Minnesota Sports Forum

TheFuture wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

TheFuture wrote:

MikeAz wrote:How about #5 to the Nuggets for #7 & #15?

http://www.sportsrageous.com/nba/nba-rumors-nuggets-looking-move-nba-draft/23272/

If so, who do you take at #7 and #15? Perhaps this is why the have been watching Bentil so closely.

That trade wouldn't be terrible, but I'd be a bit worried that no team bites on Brown in the top 6 and we end up losing out on one of Bender, Murray, Hield, or Dunn. If BOS or PHX pick Brown then I would do that trade. #15 could still net a good player or be used to trade for a future 1st in 2018? when we lose our pick.

My thoughts exactly, future. Brown is the guy I like the least in the top 7. But if he doesn't drop to 7, I like whoever does plus Sabonis or Valentine better than anyone that would be available at 5. DraftExpress right now has Hield at 7. Hield and Sabonis would be a terrific draft.

That would be a good outcome for us. Instant help for 3pt shooting and rebounding. I'd be a bit cautious about adding 2 players who we'd benefit offensively from mostly, as we have a lot of that already. I'd hope to add at least one player with great defensive potential. A player like Prince, McCaw, Skal, Diallo, Beasley, or Richardson would fit the bill at 17.

That draft would shore up a lot of weaknesses though. Shooting rebounding and adding some girth.

Heild would give us shooting and while defense is a question at least he has an NBA ready body and that's something this roster can use more of with a lot of guys really young and haven't developed yet. His numbers look like he was an above average rebounder in college also.

Sabonis would help with rebounding and he already seems pretty strong (seems to have a really strong base) and he is young.

Both those guys being strong enough to hold their ground and help on the boards. That could help defensively. I'll admit I am coming around a bit on Buddy. His combine measurements (making him a faily legit sized SG) helped boost his stock for me.

It would help in a lot of areas, and i would like the outcome. Buddy was a pretty good defender his first 2 seasons, but as he started to be relied on offensively his last 2 seasons the effort on defense definitely fell off. You would hope that he would come here and show the defense again while being less of a focus on offense. Sabonis also showed to be a good team defender and no slouch on the block. I don't see either as a liability, but I don't necessarily see them improving our defense either. I was just stating that i'd hope for a player with shutdown defensive potential with one of the picks.

TheFuture wrote:It would help in a lot of areas, and i would like the outcome. Buddy was a pretty good defender his first 2 seasons, but as he started to be relied on offensively his last 2 seasons the effort on defense definitely fell off. You would hope that he would come here and show the defense again while being less of a focus on offense. Sabonis also showed to be a good team defender and no slouch on the block. I don't see either as a liability, but I don't necessarily see them improving our defense either. I was just stating that i'd hope for a player with shutdown defensive potential with one of the picks.

I'll add this though. After taking the Job Thibs talked a lot about defending as a team having guys do it together. Both of those guys arm like guys that may be able to do that. Obviously you can't have a complete weak link or teams will expose that but if those guys are not liabilities that could be plenty good enough.

I'll come back to another thing with Buddy that I liked and for me got a little lost in all the draft hype. Of those guards I can see him maybe fitting in as well as any of them. Why? Shooting is obvious but in the games I watched him he was very good at picking his spot. He didn't force the issue that much. Now the guy is a senior 22 mature played a lot of basketball and all that so some of that you hope would come to another young player and obviously he isn't going to get up the volume of shots he did this last year but he seems like a guy that would playoff other guys well both on and off the floor. He really does seem like a complimentary piece and he certainly has upside to be more. Watching GS you always know they have a chance because especially with Klay and Steph they can hit 3's in a hurry and get right back in it. That's a pretty big draw for Buddy and while it feels overplayed to some extent it shouldn't be. Shooting can be a pretty big deal. #5 is a pretty good place to be pretty much no matter what direction the Wolves go.

MikeAz wrote:

TheFuture wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:I am not as confident in Kris Dunn. I worry he won't be able to shoot well enough off the dribble (shot 33%) and finish strong at the rim (51% this year vs 46% for his career). Areas that Rubio struggles at also. I think he will be fine in the NBA, but not a good fit behind Rubio.

Yeah I am not convinced with Dunn either. Gar Payton II is clearly a different tier and would give the same set of problems you outline with Dunn and they would be worse but Payton brings a lot of that "do shit" stuff (8 Rbs per game as a PG) that Q likes about Dunn for the price of a 2nd rounder. I'm not saying pass Dunn so you can get Payton but watching some video the similarities were there so some extent.

