Draft prospects - Who do we want?

[GymRat [enjin:6592663]]

I have Towns, Winslow, Russell, Okafor, Mudiay as my top 5 today.

Winslow's over Okafor now too!? My god. Can we please pull back the reigns on a guy who was a glorified glue guy all year long. I like Winslow, I actually do, but some of you (most of you) are building him up way too much way too early.

I think the only reason anyone cares about Okafor is that he's 7 feet tall. If that guy was 6'6" with no foot speed, athleticism, and couldn't play defense, he'd be a low first round talent. Sure, he can score in the post and is a good passer, but I do not seem game changer in him. He's the offensive version of Roy Hibbert. Or heck, Brook Lopez with less size/strength, but better handles and footwork. Yet, still can't block shots like either of those two, and is just as bad a rebounder.

I get he could bring the Wolves a high level of skill in an area we need significant help. Like many others, I am tired of all the missed bunnies from Pek and company. I just believe the Wolves need two-way players, the type that can be game breakers on both sides of the ball and can push opponents around with their aggression. That's Winslow to me. His fire fits right in with Rubio, LaVine, Wiggins (end of season dunk-in-your face version), and Shabazz.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

We should trade our 1st pick along with one of our early 2nds, move down to take Kaminsky and get another vet in return.

That is if we end up with the 3rd pick.

[Coolbreeze44]

What we should do is take BPA at our pick, and then use our 2nd round choices plus a player to position for Tyus later in the first round.

[TRKO [enjin:12664595]]

Could Stanley Johnson be Draymond Green? I think he is a gritty starter type. Doubt he can lead a team.

[Lipoli390]

Outstanding post, lipoli. The Spurs have clearly set themselves apart from other franchises in the three areas of importance:

1) Find 'em
2) Coach 'em up
3) Keep 'em

All three of these are needed for an organization to be consistently elite, as the Spurs have been for a long time. I'm not smart enough to understand whether a star like Leonard is more a product of factor 1 or 2, or some combination of the 2. I tend to think the second factor, "coach 'em up", might be even more significant than finding 'em. How else do you explain why almost every Spur shoots significantly better after they join the Spurs than before? Could anyone have thought that Leonard, who shot 25% on threes at San Diego St. and was never considered a good shooter in high school, would become a 35% 3-point shooter in the pros?

So who are the guys who the Spurs would be looking at this year if they had a high pick like the wolves? Their success with Leonard makes me think they would be taking a hard look at Stanley Johnson as a top 4 pick. None of the pundits are, and he has disappeared from discussion on this board. But he was everything Kawhi Leonard was as a Socal prep and college freshman, times 2. A better defender, better shooter, better ball handler, and proven winner. He's a Spurs kind of guy, but because a couple subpar late season games had the "experts" drop him in the mock drafts, he is no longer being spoon fed to us (and to NBA GM's). I can't help thinking that he is the Leonard in this draft, but because (like so many others) I accept what the experts tell me, he's not in my top 5 (even though he was ranked there most of the year).

Fund managers used to practice the mantra "you never get fired for buying IBM", and the same goes for NBA GM's...you never get fired for drafting who the mocks say you should draft. The winners, though, find Apple before everyone else does.

Long - Good point about player development. Like you, I'm not smart enough to know how much of Leonard's success is the result of the Spurs coaching staff versus their front office ability to judge takent. Probably some combination of the two. As for the front office, I liked your investor analogy. I don't know if Stanley Johnson is the next Apple, but I sure hope Flip and his front office cohorts land the draft equivalent of Apple this summer.

[bleedspeed]

Russell is the next Apple in this draft.

All of these other guys need good coaching to develop. I think Russell will figure it out where ever he goes. I don't trust the team to develop anyone so I would go with Russell.

I really like Frank. I would be willing to trade both 2nd's and Martin to move up to get him. If we got lucky maybe we could include Payne or Bennett. I would make a similar trade to move up for Trey Lyles.

[Monster]

Kristaps Porzingis...what are people's thoughts on him? If he can be strong enough to guard PFs man he would fit awesome as a sweet shooting (shoots 3's!!!!) PF with Bazz and Wiggins posting up and Ricky could find him for easy looks. Just a little intruiged by him as a PF assuming we don't land Towns.

[TheGrey08]

Long - Good point about player development. Like you, I'm not smart enough to know how much of Leonard's success is the result of the Spurs coaching staff versus their front office ability to judge takent. Probably some combination of the two. As for the front office, I liked your investor analogy. I don't know if Stanley Johnson is the next Apple, but I sure hope Flip and his front office cohorts land the draft equivalent of Apple this summer.

That's one of the hardest things to judge and might actually be impossible. It's hard to know without seeing players in both a good & bad environment which usually never happens.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Kristaps Porzingis...what are people's thoughts on him? If he can be strong enough to guard PFs man he would fit awesome as a sweet shooting (shoots 3's!!!!) PF with Bazz and Wiggins posting up and Ricky could find him for easy looks. Just a little intruiged by him as a PF assuming we don't land Towns.

I'm sooo not a fan of him. I think he's the most overrated draft prospect in the entire draft.

[Coolbreeze44]

Wolfson tweeted today that TWolve fans should get accustomed to him, whatever that means.