Official 2016 Draft Thread

[Monster]

Nice story about Prince and the life challenges he went through.

http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/taurean-prince-nba-draft/

Thanks for linking that, Prince is one of my 5 favorite players in this draft. Doubtful he ever becomes an allstar but I have no doubt he will stick in the NBA as a 3 and D wing, small ball 4.

Yep. He is the type of player this team could really use but it's unlikely we have a pick to get him.

[Phenom]

FWIW, Sid has been talking with Thibs a lot recently. He says Thibs is on a plane daily going to work players out (no surprise) and thinks Dunn is his first choice. Not my favorite move, but I could warm to his defense and strong character. As others have said, that's what's so exciting about this year's draft...so many different ways it could go, and I don't really have a big problem with any of them

So Thibs throwing some love to the old guys? :) Wolfson and Jon K in reply to a fan on Twitter said they had no clue how the Wolves board was so they took guesses. Sounds like the same thing Sid is doing. So let's break this down.

Old guys:

Sid-Dunn
Walters-Murray

Young guys:

Jon K.-Buddy
Wolfson-Dunn

Dunn is trending down with me as a match with the Wolves. I love the defensive chops. I am growing a little less confident that he can coexist with Rubio though. That is important unless there is a plan to replace Ricky this upcoming season with another vet point guard. We need the 5th pick to be more than a 18 minute per game guy at some point and the shooting concerns are difficult to look past if Dunn and Rubio play together for a decent amount of time. I'm starting to think it won't matter since Dunn will likely go top 4 to some team.

I am siding with those that feel Thibs will be most concerned with adding shooting. The good news is that there will be at least one shooter available in Murray, Buddy, and even Bender. I'm anxious to see how it plays out.

[Monster]

FWIW, Sid has been talking with Thibs a lot recently. He says Thibs is on a plane daily going to work players out (no surprise) and thinks Dunn is his first choice. Not my favorite move, but I could warm to his defense and strong character. As others have said, that's what's so exciting about this year's draft...so many different ways it could go, and I don't really have a big problem with any of them

So Thibs throwing some love to the old guys? :) Wolfson and Jon K in reply to a fan on Twitter said they had no clue how the Wolves board was so they took guesses. Sounds like the same thing Sid is doing. So let's break this down.

Old guys:

Sid-Dunn
Walters-Murray

Young guys:

Jon K.-Buddy
Wolfson-Dunn

Dunn is trending down with me as a match with the Wolves. I love the defensive chops. I am growing a little less confident that he can coexist with Rubio though. That is important unless there is a plan to replace Ricky this upcoming season with another vet point guard. We need the 5th pick to be more than a 18 minute per game guy at some point and the shooting concerns are difficult to look past if Dunn and Rubio play together for a decent amount of time. I'm starting to think it won't matter since Dunn will likely go top 4 to some team.

I am siding with those that feel Thibs will be most concerned with adding shooting. The good news is that there will be at least one shooter available in Murray, Buddy, and even Bender. I'm anxious to see how it plays out.

The thing is no matter who is picked they will probably start as a bench guy but I get where you are coming from. I wouldn't hate Dunn as a fit though.

If Chriss drops he would be a guy that projects as a shooter as well. I'm not saying I am in favor or of that but it's there.

[Monster]

Hey Cam are you still gonna share some thoughts on Jaylen Brown? I know he isn't the hot name right now but I'm still curious. Anyone else that may have actually watched some games like I would assume Cam has feel free to weigh in.

[TheFuture]

FWIW, Sid has been talking with Thibs a lot recently. He says Thibs is on a plane daily going to work players out (no surprise) and thinks Dunn is his first choice. Not my favorite move, but I could warm to his defense and strong character. As others have said, that's what's so exciting about this year's draft...so many different ways it could go, and I don't really have a big problem with any of them

So Thibs throwing some love to the old guys? :) Wolfson and Jon K in reply to a fan on Twitter said they had no clue how the Wolves board was so they took guesses. Sounds like the same thing Sid is doing. So let's break this down.

