2016-2017 around the league thread

[Monster]

Do you think Laker fans have an Ingram is a bust thread because he's shooting 35% at the 1/3 mark of the season.

Ha, I know your comment is tongue in cheek, but it does bring up the topic of how bad this year's rookie crop is performing. Other than Embiid, who is doing anything noteworthy? Hield and Murray were two guys I'm guessing were considered for our pick, but they're both shooting worse than Dunn from the field...without providing anything close to the defense he provides. And Bender has been absolutely dreadful. It's early, but my takeaways on the draft are this: it's a weak class, and Thibs might have made the best choice at 3.

But to answer your question, I'm guessing there are bust threads in every city except Philly.

It's been an underwhelming class from the jump that's for sure. Bender was supposed to suck at first. Buddy and Jamal Murray and Dunn? All those guys were supposed to make an impact quickly. We will see you never know what will happen after 3 years or even more. It's kinda fun though to see the reactions though. :)

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I'm just catching up to the reports (rumors?) that Dragic might be on the Wolves' radar screen. Am I the only one here that is hoping there is nothing to this? Dragic is a very good shooter...much better than Rubio, to be sure. But if you look at the other tools you want in your PG...assisting, limiting TOs, defense and rebounding...I would argue that Ricky is superior in all of these...and much superior at that. Plus he's younger and has a much better contract. Dragic is always going to be a better scorer, but is that really what this team needs? I prefer a younger and better defender whose first thought is getting our three scorers involved than scoring himself. I guess the question is this: is Dragic's far superior shooting offset all the other areas where Ricky is the better player? I don't know, but my gut feel is no.

[Duke13]

Actually Dragic is very good at driving and dishing to teammates. Very good creator, and gets in the lane and dishes to teammates. On top of all that he's a very good finisher at the rim. To sum it up, defenses need to guard him. Rubio isn't a dominating defender by any means.

Did anyone watch the dreadful 3rd quarter last night? The defense wasn't guarding Rubio at all, it was so bad he couldn't even enter a pass into the post a couple times because his guy was sagging off so much. Rubio had four assist after the first 4 minutes of the game.

With all that said, I wouldn't trade what it would take to get Dragic, Dunn, the big 3 or our draft pick. And yea I agree he's up there in age and not a great contract considering his age. Although it's tough for me to conceptualize what's a good or bad contract these days with the new CBA.

[kekgeek]

I'm just catching up to the reports (rumors?) that Dragic might be on the Wolves' radar screen. Am I the only one here that is hoping there is nothing to this? Dragic is a very good shooter...much better than Rubio, to be sure. But if you look at the other tools you want in your PG...assisting, limiting TOs, defense and rebounding...I would argue that Ricky is superior in all of these...and much superior at that. Plus he's younger and has a much better contract. Dragic is always going to be a better scorer, but is that really what this team needs? I prefer a younger and better defender whose first thought is getting our three scorers involved than scoring himself. I guess the question is this: is Dragic's far superior shooting offset all the other areas where Ricky is the better player? I don't know, but my gut feel is no.

I'm with you LST, I think ricky is just as good and I don't want to give up assets to add aging players who won't help when the wolves are ready to compete.

I'm in the the under the radar moves line Casspi, tucker even a guy like chandler (Wilson or Tyson).

Like something like 2020 1st, bazz, payne and maybe other smaller pieces for knight and tucker.

Or a Bazz for Casspi trade

I would be fine with doing a dragic, trade if we don't trade a starter or Dunn (I realize that could be real hard).

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I don't think people realize just how dangerous this offense would be with Dragic running it instead of Rubio, and that's not meant to be a shot at Rubio. Dragic is just the far superior point guard despite his less-than-stellar defense. Also, unlike Rubio, Dragic is capable of being a threat while playing without the basketball. He's a good cutter, finisher, and you can't give him any space on the perimeter or he'll make you pay for it. That reason is a big reason why I think he's a great fit here.

Ideally, that trade would involve a third team who could take on Rubio and give assets to Miami while we got Dragic.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Actually Dragic is very good at driving and dishing to teammates. Very good creator, and gets in the lane and dishes to teammates. On top of all that he's a very good finisher at the rim. To sum it up, defenses need to guard him. Rubio isn't a dominating defender by any means.

