We called players left and right, and there was 20 deals done before (the second night of) the draft even started... 31 is fun, but maybe not as fun as we thought it was gonna be."


-Dane Moore

Just do away with the 2nd round. Make it so that anyone not drafted in the first round can't make as much as the 30th pick to prevent guys from dodging pick 30.

Instead of second round picks just give each team exceptions that are cap-exempt that can be traded like 2nd round picks.

[Crazysauce]

We should have got Yang Hansen. Dude looks like the steal of the draft.

[kekgeek]

We should have got Yang Hansen. Dude looks like the steal of the draft.

He was gone before we picked

[Monster]

So we sold a pick for cash, Is it still 2008? And we look destined to run it back again. GREEEAAAAAATTTTT

If you're wondering why the Wolves traded down the way they did tonight, I'd recommend listening to this full explanation from Tim Connelly.

There were roster spot and apron restrictions to navigate for the Wolves, for sure -- and maybe that's justification enough. But it sounds like the 2nd round this year got a little pre-determined by agents between Day 1 and Day 2. (Last year was the first year of the two-day draft. Would make sense that some new strategies/loopholes were found in last year's process that were taken advantage of by agents this season.)

"It was really curious how agent-driven the 2nd round became. We called players left and right, and there was 20 deals done before (the second night of) the draft even started... 31 is fun, but maybe not as fun as we thought it was gonna be."


-Dane Moore

Just do away with the 2nd round. Make it so that anyone not drafted in the first round can't make as much as the 30th pick to prevent guys from dodging pick 30.

Instead of second round picks just give each team exceptions that are cap-exempt that can be traded like 2nd round picks.

Thanks an interesting concept but I'd guess some teams are not gonna go for that especially the bad ones.

This isn't exactly a new development. Players have been influencing their way to a spot for years. Naz Reid wasn't willing to sign a 2-way deal and that's partly why he wasn't drafted.

It's likely a 2 way street. There are probably teams that are wanting to guarantee as little money as possible and some guys especially in those first few picks are probably pushing for at least the first 2 seasons guaranteed. Meanwhile some teams might not like a guy enough to do that. Kennedy Chandler comes to mind as a guy that was a 2nd round pick and Memphis had to eat a few million to cut him a few months after selecting him. The Wolves were a team that likely was hesitant to add another rookie to a roster that doesn't have a ton of roster spots. Maybe they called and found out a couple of the guys they were interested in drafting had teams that were willing to give them deals with 3 guaranteed seasons. If you like a guy you take them and pay them a contract.

The bottom line is while pick 34 is better than waiting for 20+ other guys to get picked and signed to a deal before you the depth of talent available to NBA teams is pretty deep. With three 2-way spots and g-league affiliates for each team there is a way to keep and develop guys better than before. I'd like to see that expanded even more.