Old guys:

Sid-Dunn
Walters-Murray

Young guys:

Jon K.-Buddy
Wolfson-Dunn

Dunn is trending down with me as a match with the Wolves. I love the defensive chops. I am growing a little less confident that he can coexist with Rubio though. That is important unless there is a plan to replace Ricky this upcoming season with another vet point guard. We need the 5th pick to be more than a 18 minute per game guy at some point and the shooting concerns are difficult to look past if Dunn and Rubio play together for a decent amount of time. I'm starting to think it won't matter since Dunn will likely go top 4 to some team.

I am siding with those that feel Thibs will be most concerned with adding shooting. The good news is that there will be at least one shooter available in Murray, Buddy, and even Bender. I'm anxious to see how it plays out.

With the spacing, superior coaching/training, and better teammates taking pressure it's more likely to see a player improve his shooting in the NBA than to see an improvement in contribution in all other areas like rebounding, steals, facilitating, blocks, defense (Most of which come from IQ/desire). It's also far easier to find a role/playing time when you contribute in multiple facets.

How do we know Bender is a good shooter on such limited viewing? On the other hand, hasn't it been discussed here that shooting is the least likely skill to transfer to the NBA? For every college ball sniper like JJ Redick or Curry there is multiple dozen that flame out like Morrison, Fredette, Stauskas, McDermott etc.

Look at Kris Middleton who shot between 25-36% during college from 3, and now he's shooting above 40% Reggie Jackson shot 42% the year he got drafted, and is now a below average 3 point shooter. Klay Thompson averaged 39% in college, and now is one of the best the league has ever seen. Kawhi Leonard is another name who improved in the NBA.

Now, Dunn also gets knocked about FT% because that is supposedly the best indicator of shooting ability in the NBA.. Guess who shoots a worse FT%, Brandon Ingram. I'm not saying Dunn > Ingram as prospects, but just another perspective.

[Phenom]

FWIW, Sid has been talking with Thibs a lot recently. He says Thibs is on a plane daily going to work players out (no surprise) and thinks Dunn is his first choice. Not my favorite move, but I could warm to his defense and strong character. As others have said, that's what's so exciting about this year's draft...so many different ways it could go, and I don't really have a big problem with any of them

So Thibs throwing some love to the old guys? :) Wolfson and Jon K in reply to a fan on Twitter said they had no clue how the Wolves board was so they took guesses. Sounds like the same thing Sid is doing. So let's break this down.

Old guys:

Sid-Dunn
Walters-Murray

Young guys:

Jon K.-Buddy
Wolfson-Dunn

Dunn is trending down with me as a match with the Wolves. I love the defensive chops. I am growing a little less confident that he can coexist with Rubio though. That is important unless there is a plan to replace Ricky this upcoming season with another vet point guard. We need the 5th pick to be more than a 18 minute per game guy at some point and the shooting concerns are difficult to look past if Dunn and Rubio play together for a decent amount of time. I'm starting to think it won't matter since Dunn will likely go top 4 to some team.

I am siding with those that feel Thibs will be most concerned with adding shooting. The good news is that there will be at least one shooter available in Murray, Buddy, and even Bender. I'm anxious to see how it plays out.

With the spacing, superior coaching/training, and better teammates taking pressure it's more likely to see a player improve his shooting in the NBA than to see an improvement in contribution in all other areas like rebounding, steals, facilitating, blocks, defense (Most of which come from IQ/desire). It's also far easier to find a role/playing time when you contribute in multiple facets.

How do we know Bender is a good shooter on such limited viewing? On the other hand, hasn't it been discussed here that shooting is the least likely skill to transfer to the NBA? For every college ball sniper like JJ Redick or Curry there is multiple dozen that flame out like Morrison, Fredette, Stauskas, McDermott etc.

