2024 Wolves Draft thread

[rapsuperstar31]

I think best case for me if we stay where we are would be grabbing a shooter at 27 either Shannon or Baylor, and getting a pg at 37 either AJ Mitchell or Trey Alexander. I'm also down for trading up for either Collier or Carrington if either drop a bit. I wouldn't be opposed to Kolek at 27 if he falls and trading up a bit from 37 to grab Baylor. If the Wolves love Shannon and want to move up a few spots to make sure we get him, I would be satisfied if he can come in and play 10-15 minutes a night early.

[kekgeek]

I think best case for me if we stay where we are would be grabbing a shooter at 27 either Shannon or Baylor, and getting a pg at 37 either AJ Mitchell or Trey Alexander. I'm also down for trading up for either Collier or Carrington if either drop a bit. I wouldn't be opposed to Kolek at 27 if he falls and trading up a bit from 37 to grab Baylor. If the Wolves love Shannon and want to move up a few spots to make sure we get him, I would be satisfied if he can come in and play 10-15 minutes a night early.

I’m with you on Collier. No player I want more who is realistic

[Lipoli390]

I think best case for me if we stay where we are would be grabbing a shooter at 27 either Shannon or Baylor, and getting a pg at 37 either AJ Mitchell or Trey Alexander. I'm also down for trading up for either Collier or Carrington if either drop a bit. I wouldn't be opposed to Kolek at 27 if he falls and trading up a bit from 37 to grab Baylor. If the Wolves love Shannon and want to move up a few spots to make sure we get him, I would be satisfied if he can come in and play 10-15 minutes a night early.

I’m with you on Collier. No player I want more who is realistic

Here’s an excerpt from the Ringer draft analysis on Collier:

Unproven shooter with shaky mechanics who sprays misses from all over the court. He has questionable touch from all ranges, including the free throw line. Without improvement at the next level, defenses will dare him to shoot, clogging driving lanes.

Average athlete at a highly athletic position without much above-the-rim finishing ability or length on defense. This is particularly problematic for him defensively when he’s not putting in full effort, which has happened far too often this season during a roller-coaster freshman year at USC.

I’ll add some troubling stats to that analysis: 67% free throw percentage, 33% on three-pointers, and 3.3 turnovers per game. I think he’ll be available at 27 and there’s good reason for that. I actually think there’s a decent chance he’ll be available at 37. An average athlete who shoots 67% from the free throw line isn’t a player to gamble on, especially when you have a limited number of picks over the next few years. If he were a great explosive athlete or had extraordinary length I might be more inclined to gamble on him for upside. But I don’t see nearly enough upside to offset his glaring flaws and bust potential.

[Lipoli390]

I think best case for me if we stay where we are would be grabbing a shooter at 27 either Shannon or Baylor, and getting a pg at 37 either AJ Mitchell or Trey Alexander. I'm also down for trading up for either Collier or Carrington if either drop a bit. I wouldn't be opposed to Kolek at 27 if he falls and trading up a bit from 37 to grab Baylor. If the Wolves love Shannon and want to move up a few spots to make sure we get him, I would be satisfied if he can come in and play 10-15 minutes a night early.

I’m with you on Collier. No player I want more who is realistic

Drafting Scheierman at 27 and KJ Simpson or AJ Mitchell at 37 would be a decent draft in my view. I wouldn’t draft Trey Alexander. I don’t like that his 3-point percentage dipped to 34% his Junior season.

I don’t think Terrence Shannon or Bub Carrington will fall to 27. My preference would be trading up for one of those two. We shouldn’t have to trade up too far for Shannon, but I think it would be a bit of a reach to get up high enough to snag Carrington. I’ve been soaking in videos of Carrington and I keep seeing Tyese Maxey. Carrington’s shooting percentage gives me pause but his shooting mechanics look fine and I love his overall game. I see him having huge upside, which offsets his unimpressive shooting percentage as a college freshman. He only had 1.9 turnovers in 33 minutes per game while averaging 5.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists. But it’s more about the eye test than the stats for me when it comes to Bub Carrington.

[FNG]

I think best case for me if we stay where we are would be grabbing a shooter at 27 either Shannon or Baylor, and getting a pg at 37 either AJ Mitchell or Trey Alexander. I'm also down for trading up for either Collier or Carrington if either drop a bit. I wouldn't be opposed to Kolek at 27 if he falls and trading up a bit from 37 to grab Baylor. If the Wolves love Shannon and want to move up a few spots to make sure we get him, I would be satisfied if he can come in and play 10-15 minutes a night early.