I like Dunn for us, but you're right that there are quite a few PG prospects slated to go in the 2nd round that have good potential in Payton II, Anthony Barber, Tyler Ulis, and Isaiah Cousins. If only we had a 2nd round pick or an owner that would buy one..

Have you given up on Tyus Jones already?

One of the advantages of having Thibs/Leydon in charge of the draft instead of Mitchell/Newton is the fresh look two outsiders will give the roster without having to be respectful of decisions Flip Saunders made. They will certainly be evaluating Bazz, Payne and Zach with different eyes and will also have some thoughts about Tyus before the draft. Whether they see him as a part of the puzzle going forward or not will determine their interest in Dunn or even some of the second rounders mentioned above.

Ulis is especially interesting to me, despite his obvious flaws. He is smaller than Tyus and only slightly more athletic, and yet he comes out with a better defensive reputation than Tyus had a year ago. And while Tyus had the reputation of being a great distributor in college, Ulis' 7 assists to only 2 TOs last year look even better. I have no idea what Thibs thinks of Tyus, but my guess is he would not be likely to give up on him yet because of his winning pedigree and solid outside shooting. For that reason, I don't think Ulis or the other second rounders (and perhaps even Dunn) will be strongly considered.

I sense there is some sarcasm above about Glen and second round picks, and it is true that he has sold them for cash more than once. But to be fair to Glen, he doesn't deserve the reputation of being cheap (and this was proven once again by his willingness to shell out $10 million per to Thibs/Leydon). We don't know why second round picks have been sold in the past, but I suspect cash offers were made to Kahn and Flip, they reviewed the offers with Glen, and Glen told them to take the cash unless there was a player they really coveted...which there likely wasn't. I believe that if Thibs/Leydon asked for $1 million to buy a second round pick and presented a well thought out case for the player they wanted, Glen would have no problem coughing up the dough. Glen isn't Carl Pohlad...he's in it to win.

Didn't we sell a couple of first rounders? No excuse for that.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Didn't we sell a couple of first rounders? No excuse for that.

Correct me if I am wrong didn't we all the pick that became andre Roberson to the thunder

Taylor being cheap did cost us in the '09 draft when he refused to pay for Rambis' buyout so Kahn made half a dozen trades back to cover the buyout cost. We traded a couple good players for other picks and cash along the way.

My top 5 draft wish list, in order:

1. Brandon Ingram- Has a lot of Kevin Durant in him, this guy has future all-star written all over him. He can get a shot from anywhere, high release point, and I'd salivate at adding him to what we already have (we'd make it fit).

2. Ben Simmons- Very, very talented player who has ridiculous upside. I do have a big flag with him that wonders if he's the next Lamar Odom..a guy with talent to dominate but instead ends up being just pretty good and the occasional all-star.

3. Kris Dunn- I'm as big of a Rubio believer as there is. I just believe Dunn's the next best talent in the draft, and a pretty elite one. I'm tempted to put him above Simmons because I think he's got a better competitive fire under him. Great skill set, plus defender. Watching him reminds me of some sort of mix between Derrick Rose, Eric Bledsoe, and Chris Paul. I saw nbadraft.net has his comparison as Jordan Clarkson, which I think is a bit weak.

4. Buddy Hield- I've been singing his praises for a while. I think he can be a solid defender, he's got unlimited range, can get to the rim, is a tireless worker, plays to his strengths when it comes to shooting, and dominated in the limelight so much that he was commanding double teams instantly when he'd touch the ball. Reminds me a bit of Steph Curry in college (remember the game where a team actually dedicated two defenders to Curry even when he didn't have the ball, so he went to the corner and left it a 4 vs 3 for his teammates all game?) from the confidence in his game and shot. He also was making plays when he was getting double teamed, which means he's not pressured easily into mistakes.

5. Jamal Murray- He's my equivalent to me to the guard version of Justise Winslow, who I also like(d). Great feel for the game, has good range, a lot of upside, looks very smooth, and could be a bit of a Shawn Marion (poor man's) for our team. Not sure I ever see him being an alpha leader, but could see him being a strong support starter.

Perhaps a developmental guy like Thon Maker in the 2nd?

khans2k5 wrote:Taylor being cheap did cost us in the '09 draft when he refused to pay for Rambis' buyout so Kahn made half a dozen trades back to cover the buyout cost. We traded a couple good players for other picks and cash along the way.

Um...I think you may have mistyped the year. Lol