Camden wrote:Matteo Spagnolo's actually a super nice pick here. 19-year old kid that plays over in Italy. Same league as Gabriele Procida, if I'm remembering correctly. Creative with the basketball and has a solid perimeter shot. Not bad at all. I actually thought he had pulled out of the draft.
I'd say this is the 2nd-best pick of the night for the Wolves after Moore. I really like him.
This excerpt from daft.net explains in part why I don't like the Kessler pick:
"Doesn't secure the ball very well when posting up offensively, is prone to having it knocked away, resulting in turnovers ... Can sometimes try to do too much on the offensive end instead of playing to his strengths ... Is a liability anytime he dribbles the basketball ... Has the ball knocked out of his hands more than he probably should for a player as strong as he is ... Needs to improve his ability to pass out of the post and find open teammates ... Is not a good free throw shooter, could improve on his career 61.4% free throw percentage ... Despite his ability to be a rim protector and shot blocker, his ability to switch on defensive assignments and stay in front of opponents when he guards the perimeter will be a challenge for him as a big and less mobile center ..."
He doesn't secure the ball well because he has small hands - about the size of a PG's hands. I hope Connelly got it right with the Kessler pick, but I think other alternatives like Ty Ty would have been much better.
I'd give Tim Connelly and this new front office a very solid B-plus for their first draft class. I see the plan they had and think they executed relatively well.
I think they left a little cheese on the table at certain draft slots, but overall I like what they did -- getting two high-floor, two-way role players with size in the first round in Walker Kessler and Wendell Moore Jr., and two exciting, high-upside picks in the second round in Josh Minott and Matteo Spagnolo. Minnesota got better tonight.
I'm not as apoplectic as Lipoli, but I don't like this draft. The ceiling of both of these guys is "solid" when this team isn't good enough to settle for that and knowing the guys they chose likely won't be rotation players for a while.
From a larger standpoint, not addressing PG at all is beyond stupid and we're gonna know this when we're stuck overpaying D'Lo.
And someone's gonna mention Spagnolo. Let's be real. He will be one of those guys who never leaves Europe.
Camden wrote:Matteo Spagnolo's actually a super nice pick here. 19-year old kid that plays over in Italy. Same league as Gabriele Procida, if I'm remembering correctly. Creative with the basketball and has a solid perimeter shot. Not bad at all. I actually thought he had pulled out of the draft.
Actually is signed with Real Madrid and was out on loan. Seems like a great shooter, good stash pick
I'm not super familiar with all of these foreign leagues, but last year Matteo Spagnolo played for Vanoli Cremona of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) -- same league as Gabriele Procida on Fortitudo Bologna -- on loan from Real Madrid, correct.
Funny enough, I just read that he's been dubbed the Italian Ricky Rubio. I think Spagnolo's worth keeping our eye on. There's definitely talent there.
WildWolf2813 wrote:I'm not as apoplectic as Lipoli, but I don't like this draft. The ceiling of both of these guys is "solid" when this team isn't good enough to settle for that and knowing the guys they chose likely won't be rotation players for a while.
From a larger standpoint, not addressing PG at all is beyond stupid and we're gonna know this when we're stuck overpaying D'Lo.
Yeah, not real happy with our picks especially Kessler. Slow with small hands and kind of a commodity who I expect we could pick up a more polished version of him in free agency. Moore is a better pick, but he projects to be a backup player and not sure he moves the needle at all. Second round picks ok but kind of meh, when I thought better talent like Chandler and Liddell were available in that round at 38 and 41.
WildWolf2813 wrote:I'm not as apoplectic as Lipoli, but I don't like this draft. The ceiling of both of these guys is "solid" when this team isn't good enough to settle for that and knowing the guys they chose likely won't be rotation players for a while.
From a larger standpoint, not addressing PG at all is beyond stupid and we're gonna know this when we're stuck overpaying D'Lo.
And someone's gonna mention Spagnolo. Let's be real. He will be one of those guys who never leaves Europe.
Yeah I'm gonna mention Spagnolo.....next time I order Seafood pasta in red sauce.
My BPA that weren't drafted. Hopefully we can sign a few of them
Justin Lewis
Jean Montero (stash)
Dom Barlow
Keon Ellis
Vince Williams
Julian Champagnie
Tevin Brown
Orlando Robinson
Kofi Cockburn
Well, Justin Lewis and Jean Montero were the only two guys I had in my top-40 that didn't get drafted. I wonder if they were sought after, but instead told teams not to draft them so they could choose their own destination after they slipped as far as they did. That happens from time to time.
