Minnesota Sports Forum

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2024 9:51 pm

Monster wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2024 9:43 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2024 9:39 pm

...and Conley and Trae Young have struggled to get even to a Conference Finals, so it's not like their size doesn't eventually catch up to them in the playoffs. When our standards were "for the love of God can we just make the playoffs!?" Billingham would be a home run. When the standards are trying to win a title, small-ish guards are kind of a problem late in the playoffs. He absolutely needs to add weight.

Was those guys size the reason they didn't advance or the teams they were on?

One thing interesting about this trade up for Dillingham is that the Wolves have at times seemingly been more interested in size and positional versatility with size. So for them to trade up and take a guard like this is a little bit surprising but also a positive as they aren't against taking a player they think is good regardless of a guy being smaller.

Conley gets targeted late in the playoffs. Trae Young has been targeted since he played in the summer league, lol! I can't say that's the reason their teams didn't make the Finals, but their defensive vulnerability is a factor.

I just can't remember in recent history a team where the starting PG was (somewhat) short AND slight. Lowry with Toronto was short, but built like a tank and a dog defensively. Murray, Curry, Irving....none of those guys are or were great defenders, but they built their frames up and have enough physicality to at least compete at that end.

IDK...Billingham is still a young dude. Hopefully he can put on more muscle.

(BTW, is that Andrew McCarthy they keep showing on the ESPN feed?).

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2024 9:17 pm

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2024 8:51 pm

Phenom wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2024 8:36 pm

Givony was on Duncd on Pod and called him a 25 ppg scorer if you can live with the defense which will be bad. Says best ball handler in the class, great in pick and roll, hits 45% from deep while taking tough shots.

The thing I am thinking is, since we are such a defensive oriented team already. He's going to be forced to up his game on that end. You simply can't play with all the other elite defenders and not man up on defense, it isn't allowed. Now it may take some time for him to learn for sure. But the one thing I see with him is his quickness which can help with his size issues. Quicks can help make up for lack of length. We sure do need another shot creator and bucket getter long term also. I like the pick (though I just did a quick study on him). I'll trust TC on this one. Great trade too. 2031? Eh, who cares. We need young guys now.

Not sure how laterally quick he is. We have learned that being quick north and south has almost zero correlation to being quick east to west.

He does seem more like a Malik Monk/Jamal Crawford/Lou Williams shot maker than a starting PG that can steady the ship, defend, and run a half court offense.