Minnesota Sports Forum

Great nugget for @YahooSports NBA Draft show: Jarrett Culver demanded that his agents find a gym for him to workout after the draft. (Which will be like midnight). His reps told me they have one reserved. @TexasTechMBB coach Chris Beard: "The game consumes him."

Rosas said this was a flat draft. To me, that's a huge indication that all those darn guys are the same! Now, how each team ultalize them is what really determines there "success" in the league.

Me thinks that he did outsmart the Cavs, whom have 2 other PGs on the team, yet took another one?!? We blew that smoke about Garland to have someone take him and have Culver slide.

They say if there's smoke then there might be a fire nearby---well, we want DLo. Why on Earth do we need another one with Jones here (MrHockey) makes a great point.

Don't give up on Rosas so soon. I believe in him and will wait to judge. Let's enjoy it unfold. I believe it'll be good.

WildWolf2813 wrote:I LOVE both of our picks!

Wild - I love our pick at #43, but I'm not liking the Culver pick. I just can't get beyond his 30% 3-point shooting and his 70% free throw shooting as a sophomore. I might feel better if he were an explosive athlete, but he's not. I might still feel better if he had extraordinary length for a SG, but hie doesn't. Watching him, he looks -relatively slow and mechanical.

I like that he's apparently a really hard worker who loves the game. But that's no different from Kris Dunn. I see no evidence that Culver is any better as a prospect than Alexander-Walker -- who we could have drafted without giving up Saric. Then Saric would have been available either as a very solid player for us next season or as a trade asset. I'm open to your case for the Culver pick because I truly want to feel good about it.

thedoper wrote:Culver is a wiggins clone with about 2/3rds the speed.

And 1/10th the cap hit!

TheSP wrote:

thedoper wrote:Culver is a wiggins clone with about 2/3rds the speed.

And 1/10th the cap hit!

And from the sounds of it, ten times the heart!!!

It sure sounds like Culver has a lot of heart. So does Kris Dunn. Being really quick and athletic are so important to being an allstar caliber NBA player - unless the player has extraordinary length. I just don't see the quickness or athleticism in Culver that's necessary to be more than a rotation player off the bench. I just don't see the upside to justify taking him at #6 after giving up a good asset in Saric to get that pick.

I'm about the biggest fan of Saric on this board and I'm relatively ok with this trade up. Why?

1. #11 about the only guy I would have been thrilled with was Seko. He isn't a sure thing either. It did seem pretty much all the guys 7 and over were considered on another tier above the other guys. #11 was a crapshoot you hope to nail. trading up seemed to get you guys that were more than a crapshoot and 2 of the guys that you hope were available were lead guards

2. Saric had value and while I think having him as an RFA a year from now its possible he is just another decent young player thats solid but not worth getting too excited about. Is it really so ridiculous to cash in on some value now?

3. Saric is gone and we even saved a bit of money in the deal for this year. We could use that to resign someone we have on the roster or maybe we go out and sign a young PF that has value not that far away from Saric? ok Maybe there isn't too many guys like that available BUT we do have a hole at PF just waiting to be filled. Sometimes you can get a guy for less when you have a starting opportunity. I think some guys would have interest in playing on a 1 year deal next to Towns knowing he may make them look good. Noah Vonleh put up some nice stats playing for the Knicks last year. Ronde Hollis Jefferson would be interesting. Julius Randle would be interesting but probably too expensive as well as some other options. Signing some cheaper vets is an option also. Patton is available. =)

4. Culver projects as a do everything wing. What if he does exactly that even if he isn't an all-star level player but an above average starting wing that can do some of everything? Thats part of why Hunter went 4. That's incredibly valuable. Imagine having a Trevor Ariza or Danny green type that can actually create some offense? Hella valuable. I wasn't really in on Culver but the knowledge that he was a primary guy for his team in college and he averaged almost 4 assists a game for a team that didn't exactly play fast seems more intriguing than a guy that seemed to be more of just a wing guy. It will be interesting to see how he is used in Summer league.

lipoli390 wrote:It sure sounds like Culver has a lot of heart. So does Kris Dunn. Being really quick and athletic are so important to being an allstar caliber NBA player - unless the player has extraordinary length. I just don't see the quickness or athleticism in Culver that's necessary to be more than a rotation player off the bench. I just don't see the upside to justify taking him at #6 after giving up a good asset in Saric to get that pick.

It looks like Rosa's is planning to play cov at 4 this year. I think they are going to let okogie and Culver fight it out for the 2 spot.

If that was the plan, I don't mind the pick it all. I think he can be a solid player. The lack of shooting scares me though.

Lip I know you mentioned the staff never came down to talk to you guys. I think some of the reason is Rosas or anyone in the organization can't talk about Culver until the 6th when the trade is offical

papalrep wrote:Cam - that's my point. I am reading posts here tonight saying relax, Culver was the highest rated player. Who gives a shit? Was he the best pick for us?

Yes. At 6, he was.

There wasn't a guy at 6 that was a shoo-in to start, not even Garland. The hope is that you're able to create a path to that player eventually starting. Culver hopefully gets that path straightened out.

This was a weak, imperfect draft. The highest upside guys were gonna be projects. Those guys slipped big time. You guys have to remember: Culver is here for the same reason we traded for Butler: because Wiggins failed. Now there's a guy who can proverbially breathe down Wiggins' back.

I don't see how a Culver pick is considered bad by anyone here.