Minnesota Sports Forum

Lol these old posts that got little views.

Gary Harris: http://minnesotasports.enjin.com/forum/m/15059925/viewthread/9508565-gary-harris/post/54084405#p54084405

Zach LaVine: http://minnesotasports.enjin.com/forum/m/15059925/viewthread/10003279-zach-lavine-stud

If/when we fail to make the playoffs and if we do end up with our pick, the basketball gods owe us one. Throw us a bone. One of these two would be huge for us.

Thanks for re-posting, cam...unfortunately, there will probably be more interest in these prospects now with the Wolves circling the drain again.

I agree with you that Harris and LaVine are both interesting prospects who could potentially really help us. I have to admit that I have not been following UCLA basketball closely this winter...haven't been to a game or watched much on TV. And I don't read the LA newspapers. So I can't explain why LaVine's numbers have fallen off the cliff the last four games. I don't know if he's injured or not, but he's not scoring and only played 17 minutes last night at USC. I'm going to try to get out to Pauley one of these nights to see him in person, but I'm going to wait until he picks it up a little.

WildWolf2813 wrote:James Young or Kyle Anderson

Kyle Anderson is putting up freakish numbers, Wolf...another reason I need to get out to Pauley to watch him in person. If he projects strictly to be a SF, I would lose interest in him...too many SFs on the roster already. But if he could play SG at 6-9", and the way he's shooting and distributing this year that may not be out of the question, he would be an incredible pickup for us. When I watched him last year though, he didn't seem comfortable with his outside shot, and even this year he's not shooting threes very often.

I don't know much about Young, but nbadraft.net has him going to us. Have you seen much of him?

Missing the playoffs and getting a draft pick is really the best thing that can happen to this team at this point. The only way we get better is with a pick because Flip screwed this team with a bunch of mid-level guys that under perform

What if this team did my proposed GS deal in the Trade Targets thread and then added a Harris/LaVine.

Rubio
LaVine/Harris
Barnes
Love
Pekovic

Barea, Brewer, Bud, Speights, Turiaf. In my fantasy world of thinking right now, it looks extremely talented. Backup PG would still be an issue, though.

EDIT: Not a trade thread. Skip my post. Lol continue on.

I have to disagree with the sentiment that we are set at PG. If an Ennis or Smart fall in our lap, we have to take them and ditch JJ. We made that mistake this year when we dealt away Burke. Our second unit needs a PG. JJ is a scoring guard. Smart, especially, is built enough to play some minutes next to Ricky and he is a very good defender. At the end of the day, I would rather be in a situation like the Clippers were with Bledsoe than not take and keep the best player available because of fit again. Backup PG is a weakness for this team right now so I don't think we can afford to pass up a guy. I also like Gordon out of Arizona if he comes out because I could see him having a Faried like impact off the bench as an energy guy which I think would fit well with the team. We definitely need to draft an athlete this year because this team just shows how little athleticism it has on a nightly basis. I'm also for taking a SF if they are considered to be a two-way player. I think Corey is best suited as an energy guy off the bench guarding 2's and Bud is a bench 3 who can give you some secondary scoring on the second unit. I think the only position we are truly set at is Center as we are 3 deep there all with defined roles (starter, bench, prospect).

I have to disagree with the sentiment that we are set at PG. If an Ennis or Smart fall in our lap, we have to take them and ditch JJ.

Amen

papalrep wrote:I have to disagree with the sentiment that we are set at PG. If an Ennis or Smart fall in our lap, we have to take them and ditch JJ.

Amen

I second that. It would be insane to pass up Smart if he dropped to us.

I would take a PG if one falls. I honestly think the weakest position on this team is backup PG. If we would have traded JJ instead of Ridnour we would have made the playoffs.

I have to agree with the consensus that backup point guard is a huge problem, but I'm going into my draft prep with the assumption that JJ will be gone next year. I have to believe that a new coach will see what most of us see...that JJ is hurting this team with his backup minutes, that Shved is not an adequate SG, and that Shved would help this team more as a distributing backup point guard (a role he has handled quite competently in high level international play). With that assumption, as much as I love Marcus Smart's toughness and leadership, I go with Harris or LaVine over him in the ridiculously unlikely scenario that we are faced with such an attractive choice. Smart is never going to be a good shooter or distribute as well as Rubio, so he would never start for this team. Harris or LaVine on the other hand might allow the new coach to use Martin as a high-scoring spark plug off the bench.

This draft talk has me excited about checking out some of these prospects, so I'm going to try to make it to
Pauley to check out LaVine and Kyle Anderson this Saturday against Utah. First hand report to follow if I can score a ticket. Jordan Powell might play at the next level too...nobody ever said Ben Howland couldn't recruit!