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Re: Draft Grades
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 1:20 am
by KiwiMatt
A -
Currently travelling through Vietnam so missed the draft, but am glad we took LaVine. For me it was him or Stauskas, but realistically Staukas was never going to be there at 13. He will take a year or two to find his feet, but when he does I think he has Westbrook potential. He has all the tools to be a great player in the NBA and his explosiveness is unreal. Add to that ball handling and solid shooting and he is a good fit next to Rubio for the future.
Robinson was a no brainer at 40 and will be a good role player in the NBA. I'm not bothered about selling the other two 2nd rounders for cash as I think this will be put to good use.
Re: Draft Grades
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 1:23 am
by 60WinTim
So, I don't think you can pencil either guy into the rotation just, yet. So what does your depth charts say? Which will also show us what we need to accomplish via trades and/or free agency.
Re: Draft Grades
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 1:23 am
by Monster
longstrangetrip wrote:I have no problems with LaVine's defense at all...he looked quite competent there as a freshman and promises to be an acceptable NBA defender. It's his inability to convert his potential offensive gifts into production that concerns me. I'm not going to take the time to research this, but I suspect Flip has made an historic unprecedented lottery pick...I cant imagine there has ever been a non-center that was drafted in the top 13 with a single digit scoring average. Can anyone think of someone that meets this criterion before LaVine? I can't.
I have to hand it to Flip...this is a gutsy move. Maybe Steve Alford is a terrible coach and couldn't find a way to coach LaVine up. If Flip can somehow turn this guy into a basketball player, I will be quite impressed with him as a coach.
I am usually a Wolves optimist, but I just don't get this pick. Gary Harris could have contributed on both sides of the court right away.
How about the overseas guys that didn't average 10ppg? How about all the HS to pro guys?
Re: Draft Grades
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 1:30 am
by TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]
I'll give the Wolves a B. I loved the Glenn Robinson pick and he's the type of unselfish athletic player with a good basketball pedigree that the Wolves have sorely lacked. I think his upside is underappreciated. He and KJ McDaniels I think will be the biggest steals of the second round. On the other hand I wasn't thrilled with the LaVine pick. He was ranked as the 44th best player in his high school class and didn't produce at a high level his freshman year. I get that he has some crazy athleticism, and is an excellent dunker, but right now I envision him more like Rodney Williams or Gerald Green than Westbrook.
[Post analysis--In fairness Westbrook didn't have great stats his freshman year at UCLA and didn't play a lot of minutes either. So I'll try to keep an open mind about LaVine.]
Re: Draft Grades
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 1:30 am
by Monster
60WinTim wrote:So, I don't think you can pencil either guy into the rotation just, yet. So what does your depth charts say? Which will also show us what we need to accomplish via trades and/or free agency.
The question in my mind is what guys does Flip like that are on the roster that were basically a net negative or didn't do much last year like Shved, JJ, and Luc? Does Flip actually value those guys and think he can get something out of them as a coach? That is something I can't answer so I don't know where to go with since I don't know where they are in the equation and we haven't even mentioned the young talent yet. Also we don't know if Bud will be healthy. I'm still operation under the idea that Love will be here when the season starts. The draft didn't seem to signal any changes if anything it almost made me think a Love trade was less likely.
Re: Draft Grades
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 1:30 am
by longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]
monsterpile wrote:longstrangetrip wrote:I have no problems with LaVine's defense at all...he looked quite competent there as a freshman and promises to be an acceptable NBA defender. It's his inability to convert his potential offensive gifts into production that concerns me. I'm not going to take the time to research this, but I suspect Flip has made an historic unprecedented lottery pick...I cant imagine there has ever been a non-center that was drafted in the top 13 with a single digit scoring average. Can anyone think of someone that meets this criterion before LaVine? I can't.
I have to hand it to Flip...this is a gutsy move. Maybe Steve Alford is a terrible coach and couldn't find a way to coach LaVine up. If Flip can somehow turn this guy into a basketball player, I will be quite impressed with him as a coach.
I am usually a Wolves optimist, but I just don't get this pick. Gary Harris could have contributed on both sides of the court right away.
How about the overseas guys that didn't average 10ppg? How about all the HS to pro guys?
Let's keep it apples to apples, because the high school guys probably put up 30 a game, and overseas is a different game. I just wonder if there has ever been a college non-center who scored single digits his draft year and then got picked top 13. Nobody comes to mind for me, so I think Flip has done something historic here. I hope he's right about this one, because I was really counting on some serious help from this deep draft.
Re: Draft Grades
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 1:33 am
by longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]
TeamRicky wrote:I'll give the Wolves a B. I loved the Glenn Robinson pick and he's the type of unselfish athletic player with a good basketball pedigree that the Wolves have sorely lacked. I think his upside is underappreciated. He and KJ McDaniels I think will be the biggest steals of the second round. On the other hand I wasn't thrilled with the LaVine pick. He was ranked as the 44th best player in his high school class and didn't produce at a high level his freshman year. I get that he has some crazy athleticism, and is an excellent dunker, but right now I envision him more like Rodney Williams or Gerald Green than Westbrook.
Those are exactly the two guys I think of when I evaluate LaVine. Nobody looked better than Rodney in a solo workout, but when you put someone on him, his offense disappeared. That was LaVine his freshman year.
Re: Draft Grades
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 1:42 am
by 60WinTim
Ironically, LaVine's freshman year is quite similar, and in many ways superior to Westbrook's freshman year (especially in the per 40 comparison on draft express).
I like the pick!
Re: Draft Grades
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 1:43 am
by Monster
longstrangetrip wrote:TeamRicky wrote:I'll give the Wolves a B. I loved the Glenn Robinson pick and he's the type of unselfish athletic player with a good basketball pedigree that the Wolves have sorely lacked. I think his upside is underappreciated. He and KJ McDaniels I think will be the biggest steals of the second round. On the other hand I wasn't thrilled with the LaVine pick. He was ranked as the 44th best player in his high school class and didn't produce at a high level his freshman year. I get that he has some crazy athleticism, and is an excellent dunker, but right now I envision him more like Rodney Williams or Gerald Green than Westbrook.
Those are exactly the two guys I think of when I evaluate LaVine. Nobody looked better than Rodney in a solo workout, but when you put someone on him, his offense disappeared. That was LaVine his freshman year.
Williams scored what 10ppg his senior year? LeVine scored almost that his freshman year. Rodney can't shoot if he could... I get what you are saying and I am not even sold on the LeVine pick, but Rodney Williams comp is a little unfair IMO. How about this LeVine played more his Freshman year than Westbrook he must be going to be the GOAT. lol
Re: Draft Grades
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 2:09 am
by Lipoli390
Long -- The Rodney comparison is very unfair as Monster noted.
In addition, consider the following. Westbrook averaged 9 minutes and 3.4 points his freshman year. In other words, Westbrook could barely get any playing time as a freshman while LaVine played 24 minutes a game and scored over 9 points per game as a freshman. As a sophomore. Westbrook averaged 33.8 minutes and 12.7 points. That means LaVine as a freshman narrowly out scored Westbrook as a sophomore on a 40 minute basis - 15.4 points to 15.1. I'll also note that LaVine averaged 28.5 points per game his last year in high school. So I don't think a Flip was as far out on a limb with this pick as you are suggesting.