I’m with you on Collier. No player I want more who is realistic

Here’s an excerpt from the Ringer draft analysis on Collier:

Unproven shooter with shaky mechanics who sprays misses from all over the court. He has questionable touch from all ranges, including the free throw line. Without improvement at the next level, defenses will dare him to shoot, clogging driving lanes.

Average athlete at a highly athletic position without much above-the-rim finishing ability or length on defense. This is particularly problematic for him defensively when he’s not putting in full effort, which has happened far too often this season during a roller-coaster freshman year at USC.

I’ll add some troubling stats to that analysis: 67% free throw percentage, 33% on three-pointers, and 3.3 turnovers per game. I think he’ll be available at 27 and there’s good reason for that. I actually think there’s a decent chance he’ll be available at 37. An average athlete who shoots 67% from the free throw line isn’t a player to gamble on, especially when you have a limited number of picks over the next few years. If he were a great explosive athlete or had extraordinary length I might be more inclined to gamble on him for upside. But I don’t see nearly enough upside to offset his glaring flaws and bust potential.

I'll pile on. He has a negative net rating on basketball reference- 106 offense and 109 defense. There aren't many projected first round picks with a negative net. He was a huge prospect coming out of HS. People are either placing a bet on him thinking he will live up to his potential, or his lofty rating is inflated by a great high school career. I would pass too.

[Q-is-here]

I think best case for me if we stay where we are would be grabbing a shooter at 27 either Shannon or Baylor, and getting a pg at 37 either AJ Mitchell or Trey Alexander. I'm also down for trading up for either Collier or Carrington if either drop a bit. I wouldn't be opposed to Kolek at 27 if he falls and trading up a bit from 37 to grab Baylor. If the Wolves love Shannon and want to move up a few spots to make sure we get him, I would be satisfied if he can come in and play 10-15 minutes a night early.

I’m with you on Collier. No player I want more who is realistic

Here’s an excerpt from the Ringer draft analysis on Collier:

Unproven shooter with shaky mechanics who sprays misses from all over the court. He has questionable touch from all ranges, including the free throw line. Without improvement at the next level, defenses will dare him to shoot, clogging driving lanes.

Average athlete at a highly athletic position without much above-the-rim finishing ability or length on defense. This is particularly problematic for him defensively when he’s not putting in full effort, which has happened far too often this season during a roller-coaster freshman year at USC.

I’ll add some troubling stats to that analysis: 67% free throw percentage, 33% on three-pointers, and 3.3 turnovers per game. I think he’ll be available at 27 and there’s good reason for that. I actually think there’s a decent chance he’ll be available at 37. An average athlete who shoots 67% from the free throw line isn’t a player to gamble on, especially when you have a limited number of picks over the next few years. If he were a great explosive athlete or had extraordinary length I might be more inclined to gamble on him for upside. But I don’t see nearly enough upside to offset his glaring flaws and bust potential.

"Unproven shooter with shaky mechanics"...."not putting in full effort"....Run Tim Connelly. Run as fast as you can away from this guy and erase him from your memory bank!

[Q-is-here]

Q and Lip- the question I keep wrestling with as to why our young guys don't get meaningful minutes is this:

a) is Finchie the kind of coach who just doesn't trust young players, or
b) are they simply not NBA players that can be counted on?

The answer is somewhere in the middle I think, but I lean pretty far toward the "not good enough" side. Many fans cried out for more minutes for the M trio, but I trust that Finchie has a much better assessment of who they are than we do. He has seen them countless hours in practice and on video, and he clearly has concluded they aren't ready to contribute. And my sense is that he believes they will never be ready...otherwise, I think they would have seen the court more often than just the final 30 seconds of blowouts. (And I get that we were in a close race, but there were many games in which we either led or trailed by an insurmountable score with 5 minutes left. I think we would have seen the M boys more in these moments if Finchie hadn't already made up his mind).

So I don't see any of these guys ever suddenly showing enough that they capture Finchie's favor. They're all far behind JMac in Finchie's mind, and that buries them deep in the bench. Q has put together a nice analysis of what a post SloMo rotation might look like, and I don't think we need much if any help from either a draft pick or our young M boys as long as Finchie is willing to use Morris and JMac...which he has shown he is during the regular season. Conley is really a 1-2, so he gives us even more rotation flexibility if Morris and/or JMac get minutes.

