Hey Guys

[Lipoli390]

Ricky played all 82 games the 2013-14 season. He played all 41 games before his injury his rookie year. Otherwise his missed games were all due to 2 freak acute injuries. He doesn't suffer from chronic physical problems like Pek and he doesn't have a track record of a long list of different injuries that periodically keep him out of games. He may ultimately continue to experience one serious injury after another, but it's far too early assume he's injury prone based on his two major freak injuries.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I totally agree that there is a big difference between freak and chronic injury, and Ricky defines the first and Pek the second. But since this is the first optimism thread of the season, I'm going to suggest that Pek's surgery which shaved down the offending piece of bone which has given him so much pain may take care of his most problematic chronic injury. Yes, he will still continue to have other nagging issues that big men tend to have, but without the serious foot injuries he could be on the court 65 games this year. How great would that be for the Wolves!

Cool, thank for teeing up the Reveling Thread. We have a lot of great basketball minds here, and we tend to move into analytical mode too soon sometimes, rather than just letting the rare piece of good news sink in. A magical season seems to be in process for the Twins (on pace right now to win 94 games), and maybe the Wolves' fortunes are turning around just as quickly at the same time. Just imagine how good this team can be this year if they only have the league average amount of games lost to injury. Rubio, Pek, Wiggins, Bazz, LaVine, Martin, Dieng, KG and Towns/Okafor...and maybe AB starts to build on the occasional flash he has shown. The hell with "we're still a year away"...that's a roster that can do some real damage this year.

I'm believing...and reveling!

[60WinTim]

We could just call our #1 pick "Okatowns"...

On the reveling side, one of the subtle positives to come out of this past season was Dieng's ability to play PF. I remember in summer league and early in the year how Dieng looked like a fish out of water at PF. But as he got more reps throughout the season his comfort level and effectiveness increased a ton. So if we draft Okafor, we will not be saddled with 3 guys that can only play center.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

We could just call our #1 pick "Okatowns"...

On the reveling side, one of the subtle positives to come out of this past season was Dieng's ability to play PF. I remember in summer league and early in the year how Dieng looked like a fish out of water at PF. But as he got more reps throughout the season his comfort level and effectiveness increased a ton. So if we draft Okafor, we will not be saddled with 3 guys that can only play center.

Some of you might recall me advocating for Dieng at PF to start last season, with Thad Young coming off the bench and likely closing most games. I just feel like most teams go bigger to start halves and that Gorgui and Pek would make a good pairing. The few games Pek was healthy and Dieng played next to him were very instructional. They played quite well together and we were a solid defensive team.

Dieng is not the ideal PF, but I think he's less exposed defensively as a 4 than as a 5.

Of course, Flip probably views Dieng as purely a backup 5 and he'll continue to throw out a platoon-style rotation at the 4 with some combination of KG/Bjelica/Payne/Bennett.

[MikkeMan]

Not sure why you think bigs age gracefully. Historically, that's horribly inaccurate.

If u look at the list of players that' have logged the most mins in NBA history?

I think that list is somehow skewed since if bigs are able to stay healthy, they can play longer since quickness is not that important part for their game. So those freaks of nature that stay healthy despite their big size like Parish, Abdul-Jabbar, Duncan, Mutombo etc. will make minute leader list look like bigs would stay healthy longer. But there have been several bigs with quite short and/or injury prone careers: like Oden, Muresan, Ming, Bill Walton, Bowie, Daugherty, Emeka Okafor, Pervis Ellison, Bynum, Eddy Curry, LaFrentz, Bryant Reeves, Ralph Sampson and Jeff Ruland.

I have also feeling that modern NBA game is tougher for bigs than it used to be and thus it will be even more common that they will be injury prone in their late careers. For example from current bigs, Pek, Bogut, Varejao, Noah and lately even Howard have had several injuries almost every season.

[TRKO [enjin:12664595]]

We could just call our #1 pick "Okatowns"...

On the reveling side, one of the subtle positives to come out of this past season was Dieng's ability to play PF. I remember in summer league and early in the year how Dieng looked like a fish out of water at PF. But as he got more reps throughout the season his comfort level and effectiveness increased a ton. So if we draft Okafor, we will not be saddled with 3 guys that can only play center.

I just don't think you can let Pek or Deng or any other player besides Wiggins, and Wiggins can play the 3 or the 2, affect the pick. Just pick the absolute best player and deal with the rest later.