Look at Kris Middleton who shot between 25-36% during college from 3, and now he's shooting above 40% Reggie Jackson shot 42% the year he got drafted, and is now a below average 3 point shooter. Klay Thompson averaged 39% in college, and now is one of the best the league has ever seen. Kawhi Leonard is another name who improved in the NBA.

Now, Dunn also gets knocked about FT% because that is supposedly the best indicator of shooting ability in the NBA.. Guess who shoots a worse FT%, Brandon Ingram. I'm not saying Dunn > Ingram as prospects, but just another perspective.

We might not know but Layden will. It was laid out in the press conference that he will be heading the draft process and it's known that he has spent time scouting him as have other Wolves scouts. I'm sure Layden also sees the value in international guys coming from San Antonio and knows what to look for in successful cases. And even if he doesn't shoot as well as anyone thinks, he has all those other tools and intangibles that you listed with Dunn, in a position of arguably greater need.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

FWIW, Sid has been talking with Thibs a lot recently. He says Thibs is on a plane daily going to work players out (no surprise) and thinks Dunn is his first choice. Not my favorite move, but I could warm to his defense and strong character. As others have said, that's what's so exciting about this year's draft...so many different ways it could go, and I don't really have a big problem with any of them

So Thibs throwing some love to the old guys? :) Wolfson and Jon K in reply to a fan on Twitter said they had no clue how the Wolves board was so they took guesses. Sounds like the same thing Sid is doing. So let's break this down.

Old guys:

Sid-Dunn
Walters-Murray

Young guys:

Jon K.-Buddy
Wolfson-Dunn

Dunn is trending down with me as a match with the Wolves. I love the defensive chops. I am growing a little less confident that he can coexist with Rubio though. That is important unless there is a plan to replace Ricky this upcoming season with another vet point guard. We need the 5th pick to be more than a 18 minute per game guy at some point and the shooting concerns are difficult to look past if Dunn and Rubio play together for a decent amount of time. I'm starting to think it won't matter since Dunn will likely go top 4 to some team.

I am siding with those that feel Thibs will be most concerned with adding shooting. The good news is that there will be at least one shooter available in Murray, Buddy, and even Bender. I'm anxious to see how it plays out.

With the spacing, superior coaching/training, and better teammates taking pressure it's more likely to see a player improve his shooting in the NBA than to see an improvement in contribution in all other areas like rebounding, steals, facilitating, blocks, defense (Most of which come from IQ/desire). It's also far easier to find a role/playing time when you contribute in multiple facets.

How do we know Bender is a good shooter on such limited viewing? On the other hand, hasn't it been discussed here that shooting is the least likely skill to transfer to the NBA? For every college ball sniper like JJ Redick or Curry there is multiple dozen that flame out like Morrison, Fredette, Stauskas, McDermott etc.

Look at Kris Middleton who shot between 25-36% during college from 3, and now he's shooting above 40% Reggie Jackson shot 42% the year he got drafted, and is now a below average 3 point shooter. Klay Thompson averaged 39% in college, and now is one of the best the league has ever seen. Kawhi Leonard is another name who improved in the NBA.

Now, Dunn also gets knocked about FT% because that is supposedly the best indicator of shooting ability in the NBA.. Guess who shoots a worse FT%, Brandon Ingram. I'm not saying Dunn > Ingram as prospects, but just another perspective.

I'm not sure you can say shooting is the least likely skill to transfer to the NBA. I think the better way to put it is that it's the hardest skill to predict transferring to the NBA. But it doesn't mean there is zero correlation - I still trust a guy that hit a high volume of 3s at 40% will have a better chance of translating his shooting to the NBA than a guy that struggled to make 35% of his 3s on low volume with poor FT%.

Rebounding, assists, one-on-one defense, and steals are easier to predict, but again it's never perfect.

