Kris Dunn is gonna be...

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

We're harping on my use of the word "exclusively." My apologies, everyone. The word I was looking for was "primarily." My point still stands. Saying Dunn played point guard for only one season in college isn't factual. Did he share minutes with another point guard from time to time? Sure, yes he did. So, if Ricky Rubio plays minutes with Tyus Jones from time to time, is he no longer a point guard? Come on now.

We're really arguing over nothing.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Poor man's Gary Payton

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

If he progresses defensively, which I think he will with time, but stays the relatively same offensively -- meaning his handle remains sloppy and his shot is never fixed -- I could see him being Tony Allen-lite. I don't mean that in a disrespectful way either. Guys like that have a legitimate place in this league.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

If he progresses defensively, which I think he will with time, but stays the relatively same offensively -- meaning his handle remains sloppy and his shot is never fixed -- I could see him being Tony Allen-lite. I don't mean that in a disrespectful way either. Guys like that have a legitimate place in this league.

That's an interesting comparison, Cam. He and Allen are almost exactly the same size (including a very good 6-9 wingspan), strong, griity and athletic. And neither one of them came out of college with a reputation as a shooter. I'm still not giving up on Dunn becoming a reliable PG...after all, he's only 22...but he appears to be more of a combo guard to me. His defense is already very good, and while it's a stretch to call his ceiling the best defensive SG in the NBA, I don't know that he can't at least get somewhat close. I'd be happy if he ever got close to what Allen is.
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[Monster]

If Dunn becomes the defender Allen is...honestly anything he gives you offensively is almost a bonus. I'd put money on Dunn being much more of a PG than Allen though so yeah Dunn could be really a nice player even if he doesn't become a particularly good offensive player.

[KiwiMatt]

Ceiling = Gary Payton
Floor = Patrick Beverley

[Lipoli390]

At this point if feels to me Dunn is a key to this team going forward because right now PG play is a concern. Dunn hasn't been amazing but I think he clearly has been much more comfortable offensively the last few games and that jumper is looking a hell of a lot better.

So what kind of player is Dunn gonna be for us? Cam I know you had liked Dunn a lot last year at one point. Do you have any thoughts on what you can hope he can become for this team?

Meanwhile some other young PGs are struggling. Mudiay can't hit a shot and I saw an article saying his net rating is terrible and suggested some other guard I won't name should be playing PG for that team.

Elfrid Payton has lost his starting spot to DJ Augustine.

MCW is still injured.

Jerian Grant Was a guy I liked a lot and his career hasn't been remotely successful.

Why mention all these guys? Well they are all guys with some pretty nice talent at this position coming out of the draft and right now some of them probably look closer to backups than starters although it's still early for a couple of them. Some of them have had some actual success though before seeming to fade. What will Dunn's fate be?

If Dunn is the key to the Wolves future, then the franchise is in deep shit. And that's not because I'm convinced Dunn won't be a good NBA player. He could become very good. It's because the obvious keys to this team are KAT, Wiggins and LaVine. All three have already proven to be starting caliber NBA players and have demonstrated allstar, possible superstar potential at the NBA level. And all three are still only 21 years old. The Wolves will only go as far as those three, or at least two of them, can take us.

As for Dunn, he came to the League as a college upperclassman already older than Andrew, Zach or KAT. Yet so far he hasn't even demonstrated that he can compete as a starting PG at the NBA level, much less as anything close to an allstar-caliber player. He may get there, but I'm not holding my breath. I like his defensive potential and he could develop into a good offensive PG as well. But he has a long way to go to be anything close to someone to whom I'd pin the hopes of the franchise.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Ceiling = Gary Payton
Floor = Patrick Beverley

I thought of Beverley as well, but there are two main differences. First, Dunn right now has three inches of height and 20 lbs on him. I'd assume his wingspan is longer too. That should allow him to effectively guard more kinds of players than Beverley can. Also, Beverley's a very good three-point shooter. He's career 37.4% on 4.4 attempts, which is by all accounts pretty good. He's shooting 39.7% this season. Every year of his career he's been above 35%. I don't envision Dunn ever being that big of a threat from longe range.

[Papalrep]

Didn't Mike Conley start slow? Just trying to be an optimist

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Didn't Mike Conley start slow? Just trying to be an optimist

Yes, he was a guy that slowly but surely just got better and better throughout his first 5 or 6 seasons. There wasn't even a pause in there - it was like a textbook improvement curve every single year without any giant leaps or minor setbacks. Unfortunately, it really doesn't work that way for most players.....

You can't compare the two though because Conley only played one year of college and entered the league much younger than Dunn.