Minnesota Sports Forum

I will be surprised if Martin is traded. I hope Thad is traded, and kind of expect it to happen. It's probably a reason he's been playing better - he wants to catch another team's eye!

I liked Payne coming out last year and considered him a good pickup at our spot. Seems flip wanted both him and lavine last year but no trade was possible like with dieng/shabazz. I think he will fit great here.

http://www.nba.com/draft/2014/prospects/adreian_payne/index.html?ls=iref:nba:draft:tracker

Camden wrote:Why would Flip make this trade if he actually believed in Bennett? That's what I'm trying to wrap my head around.

Because of the possibility that Thad won't be back next season coupled with Flip's stated desire for more length at the PF position. Add the ongoing uncertainty over Pek's durability. And of course, although Flip lives Bennett's talent, he knows he can't count on him developing and living up to that talent.

Yeah I like the move . Wolves spacing can be really bad at times . With Paynes ability to hit shots all the way out to the three point line it should open things up for Ricky to operate. Plus he's athletic enough to take advantage of Rubio passing.

I'm amazed how many people turned on Flip on a dime. He traded what can be no better than the 15th pick in a future draft for the 15th pick in this year's draft which was a guy he strongly considered taking at 13. 16 and 7 is good in college especially on a stacked team. It's not like college is full of 20-10 guys. His per 40 in college was 24-10-2-1-0.7 (SPG). His only weak stat compared to his peers was that he was 2-3 RPG's behind guys like Vonleh and Randle, but he also scored more than them and did it in more versatile ways. He's also a big man who can shoot 80% at the line which is a class most bigs don't fall into. He's another asset under 25 on a rebuilding team. Flip is doing a good job having this many young assets on the team because they aren't all going to succeed so we have multiple options when some fail. Under 25 is still young. Payne has 6 years before he turns 30. He'll be in his prime right along side Dieng, Ricky and Bazz.

I don't think we have to agree with Flip blindly. i am excited to see what he can do, but we are fooling ourselves if we think he is a better prospect then Vonlesh or Randle who were both freshmen. I really like adding him. I am not sure about the lottery protected pick. I would have felt better with a top 20 protected pick.

khans2k5 wrote:I'm amazed how many people turned on Flip on a dime. He traded what can be no better than the 15th pick in a future draft for the 15th pick in this year's draft which was a guy he strongly considered taking at 13. 16 and 7 is good in college especially on a stacked team. It's not like college is full of 20-10 guys. His per 40 in college was 24-10-2-1-0.7 (SPG). His only weak stat compared to his peers was that he was 2-3 RPG's behind guys like Vonleh and Randle, but he also scored more than them and did it in more versatile ways. He's also a big man who can shoot 80% at the line which is a class most bigs don't fall into. He's another asset under 25 on a rebuilding team. Flip is doing a good job having this many young assets on the team because they aren't all going to succeed so we have multiple options when some fail. Under 25 is still young. Payne has 6 years before he turns 30. He'll be in his prime right along side Dieng, Ricky and Bazz.

I have no problem with the move.

bleedspeed177 wrote:I don't think we have to agree with Flip blindly. i am excited to see what he can do, but we are fooling ourselves if we think he is a better prospect then Vonlesh or Randle who were both freshmen. I really like adding him. I am not sure about the lottery protected pick. I would have felt better with a top 20 protected pick.

I'm not even saying blindly agree with the move, but how about it doesn't get trashed as a bad move putting Flip's competency in doubt before Payne even plays a game for us?

khans2k5 wrote:I'm amazed how many people turned on Flip on a dime. He traded what can be no better than the 15th pick in a future draft for the 15th pick in this year's draft which was a guy he strongly considered taking at 13. 16 and 7 is good in college especially on a stacked team. It's not like college is full of 20-10 guys. His per 40 in college was 24-10-2-1-0.7 (SPG). His only weak stat compared to his peers was that he was 2-3 RPG's behind guys like Vonleh and Randle, but he also scored more than them and did it in more versatile ways. He's also a big man who can shoot 80% at the line which is a class most bigs don't fall into. He's another asset under 25 on a rebuilding team. Flip is doing a good job having this many young assets on the team because they aren't all going to succeed so we have multiple options when some fail. Under 25 is still young. Payne has 6 years before he turns 30. He'll be in his prime right along side Dieng, Ricky and Bazz.

I'm just wary of overloading one position with guaranteed contracts with not enough time to go around to justify paying them all. It's not like this move is going to sink us, in the end this will just be a run of the mill deal, a $5 bill in a penny machine, maybe you make ten maybe you lose two, whatever.

I still trust Flip just a little less

Camden wrote:

TRKO wrote:Not too excited about the trade. Don't like trading picks unless you are getting something proven in return.

This. And even then, it sometimes isn't ideal. Budinger, Webster...

Well, at least Payne is on a rookie deal. Flip is basically saying that he believes the present value of a #15 pick now (i.e. Payne) is greater than the present value of a lottery protected pick (which could be as high as #15) in the future. Bird in the hand I guess, but yeah, add him to the list of unproven question marks on the roster.

As for Payne himself, I really liked his game at MSU, but I have no clue how that translates to the NBA. And as others have said, he's an old rookie. There is only so much upside to be had there.