Nice analysis, FNG. I agree that Finch hasn’t played our young guys because they’re simply not good enough. I’ve been assuming that JMac won’t return, but your assessment might be more accurate — i.e., letting Slo Mo go and relying more on Morris and JMac.

I think it's somewhere in the middle too FNG, but may be I'm right down the middle whereas you are leaning toward "not good enough".

We have to remember that last year the team made winning regular season games a massive priority. And I agreed with that approach. There was minimal load management; Finch wouldn't pull his starters until way past the point of any credible chance of a comeback; and he reluctantly went deep into his bench. It even took him a long time to integrate JMac back into the rotation, a proven regular season backup (playoffs are a different matter).

I think next season is going to be different. We need to prioritize going into the playoffs fresh and healthy. Having home court advantage was basically meaningless to us, although I certainly don't want us to be out of the Top 6 and Top 4 would still be ideal.

I think ultimately we will have 8 proven vets that are automatically in the rotation. Who they are exactly I don't know yet, but I think we largely keep the top 8 as vets Finch can trust. Then I think he expands the rotation to 10 to start the season and lets the current young guys and the guy(s) we draft to compete for those other two spots, which on most nights will play 5-10 minutes. And if they show something, may be one of them eventually pushes someone else in the original 8. May the best men win!

[rapsuperstar31]

I think best case for me if we stay where we are would be grabbing a shooter at 27 either Shannon or Baylor, and getting a pg at 37 either AJ Mitchell or Trey Alexander. I'm also down for trading up for either Collier or Carrington if either drop a bit. I wouldn't be opposed to Kolek at 27 if he falls and trading up a bit from 37 to grab Baylor. If the Wolves love Shannon and want to move up a few spots to make sure we get him, I would be satisfied if he can come in and play 10-15 minutes a night early.

I’m with you on Collier. No player I want more who is realistic

Here’s an excerpt from the Ringer draft analysis on Collier:

Unproven shooter with shaky mechanics who sprays misses from all over the court. He has questionable touch from all ranges, including the free throw line. Without improvement at the next level, defenses will dare him to shoot, clogging driving lanes.

Average athlete at a highly athletic position without much above-the-rim finishing ability or length on defense. This is particularly problematic for him defensively when he’s not putting in full effort, which has happened far too often this season during a roller-coaster freshman year at USC.

I’ll add some troubling stats to that analysis: 67% free throw percentage, 33% on three-pointers, and 3.3 turnovers per game. I think he’ll be available at 27 and there’s good reason for that. I actually think there’s a decent chance he’ll be available at 37. An average athlete who shoots 67% from the free throw line isn’t a player to gamble on, especially when you have a limited number of picks over the next few years. If he were a great explosive athlete or had extraordinary length I might be more inclined to gamble on him for upside. But I don’t see nearly enough upside to offset his glaring flaws and bust potential.

You might be right on Collier, I didn't watch and USC games this year just the youtube videos that can make anyone look like stars. I will say I'm not as worried about his shooting, Ant shot 29.4% from 3 and 40.2% from the field in college on 2.7 turnovers, Collier shot 33.8% from 3 and 49% from the field. The free throw percentage is a bit concerning. A lot of annalists say he has good vision passing the ball but had very poor spacing in college with his teamates. In the NBA where he will have more space to operate next to Ant and a good mentor in Conley to rub off on him.


Isaiah Collier | 6-3 guard | 19 years old | USC
Eastern Conference scout: I think the guy that’s going to be (Tyrese) Maxey, this year’s Cam Whitmore, this year, is Isaiah Collier. I’m betting on what I saw before he went to USC. He just can’t go to a dysfunctional team. It’s like Whitmore. If he goes to a team where there’s guys that are ahead of him, and he has to work his way into it, and he’s not in a dysfunctional program, I think he’s got a chance to be pretty darn good. Especially if he falls like Cam and Maxey (did) to the 20s, or the late teens. Like Whitmore (at Villanova), their team didn’t do well, and there’s not a touchy-feely love story to them. Isaiah’s obviously got a few issues here and there. We all make excuses for the guys we like, and we do the opposite as well. It’s easy to dismiss those guys because of their persona.
Eastern Conference executive No. 1: Football body that he can bully people with. I think Collier is a lot better than he showed this season. His decision making has to improve, because he was throwing some passes he shouldn’t have thrown, getting into the lane, making decisions. He got hurt, also, so that hindered him a little bit. He struggled early because he couldn’t shoot the ball well. You also had Boogie Ellis on that team, who was trying to get his.
Western Conference scout No. 1: If he was at pick 20 or something, he would get my interest a little bit. He gets on the rim. He gets to the basket. Is he a great shooter? No, he’s not. If he was a great shooter, we’d be talking about him in the top five. But he’s talented, and he’s 19. Don’t ask me all these inane, stupid questions. He’s talented. They’ll figure it out. Don’t give me these bums that can’t play. That’s what this is about.

