Minnesota Sports Forum

thedoper wrote:

monsterpile wrote:http://sports.yahoo.com/news/the-vertical-pod-with-woj--jonathan-givony-nba-draft-134521534.html

Interesting podcast with Woj and Givony. Here is a few things I gleaned.

Givony and Woj both agreed there is a bit of a trend towards team looking at older guys like Dunn because they can probably play right away and there is value in that cheap contract for 4 years. They both said various teams were not interested in waiting for a young guy to pan out. They said the Celtics want to get a vet and so do the Suns. They said the Sun and Sarver are looking to get into the playoffs and their GM might be worried about if he takes a raw guy like Chriss or Bender whether he will have a job if/when those guys become good. Givony said he thinks that's why guys like Brown and Bender are sliding is because teams aren't sure those guys can help right away.

He said Skal has been terrific in workouts but teams still worried about him translating his skill based on his struggles in college even though last summer he was terrific against all these other bigs that are going in the draft this year.

They plugged their live online draft coverage tomorrow night. That's probably what I will be watching since I don't have ESPN access. It sounds like it will be pretty good. Tom Crean coach at Indiana will be their college expert.

Givony said the Euro guys that a lot of media and fans probably assume are draft and stash guys want to come over right now. He said some are even international free agents so they don't even have a contract to hold them back. He said that may make things tricky for teams that have those multiple picks.

Drew who wants guys to say they will be challenged in workouts will likely find this interesting...They talked about how agents are withholding info dictating workouts but it's a bit of a two-way street. Teams aren't givin as much info to agents as agents need. He said some draft hopefuls are going to a one on none workout and teams are basically having them work out hard and often going against a recently retired NBA player that now is an assistant. So teams are still getting to see guys work out against a good player and Givony said some guys are struggling and it's a reason they are dropping.

They talked about how one of the things talked about in the next CBA is split contracts like in NHL and MLB so NBA teams would have rosters expanded so they can carry 17 guys and have 2 of them in the d-league. While in the d-league they would make something like 100k and if they come up to NBA they get a more typical salary. They said this would be appealing for players because in the d-league they get paid so little. They also said it may even attract some international guys because they don't always get minutes. Another thing they talked about that relates to this is how especially teams in Europe have more taller than ever and they also have financial issues. There isn't the big money for college players going there that there has been in the past.

I think their coverage will probably be more basketball related and less about the hype than ESPN. I like what they're doing there a lot.

monsterpile wrote:

Drew who wants guys to say they will be challenged in workouts will likely find this interesting...They talked about how agents are withholding info dictating workouts but it's a bit of a two-way street. Teams aren't givin as much info to agents as agents need. He said some draft hopefuls are going to a one on none workout and teams are basically having them work out hard and often going against a recently retired NBA player that now is an assistant. So teams are still getting to see guys work out against a good player and Givony said some guys are struggling and it's a reason they are dropping.

monsterpile wrote:

thedoper wrote:

monsterpile wrote:http://sports.yahoo.com/news/the-vertical-pod-with-woj--jonathan-givony-nba-draft-134521534.html

Interesting podcast with Woj and Givony. Here is a few things I gleaned.

Givony and Woj both agreed there is a bit of a trend towards team looking at older guys like Dunn because they can probably play right away and there is value in that cheap contract for 4 years. They both said various teams were not interested in waiting for a young guy to pan out. They said the Celtics want to get a vet and so do the Suns. They said the Sun and Sarver are looking to get into the playoffs and their GM might be worried about if he takes a raw guy like Chriss or Bender whether he will have a job if/when those guys become good. Givony said he thinks that's why guys like Brown and Bender are sliding is because teams aren't sure those guys can help right away.

He said Skal has been terrific in workouts but teams still worried about him translating his skill based on his struggles in college even though last summer he was terrific against all these other bigs that are going in the draft this year.

They plugged their live online draft coverage tomorrow night. That's probably what I will be watching since I don't have ESPN access. It sounds like it will be pretty good. Tom Crean coach at Indiana will be their college expert.

Givony said the Euro guys that a lot of media and fans probably assume are draft and stash guys want to come over right now. He said some are even international free agents so they don't even have a contract to hold them back. He said that may make things tricky for teams that have those multiple picks.

Drew who wants guys to say they will be challenged in workouts will likely find this interesting...They talked about how agents are withholding info dictating workouts but it's a bit of a two-way street. Teams aren't givin as much info to agents as agents need. He said some draft hopefuls are going to a one on none workout and teams are basically having them work out hard and often going against a recently retired NBA player that now is an assistant. So teams are still getting to see guys work out against a good player and Givony said some guys are struggling and it's a reason they are dropping.

They talked about how one of the things talked about in the next CBA is split contracts like in NHL and MLB so NBA teams would have rosters expanded so they can carry 17 guys and have 2 of them in the d-league. While in the d-league they would make something like 100k and if they come up to NBA they get a more typical salary. They said this would be appealing for players because in the d-league they get paid so little. They also said it may even attract some international guys because they don't always get minutes. Another thing they talked about that relates to this is how especially teams in Europe have more taller than ever and they also have financial issues. There isn't the big money for college players going there that there has been in the past.

I think their coverage will probably be more basketball related and less about the hype than ESPN. I like what they're doing there a lot.

I was thinking that too. I do actually like Jay Bilas though so I will miss that about their coverage.

SameOldDrew wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Drew who wants guys to say they will be challenged in workouts will likely find this interesting...They talked about how agents are withholding info dictating workouts but it's a bit of a two-way street. Teams aren't givin as much info to agents as agents need. He said some draft hopefuls are going to a one on none workout and teams are basically having them work out hard and often going against a recently retired NBA player that now is an assistant. So teams are still getting to see guys work out against a good player and Givony said some guys are struggling and it's a reason they are dropping.

That is interesting! Thanks.

It's not a good sign if you can't defend a retired dude very well!

longstrangetrip wrote:Thanks for that, monster. I think they have a good take about why the younger players might drop, and that might work out well in the long run for our Wolves.

I hope you're on the board Thursday night, because it will be interesting to get a different perspective (since I suspect most of us will be watching ESPN).

monsterpile wrote:

SameOldDrew wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Drew who wants guys to say they will be challenged in workouts will likely find this interesting...They talked about how agents are withholding info dictating workouts but it's a bit of a two-way street. Teams aren't givin as much info to agents as agents need. He said some draft hopefuls are going to a one on none workout and teams are basically having them work out hard and often going against a recently retired NBA player that now is an assistant. So teams are still getting to see guys work out against a good player and Givony said some guys are struggling and it's a reason they are dropping.

That is interesting! Thanks.

It's not a good sign if you can't defend a retired dude very well!

To be fair who do you think would actually be more challenging to work out against another first round pick or say Elton Brand? My guess is the young guy would be a lot easier to go against.