After looking at stats and reviews along with video highlights the past few days and all day today, here are my picks in order of preference for the Wolves tonight:
1. Isaiah Evans - ESPN lists him as the best available and I wasn’t sure why until I watched his highlight videos. He reminds me of TSJ but with better shooting form and less right-hand dominant. He’s athletic and just looks like he can make the leap successfully to the next level and perform.
2. Baba Miller — Great length with a 9’3 overhead reach. Also really quick and athletic for his size with a 2.70 shuttle and 10.71 agility time in the combine. He averaged 10.3 rebounds in 32 minutes this past season and we all know that rebounding translates from college to the NBA better than any other stat. But it was his video highlights that hooked me. He has a great motor, is extremely active, plays both ends and has as terrific handle for his position. If you watch his highlights you’ll see him take the ball coast to coast and score. He’s very bouncy and fluid. He’s also a very good passer at his position as evidenced by his 3.7 assists per game and you can see it in his highlight videos. If he’s available at 33 and Evans is gone, I think TC should grab this guy. With Randle out, we could use some depth at the PF position.
3. Bruce Thornton - I’ve mentioned him before. He’s the Jalen Brunson of this draft and not just because he’s built almost exactly like him. He also plays like him. Yes, he’s short at 6’0 without shoes. But he’s 223 pounds of muscle and has a 6’5 wingspan so size isn’t a negative for him. Then you look at his stats and you start to see why he’s such an impressive prospect. He’s a scorer, averaging 20 points per game as a senior. Ok, that’s nice, but what else. He can play make as evidenced by his 4 assists per game and he’s as terrific rebounder at the PG position, averaging 5 boards per game. Now here’s where it gets really exciting. IN 36.5 minutes per game he averaged only 1.3 turnovers per game. That’s not a typo - 1.3 turnovers per game in nearly 37 minutes. That’s obviously outstanding! But the excitement does stop there. He shot 55.4% from the field this past season. Again, not a typo. That sort of FG percentage from a college PG is almost unheard of. He also shot 40% from behind the arc on a healthy 4.6 attempts per game and 83% from the foul line on 5 attempts per game. So we know he gets to the line and hits his fouls shots when he gets there. Given his 55.4% FG percentage we also know he finishes a lot through contact. His video highlight are impressive as well. He’s not uber athletic, but he’s quick and athletic enough. He’s an elite ball-handler and very crafty with great instincts. I reluctantly have him #3 on my 2nd-round board somewhat out of deference to the “experts” who have him rated well below the two I’ve listed above. If I were TC I’d probably take one of the two listed above if available at 33, but I’d still be tempted to take Bruce instead. And because Bruce appears to be underrated relative to my assessment, the Wolves could trade down for him and probably get a future 2nd round pick in return.
4. Meleek Thomas — I love his 41.6% 3-point shooting on 5.3 attempts. I also like his low 1.0 turnovers per game and his 38” vertical. Watching his highlights, he doesn’t seem as athletic as his 38” vertical might suggest and unlike the three I’ve listed above, there’s nothing particularly exciting about his game that I was able to see in his highlights. But he’s clearly a shooter and solid. I’ll be disappointed if we end up with Meleek rather than one of the three I’ve listed above, but not super upset.
5. Richie Saunders — I love his 5.8 rebounds per game and 6’8.5 wingspan as a SG. He’s a decent 3-point shooter at 37.5% on 6.8 attempts. He looks athletic and fluid with a what seems like a high basketball IQ. But he’s extremely right-hand dominant. In fact, in the multiple videos I watched, I only saw him dribble once with his left hand. Others might look and find more, but it was striking to me how dependent he is on his right hand, especially as a ball-handler. Naz is a PF who handles the ball like a SG. Saunders looks to me like a SG with the handle of a PF — not a clumsy big, but a big. I won’t be terribly upside if we draft him but I’ll be very disappointed. If not one of my top three I’d much prefer Meleek over Richie.
I would absolutely stay away from Braden Smith. I actually like small guards and they don’t come much smaller than Smith who is 166.6 pounds with a standing reach of 7’9.5. When I started to watch his video highlights this morning I was expecting to see a super quick highly athletic PG who uses those attributes to compensate for his very small size. But that’s not what I saw. Instead, I saw a very solid, smart PG who can succeed at the college level but wouldn’t stand a chance in the NBA. I’d also stay away from Jack Kayil. I starting watching his videos expecting to see something exciting in his game. What I saw was a relatively slow, highly mechanical player who doesn’t look like he merits consideration as an NBA player.
So there you have it. Deep down, I’m hoping that the Rocco era becomes the Rocco-Thorton era after tonight.