We ultimately land at the same place though: The areas Dunn excels at tend to have more predictive power in terms of translating to the NBA.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

FWIW, Sid has been talking with Thibs a lot recently. He says Thibs is on a plane daily going to work players out (no surprise) and thinks Dunn is his first choice. Not my favorite move, but I could warm to his defense and strong character. As others have said, that's what's so exciting about this year's draft...so many different ways it could go, and I don't really have a big problem with any of them

So Thibs throwing some love to the old guys? :) Wolfson and Jon K in reply to a fan on Twitter said they had no clue how the Wolves board was so they took guesses. Sounds like the same thing Sid is doing. So let's break this down.

Old guys:

Sid-Dunn
Walters-Murray

Young guys:

Jon K.-Buddy
Wolfson-Dunn

Dunn is trending down with me as a match with the Wolves. I love the defensive chops. I am growing a little less confident that he can coexist with Rubio though. That is important unless there is a plan to replace Ricky this upcoming season with another vet point guard. We need the 5th pick to be more than a 18 minute per game guy at some point and the shooting concerns are difficult to look past if Dunn and Rubio play together for a decent amount of time. I'm starting to think it won't matter since Dunn will likely go top 4 to some team.

I am siding with those that feel Thibs will be most concerned with adding shooting. The good news is that there will be at least one shooter available in Murray, Buddy, and even Bender. I'm anxious to see how it plays out.

With the spacing, superior coaching/training, and better teammates taking pressure it's more likely to see a player improve his shooting in the NBA than to see an improvement in contribution in all other areas like rebounding, steals, facilitating, blocks, defense (Most of which come from IQ/desire). It's also far easier to find a role/playing time when you contribute in multiple facets.

How do we know Bender is a good shooter on such limited viewing? On the other hand, hasn't it been discussed here that shooting is the least likely skill to transfer to the NBA? For every college ball sniper like JJ Redick or Curry there is multiple dozen that flame out like Morrison, Fredette, Stauskas, McDermott etc.

Look at Kris Middleton who shot between 25-36% during college from 3, and now he's shooting above 40% Reggie Jackson shot 42% the year he got drafted, and is now a below average 3 point shooter. Klay Thompson averaged 39% in college, and now is one of the best the league has ever seen. Kawhi Leonard is another name who improved in the NBA.

Now, Dunn also gets knocked about FT% because that is supposedly the best indicator of shooting ability in the NBA.. Guess who shoots a worse FT%, Brandon Ingram. I'm not saying Dunn > Ingram as prospects, but just another perspective.

I'm not sure you can say shooting is the least likely skill to transfer to the NBA. I think the better way to put it is that it's the hardest skill to predict transferring to the NBA. But it doesn't mean there is zero correlation - I still trust a guy that hit a high volume of 3s at 40% will have a better chance of translating his shooting to the NBA than a guy that struggled to make 35% of his 3s on low volume with poor FT%.

Rebounding, assists, one-on-one defense, and steals are easier to predict, but again it's never perfect.

We ultimately land at the same place though: The areas Dunn excels at tend to have more predictive power in terms of translating to the NBA.

And he was really good in all of those areas so I don't get why people are down on him. 4th in the nation in steals. 12th in assists. He was second in the nation in assists in 2014-15 and 4th in steals then as well. 5+ rebounds per game for a guard is great in college. He's not going to need to score to impact the game, but he's gonna be able to score as well. We always like a good stat stuffer and 16/6/5/2.5 is a heck of a stat stuffer for a PG.

[Monster]

Coach Cal said Jamal Murry will be the highest scoring rookie this year and is VERY certain of it. At this point how much stock do you put in what Cal says?

Personally I put a little stock into what he says about his guys but I'm not going all in on anything either. I think he has put too many good players in the league to just dismiss what he says.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Coach Cal said Jamal Murry will be the highest scoring rookie this year and is VERY certain of it. At this point how much stock do you put in what Cal says?

Personally I put a little stock into what he says about his guys but I'm not going all in on anything either. I think he has put too many good players in the league to just dismiss what he says.

It all depends where he lands. It's hard to argue if he ends up in BOS, PHX or here that he would score more as a likely backup than say Ben Simmons as a starter in Philly.