Minnesota Sports Forum

If we hang around 5 I think we should take Poeltl. He's a legit big who can backup Towns and if he's good enough start next to him. We need defense and rebounding in the frontcourt and he provides both and has had a very efficient year scoring almost 18 a game so he's got some skills on that end as well. I see his floor as a good backup big which we definitely need. The level of improvement he's shown from last year to this year is encouraging as well for his growth potential moving forward.

khans2k5 wrote:If we hang around 5 I think we should take Poeltl. He's a legit big who can backup Towns and if he's good enough start next to him. We need defense and rebounding in the frontcourt and he provides both and has had a very efficient year scoring almost 18 a game so he's got some skills on that end as well. I see his floor as a good backup big which we definitely need. The level of improvement he's shown from last year to this year is encouraging as well for his growth potential moving forward.

I like Poetl. I wouldn't take him in the top-seven.

The unknowns for me are Bender and Jaylen Brown. If we pick 5 and Ingram, Simmons and Dunn are off the board, do we take one of these young guys or go for an older guy who is more proven (Hield or Valentine). After pick 3, its more of a needs selection and I think our needs are a 3 and D wing, two way PF/C and backup point in probably that order.
I also want to have a second rounder as we could potentially address one of these areas in the second round-3 and D guy (McCaw) or back up point (Payton, Morris, Felder).

Domantas Sabonis: 17 pts (8-14 FG), 13 rebs, 7 ast -- his defense was also impressive, as usual. Well-rounded player.

January 21, 2016 (vs Saint Mary's): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS3Vr4vLHCg

Camden0916 wrote:Domantas Sabonis: 17 pts (8-14 FG), 13 rebs, 7 ast -- his defense was also impressive, as usual. Well-rounded player.

January 21, 2016 (vs Saint Mary's): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS3Vr4vLHCg

I've watched very little of him, but when I did he looked like a strictly low post scorer. Is there more to his offensive game?

He has some range. I remember reading somewhere he was hitting 47% on long 2s. Flip wpuld have drafted him just for that.

TRKO wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:Domantas Sabonis: 17 pts (8-14 FG), 13 rebs, 7 ast -- his defense was also impressive, as usual. Well-rounded player.

January 21, 2016 (vs Saint Mary's): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS3Vr4vLHCg

I've watched very little of him, but when I did he looked like a strictly low post scorer. Is there more to his offensive game?

Sabonis' current situation puts him in a position to score in the low post a lot, being that he has to play the 5 for the Zags, but he's very capable diving to the rim out of the P&R. Mobile for a big, can finish with either hand. Still working on his ability to pop out and drill jumpers, but that part of his game has improved from last year. In the link provided above, he does knock down four jumpers and took a handful of others. So, I think he's getting more comfortable doing that. It also doesn't hurt to see that he's jumped his FT% from 66.4% his freshman year to 78% this year with more volume.

And as most people that follow college basketball know already, Sabonis is one of the best rebounders in basketball and pulls down 3.03 O-REB per game. For the sake of comparison, Jakob Poetl snags 2.75 and Ben Simmons grabs 3.10.

There are some of things I like about Sabonis (his defensive rating) but I would not spend a top ten pick on Sabonis. He has good rebound numbers but he doesn't have great assist, steal or block numbers and in my opinion those numbers translate better to the NBA. The level of competition is weak, so for him to dominate in scoring and rebounding doesn't warrant a top ten pick. Keep in mind, we haven't seen a good pro from that school since Stockton.

I watched a full game of Buddy Hield today. My first impression was that the Oklahoma offensive system is just awful. It's basically just a bunch of isolation basketball. There was zero creativity and very little ball movement or motion.

After a blistering first half, Hield came down to earth in the 2nd half and had some big misses late when they could have really closed in on Texas. Defensively, he takes some plays off and got beat. I also saw him make a couple of big defensive plays, but he seemed to use that end of the floor to conserve energy mostly.

So after the game I was a little disappointed in his play. Then I looked at the box score and saw that he ended up with 33 points on 12-24 from the floor, including 6-13 from 3. Not too shabby overall.

Jaylen Brown is gonna be a bust if he leaves now. Mark my words.