[Coolbreeze44]

We could just call our #1 pick "Okatowns"...

On the reveling side, one of the subtle positives to come out of this past season was Dieng's ability to play PF. I remember in summer league and early in the year how Dieng looked like a fish out of water at PF. But as he got more reps throughout the season his comfort level and effectiveness increased a ton. So if we draft Okafor, we will not be saddled with 3 guys that can only play center.

I just don't think you can let Pek or Deng or any other player besides Wiggins, and Wiggins can play the 3 or the 2, affect the pick. Just pick the absolute best player and deal with the rest later.

I'm with you. I want the best player in this draft regardless of position.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

We could just call our #1 pick "Okatowns"...

On the reveling side, one of the subtle positives to come out of this past season was Dieng's ability to play PF. I remember in summer league and early in the year how Dieng looked like a fish out of water at PF. But as he got more reps throughout the season his comfort level and effectiveness increased a ton. So if we draft Okafor, we will not be saddled with 3 guys that can only play center.

I just don't think you can let Pek or Deng or any other player besides Wiggins, and Wiggins can play the 3 or the 2, affect the pick. Just pick the absolute best player and deal with the rest later.

I'm with you. I want the best player in this draft regardless of position.

I agree to a point. But if the players at the top of the draft are as even as many say they are, I think Flip needs to look at "fit" as a tiebreaker. Flip doesn't know yet whether PF or C is going to be more a position of need next year. If Pek's surgery allows him to play significant minutes next year (remember, this is an optimism thread), Towns' ability to play 25 minutes at PF backing up KG makes him a much more valuable piece for Flip than Okafor.

By the way, I think Flip needs to pick Towns strictly because he is BPA. But for those who see Towns/Okafor as a coin toss, Towns' positional flexibility has to be the deciding factor.

[Coolbreeze44]

We could just call our #1 pick "Okatowns"...

On the reveling side, one of the subtle positives to come out of this past season was Dieng's ability to play PF. I remember in summer league and early in the year how Dieng looked like a fish out of water at PF. But as he got more reps throughout the season his comfort level and effectiveness increased a ton. So if we draft Okafor, we will not be saddled with 3 guys that can only play center.

I just don't think you can let Pek or Deng or any other player besides Wiggins, and Wiggins can play the 3 or the 2, affect the pick. Just pick the absolute best player and deal with the rest later.

I'm with you. I want the best player in this draft regardless of position.

I agree to a point. But if the players at the top of the draft are as even as many say they are, I think Flip needs to look at "fit" as a tiebreaker. Flip doesn't know yet whether PF or C is going to be more a position of need next year. If Pek's surgery allows him to play significant minutes next year (remember, this is an optimism thread), Towns' ability to play 25 minutes at PF backing up KG makes him a much more valuable piece for Flip than Okafor.

By the way, I think Flip needs to pick Towns strictly because he is BPA. But for those who see Towns/Okafor as a coin toss, Towns' positional flexibility has to be the deciding factor.

I agree with all this LST. I think we are fortunate in that the BPA is at a position of need for us. We are unfortunate that the BPA isn't a little more clear cut like it is in some years. I'm a little different than most when it comes to Russell. Currently he wouldn't make my top 4. So I really think it comes down to the two big guys, and Towns seems to be the best pick today.

[TheGrey08]

We could just call our #1 pick "Okatowns"...

On the reveling side, one of the subtle positives to come out of this past season was Dieng's ability to play PF. I remember in summer league and early in the year how Dieng looked like a fish out of water at PF. But as he got more reps throughout the season his comfort level and effectiveness increased a ton. So if we draft Okafor, we will not be saddled with 3 guys that can only play center.

I just don't think you can let Pek or Deng or any other player besides Wiggins, and Wiggins can play the 3 or the 2, affect the pick. Just pick the absolute best player and deal with the rest later.

I'm with you. I want the best player in this draft regardless of position.

I agree to a point. But if the players at the top of the draft are as even as many say they are, I think Flip needs to look at "fit" as a tiebreaker. Flip doesn't know yet whether PF or C is going to be more a position of need next year. If Pek's surgery allows him to play significant minutes next year (remember, this is an optimism thread), Towns' ability to play 25 minutes at PF backing up KG makes him a much more valuable piece for Flip than Okafor.

By the way, I think Flip needs to pick Towns strictly because he is BPA. But for those who see Towns/Okafor as a coin toss, Towns' positional flexibility has to be the deciding factor.

Agreed LST. Well said.