Did anyone watch the dreadful 3rd quarter last night? The defense wasn't guarding Rubio at all, it was so bad he couldn't even enter a pass into the post a couple times because his guy was sagging off so much. Rubio had four assist after the first 4 minutes of the game.

With all that said, I wouldn't trade what it would take to get Dragic, Dunn, the big 3 or our draft pick. And yea I agree he's up there in age and not a great contract considering his age. Although it's tough for me to conceptualize what's a good or bad contract these days with the new CBA.

Actually, I watched more than the 3rd quarter - I watched the whole game - and Rubio made some key plays, including hitting a couple of big 3's and hitting Dieng early and often for some nice looks in the PnR game. He also helped hold Schroeder to a pretty inefficient game overall.

I know this must be tough for you Duke, with Rubio playing a little better lately and the Wolves winning with him out there in crunch time, but I'm sure you can soldier through this. Just bite that bullet and close your eyes!

[kekgeek]

I don't think people realize just how dangerous this offense would be with Dragic running it instead of Rubio, and that's not meant to be a shot at Rubio. Dragic is just the far superior point guard despite his less-than-stellar defense. Also, unlike Rubio, Dragic is capable of being a threat while playing without the basketball. He's a good cutter, finisher, and you can't give him any space on the perimeter or he'll make you pay for it. That reason is a big reason why I think he's a great fit here.

Ideally, that trade would involve a third team who could take on Rubio and give assets to Miami while we got Dragic.

I think the defense takes a big step back more than the offense would improve

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I don't think people realize just how dangerous this offense would be with Dragic running it instead of Rubio, and that's not meant to be a shot at Rubio. Dragic is just the far superior point guard despite his less-than-stellar defense. Also, unlike Rubio, Dragic is capable of being a threat while playing without the basketball. He's a good cutter, finisher, and you can't give him any space on the perimeter or he'll make you pay for it. That reason is a big reason why I think he's a great fit here.

Ideally, that trade would involve a third team who could take on Rubio and give assets to Miami while we got Dragic.

My issue is that we get weighed down with a pretty big and lengthy Dragic contract and the guy isn't getting any younger.

I do agree though that he could make our offense very dangerous....in theory.

One other curiousity:

Dragic Career On Court +/-: 0.0
Dragic Career Net On/Off +/-: +2.3

Rubio Career On Court +/-: +1.2
Rubio Career Net On/Off +/-: +6.9

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I don't think people realize just how dangerous this offense would be with Dragic running it instead of Rubio, and that's not meant to be a shot at Rubio. Dragic is just the far superior point guard despite his less-than-stellar defense. Also, unlike Rubio, Dragic is capable of being a threat while playing without the basketball. He's a good cutter, finisher, and you can't give him any space on the perimeter or he'll make you pay for it. That reason is a big reason why I think he's a great fit here.

Ideally, that trade would involve a third team who could take on Rubio and give assets to Miami while we got Dragic.

My issue is that we get weighed down with a pretty big and lengthy Dragic contract and the guy isn't getting any younger.

I do agree though that he could make our offense very dangerous....in theory.

One other curiousity:

Dragic Career On Court +/-: 0.0
Dragic Career Net On/Off +/-: +2.3

Rubio Career On Court +/-: +1.29
Rubio Career Net On/Off +/-: +6.9

That doesn't surprise me too much, Q. Ricky was so subpar in the 10 or so games after he came back from the elbow injury (far too soon, I think) that we kind of forgot about the positive force he has been throughout his career. He was a little sloppy with the ball last night, but we know that is not typical...very few PGs protect the ball as well as he does. And his return to form has been a big part of the team's better play. The comparative numbers above reflect Ricky's superiority over Dragic in getting his teammates involved plus his enormous superiority on defense, only partially offset by Dragic's scoring superiority.

I would be surprised if Thibs would make a move that would make us weaker defensively.

[thedoper]

I found the Windhorst comment that we are being very active on the trade front interesting. My thought is that Thibs knows what he needs and if that means a scoring pg then great. If Thibs trades Rubio and somehow lands Dragic I would be ecstatic. It would certainly change up what we could do including going small with Dragic and Dunn in some sets which would be a lot of fun to watch.