Minnesota Sports Forum

Wild - I like Shabazz and I think he'll develop into a good rotation player. I too want to see him get a lot more minutes. But I disagree completely with your take on LaVine.

lipoli390 wrote:Wild - I like Shabazz and I think he'll develop into a good rotation player. I too want to see him get a lot more minutes. But I disagree completely with your take on LaVine.

What part? His floor? Him not being good at UCLA? His ability to contribute not now, but right now?

I'd love to read where the disagreement, because until he shows this massive improvement during NBA regular season games, I'll remain a skeptic.

Wild --

Every rookie's floor is Shved. :). So I guess you could say I don't disagree with that part, but in truth LaVine has far more quickness and athleticism than Shved and much better feel for the game. If you watched them both in Summer League you would have noticed. In addition, I saw them go head to head in the Target Center scrimmage. They guarded one another and LaVine dominated the matchup on both ends. It was man against boy and it looked like Shved was the rookie.

He wasn't bad at UCLA. He averaged 26 minutes a game and put up decent numbers. He shot a very good 37.5% from behind the arc. Overall, his stats as a Freshman were on par with Westbrook's stats as a sophomore. Players he guarded in college shot 25% from the field against him. So he has the makings of a terrific two-way player.

His elite athleticism, advanced ball-handling, sweet looking jumper and excellent feel for the game tell me he'll be able to contribute right away -- not as a starter, but as part of the rotation at least by the second half of the season. But his main value is long term and if the Wolves trade Love for Wiggins, this team will be back on a long term plan.

I'm skeptical of every draft pick who didn't put up numbers like Durant's at Kansas. So I understand your skepticism regarding LaVine. But I'm trusting my eye test and Flip's analysis of LaVine. Flip had LaVine #7 on his draft board so Flip's decision to take him at #13 wasn't a whim or a close call.

lipoli390 wrote:Wild --

Every rookie's floor is Shved. :). So I guess you could say I don't disagree with that part, but in truth LaVine has far more quickness and athleticism than Shved and much better feel for the game. If you watched them both in Summer League you would have noticed. In addition, I saw them go head to head in the Target Center scrimmage. They guarded one another and LaVine dominated the matchup on both ends. It was man against boy and it looked like Shved was the rookie.

He wasn't bad at UCLA. He averaged 26 minutes a game and put up decent numbers. He shot a very good 37.5% from behind the arc. Overall, his stats as a Freshman were on par with Westbrook's stats as a sophomore. Players he guarded in college shot 25% from the field against him. So he has the makings of a terrific two-way player.

His elite athleticism, advanced ball-handling, sweet looking jumper and excellent feel for the game tell me he'll be able to contribute right away -- not as a starter, but as part of the rotation at least by the second half of the season. But his main value is long term and if the Wolves trade Love for Wiggins, this team will be back on a long term plan.

I'm skeptical of every draft pick who didn't put up numbers like Durant's at Kansas. So I understand your skepticism regarding LaVine. But I'm trusting my eye test and Flip's analysis of LaVine. Flip had LaVine #7 on his draft board so Flip's decision to take him at #13 wasn't a whim or a close call.

+1

Untouchable
(Nobody) The team hasn't made the playoffs in 10 years. It's not close to making the playoffs for at least a couple more seasons. There is NO reason why anybody should be untouchable. And ideally, I'd put everybody in the "We'll trade you if we get equal or better value" category... but I know that's not how it works.

"We'll trade you if we get equal or better value"
Rubio
LaVine
Dieng

"If anything comes close to equal value you're gone"
Love
Pek
Brewer
GR3
Martin
Budinger
Mbah a Moute
Muhammad
Turiaf

"I'd trade you for a sack of potatoes"
Barea
Shved

lipoli390 wrote:Wild --

He wasn't bad at UCLA. He averaged 26 minutes a game and put up decent numbers. He shot a very good 37.5% from behind the arc. Overall, his stats as a Freshman were on par with Westbrook's stats as a sophomore. Players he guarded in college shot 25% from the field against him. So he has the makings of a terrific two-way player.

I'm skeptical of every draft pick who didn't put up numbers like Durant's at Kansas. So I understand your skepticism regarding LaVine. But I'm trusting my eye test and Flip's analysis of LaVine. Flip had LaVine #7 on his draft board so Flip's decision to take him at #13 wasn't a whim or a close call.

Huh?

LaVine: 9.4 ppg / 2.5 reb / 1.8 ast / 44% fg
Westbrook: 12.7 ppg / 3.9 reb / 4.3 ast / 47% fg

Furthermore... I think it might be telling how each player had a different trajectory before getting drafted.

- Westbrook hardly played as a freshman. He started as a sophomore, and gained attention as the year went on, finishing with a couple of good games in the NCAA tourney.
- LaVine seemed to fall apart at the end of the season. His minutes were way down, dropping from about 26 to about 16 per game.

Final 7 games:
- 4.1 ppg (14 points in one game... 11 points in the other 6 combined)
- 24% fg (8 - 34 fg)


And not to nitpick... but I will anyway... Durant went to Texas.