The Case for Buddy

[AbeVigodaLive]

While I dig Hield and would welcome him on the Wolves for many of the reasons Lip outlined... it's a bit dangerous to draw favorable comparisons to a 2-time All NBA player just based on college stats, right?

I dunno. Maybe I'm just not knowledgeable enough about these college kids, but it's such a crapshoot most of the time. And we can't assume they'll all improve and progress on the same trajectory with each other... or players before them.

Regardless of work ethic. Some guys get there... others don't. Simple as that.

So do you just think we shouldn't compare guys to anyone then? Or bother with projections? You basically treat it like a total crapshoot so why bother thinking about what they might look like at the next level. Just pick a name out of a hat because we don't know how or if the guy we would have picked anyway would pan out or not and the hat guy has just as good a chance. Otherwise it's not a total crapshoot if you believe players are in different tiers in terms of whether they can make it or not and it makes sense to try to use as much data as possible including player comparisons at the same time in development to try to make the best pick.

I just find it interesting that we always choose the best-case scenario.

For example... Jason Kidd for Ricky Rubio... when the odds are overwhelmingly against that comparison ever coming true.

Hield could be a good NBA player. Personally, I think he becomes at least a rotation guy. But it's probably just as likely (if not more likely) that he becomes the next Trajan Langdon or Jimmer Fredette than the next Klay Thompson.


[Note: Overall, I thought Lip made some great points. His range, release, defense, et al. I just was cautioning against unrealistic expectations based primarily on college stats.]

[MikeAz [enjin:6636981]]

My case for Buddy? Seven of the top eight teams in 3 point percentage this past season made the playoffs. The Wolves were 25th. The game is changing, the Wolves need to keep up. Buddy is the best shooter in the draft.

[Monster]

Buddy is a unique case. He is easy to like and IMO his physical profile is better than some of the other shooter/scorer types that have come out of college he typically gets compared to. You gotta give the credit to him to the hard work improvement. I could see him being a sort of leader like Lip mentioned. Like Abe said though some guys keep improving and some don't. We are guessing and trying our best to rack our brains around what guys we want. One of these guys (at least) is gonna make people who were big fans of theirs look stupid. They won't be stupid there is so much unknown we can only try hard to understand. I won't be sad if we get Buddy but I don't know if I have the level of excitement of some other options.

[Phenom]

I think deep down, Buddy is the guy I have wanted all along. I keep pushing those feelings down though in the event that Buddy isn't the pick. I do like the other prospects though. No really, I do.