[Coolbreeze44]

The question was..............with Butler having played his last game in Miami, can you analysts(astute as you all are) see Miami giving up Jaquez in a KAT trade? Or would it be a non-starter for Miami?

[Coolbreeze44]

I’m with you on Collier. No player I want more who is realistic

Here’s an excerpt from the Ringer draft analysis on Collier:

Unproven shooter with shaky mechanics who sprays misses from all over the court. He has questionable touch from all ranges, including the free throw line. Without improvement at the next level, defenses will dare him to shoot, clogging driving lanes.

Average athlete at a highly athletic position without much above-the-rim finishing ability or length on defense. This is particularly problematic for him defensively when he’s not putting in full effort, which has happened far too often this season during a roller-coaster freshman year at USC.

I’ll add some troubling stats to that analysis: 67% free throw percentage, 33% on three-pointers, and 3.3 turnovers per game. I think he’ll be available at 27 and there’s good reason for that. I actually think there’s a decent chance he’ll be available at 37. An average athlete who shoots 67% from the free throw line isn’t a player to gamble on, especially when you have a limited number of picks over the next few years. If he were a great explosive athlete or had extraordinary length I might be more inclined to gamble on him for upside. But I don’t see nearly enough upside to offset his glaring flaws and bust potential.

You might be right on Collier, I didn't watch and USC games this year just the youtube videos that can make anyone look like stars. I will say I'm not as worried about his shooting, Ant shot 29.4% from 3 and 40.2% from the field in college on 2.7 turnovers, Collier shot 33.8% from 3 and 49% from the field. The free throw percentage is a bit concerning. A lot of annalists say he has good vision passing the ball but had very poor spacing in college with his teamates. In the NBA where he will have more space to operate next to Ant and a good mentor in Conley to rub off on him.


Isaiah Collier | 6-3 guard | 19 years old | USC
Eastern Conference scout: I think the guy that’s going to be (Tyrese) Maxey, this year’s Cam Whitmore, this year, is Isaiah Collier. I’m betting on what I saw before he went to USC. He just can’t go to a dysfunctional team. It’s like Whitmore. If he goes to a team where there’s guys that are ahead of him, and he has to work his way into it, and he’s not in a dysfunctional program, I think he’s got a chance to be pretty darn good. Especially if he falls like Cam and Maxey (did) to the 20s, or the late teens. Like Whitmore (at Villanova), their team didn’t do well, and there’s not a touchy-feely love story to them. Isaiah’s obviously got a few issues here and there. We all make excuses for the guys we like, and we do the opposite as well. It’s easy to dismiss those guys because of their persona.
Eastern Conference executive No. 1: Football body that he can bully people with. I think Collier is a lot better than he showed this season. His decision making has to improve, because he was throwing some passes he shouldn’t have thrown, getting into the lane, making decisions. He got hurt, also, so that hindered him a little bit. He struggled early because he couldn’t shoot the ball well. You also had Boogie Ellis on that team, who was trying to get his.
Western Conference scout No. 1: If he was at pick 20 or something, he would get my interest a little bit. He gets on the rim. He gets to the basket. Is he a great shooter? No, he’s not. If he was a great shooter, we’d be talking about him in the top five. But he’s talented, and he’s 19. Don’t ask me all these inane, stupid questions. He’s talented. They’ll figure it out. Don’t give me these bums that can’t play. That’s what this is about.

See, in this Rudy Gobert championship window, I don't see it making any sense taking a chance on a guy like Collier. If we were still building, sure i could get on board. We need NBA rotational production on day 1, and you can find players late in the first round every year who can give you that. TC just needs to identify and go after the guy he wants.