Potential Draft Deals

[WildWolf2813]

why is everyone trying to move Muhammad... again?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

why is everyone trying to move Muhammad... again?

No one is... Unless you're talking about me saying I'd include him in a deal for Cauley-Stein, which I would.

[A Friendly Flatulence [enjin:8907904]]

not necessarily trying to move Muhammad, but more willing to overpay (which includes Muhammad) in order to have one of the most defensively dynamic front courts in the NBA. Think about always having a 7 foot rim protector on the floor, or having 2 at the same time. WCS compliments Towns in the fact that he could take the perimeter oriented big & Towns could take the post or heavier of the two. That is a lot of shot blocking and defensive versatility to build towards the future.

[Lipoli390]

Reading reports on what NBA GMs and scouts are saying about WCS, there seems to be a near consensus that he has the potential to be a great NBA defender. But there is also apparently widespread apprehension related to questions about his passion for the game. Then you look at his stats and see that his blocked shots decline precipitously from his second to third year even though his minutes increased slightly. His FG percentage has declined each of his three seasons and neither his scoring or rebounding have improved significantly. Those statistical patterns corroborate the cause for concern about WCS's mental make-up and passion for the game. And no matter how much talent a player has, that player goes nowhere in the NBA without an overriding passion for the game.

Bottom line is this. You don't give up a lot of good assets for a one-way player with those sorts of questions surrounding him. Not sure you should even if he were a great two-way prospect. Shabazz is overflowing with passion for the game and he showed clear signs last season of developing into a terrific scorer and rebounder from the wing position. Bjelica, Dieng and our two up high second round picks are also highly valuable assets. I'd certainly be open to trading any, all or some combination of them for the right deal. But if we end up drafting Towns as I think we should, then giving up all those assets for WCS, in light of those fundamental questions surrounding him, would be extremely unwise in my view.

[Monster]

If you draft Towns and are moving up to get a PF then tradingn Dieng makes sense but I would hesitate to move Bazz because Lavine has potential but I would like to have Bazz as an option at Wing and besides that he is one guy I could see being part of the leadership of your team because of the toughness he plays the game with. We are talking about a guy that looks like he could put up 20ppg if he can stay healthy and gives you some crazy offensive rebounding as well. Look at what TT is doing for the Cavs right now Bazz might be able to do somethingn similar to that off the bench or as a starter as a wing player. Of the current players on the Wolves I think Bazz has legit potential to be a heck of a player. He is the forgotten man in a lot of Wolves articles. His injury history the last 3 years is troubling but damn I want a guy like him on my team. I get that Towns and WCS is very intriguing but man I would hate to give up Bazz and I know he has some faults. He plays the game like Brewer with the body to back it up and likely more useful abilties.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

If Cauley-Stein didn't have passion for the game, he wouldn't have returned for his junior season after watching UK lose in the tourney a year prior. He wouldn't have devoted the time to develop his free throws from 37.2% to 48.2% to 61.7% in his three years at Kentucky.

Cauley-Stein noted how UK Coach John Calipari and assistant Kenny Payne advised him to be prepared to tell NBA teams what they apparently want to hear.

"That was one of the biggest things Coach Cal and Coach Payne were telling me: They're going to want to know, 'Do you love the game?'" Cauley-Stein said. "I don't imagine not playing the game. It's never entered my mind, like, 'Dang, I don't want to play basketball.' If I didn't want to play, then I wouldn't play. It's that simple. There's no reason to play if you're not trying to play."

UK teammate Devin Booker called the idea of Cauley-Stein being indifferent about basketball absurd.

"He went to the University of Kentucky," Booker said. "If you don't love the game of basketball, you don't go to the University of Kentucky. That's all we do there. I mean, that's it."

Noting the passion Cauley-Stein displayed on the court, Booker said, "For someone to say he doesn't love the game, that's stupid. That's what that is."

Kentucky basketball demands a single-mindedness, Cauley-Stein said.

"At Kentucky, you have to be a competitor," he said. "If you're not, you're going to look weak. You have to go to practice like it's a game. Or you're going to look like a fool. And there's always NBA scouts there."

"I don't see myself not playing basketball," he said. "I don't see myself not around basketball. There's no part of me that just doesn't like basketball -- I love it."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2015/05/15/3853966/cauley-stein-theres-no-part-of.html#storylink=cpy

Passion isn't an issue for that guy, in my opinion. When you play defense as hard and as good as he did, that's not a result of being indifferent to the game. That's because you want to win basketball games.

Also, he averaged 2.1 BPG and 2.9 BPG as a freshman and sophomore, respectively, in roughly 24 MPG. Perhaps the only reason he dipped to 1.7 BPG as a junior was because there was a Karl-Anthony Towns blocking 2.3 shots a game next to him. Or because WCS had a lot more defensive assignments on the perimeter this year that allowed Towns to guard the bigger post player.

Shabazz is a very solid piece here, but even he has some questions in his game. What is easier to produce: scoring or rim protection? I'd argue scoring, and that I value Cauley-Stein's defensive ability over Muhammad's irregular -but-solid scoring ability.

[Lipoli390]

Cam - Those comments by WCS and his teammate Kevin Booker give some comfort. But as WCS said, Coach Cal advises his players to tell NBA teams what they want to hear. In any event, I haven't reached a conclusion about WCS's passion for the game. I only note that it's been called in to question and that concerns me enough not to give up the full panoply of assets suggested in this thread as the price to him.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Cam - Those comments by WCS and his teammate Kevin Booker give some comfort. But as WCS said, Coach Cal advises his players to tell NBA teams what they want to hear. In any event, I haven't reached a conclusion about WCS's passion for the game. I only note that it's been called in to question and that concerns me enough not to give up the full panoply of assets suggested in this thread as the price to him.

Sure, and there were questions about Shabazz's character pre-draft too. Questions don't always have negative answers, though.

Here's his interview at the combine: http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Willie-Cauley-Stein-Interview-5010/

[It's worth noting that we could have the Bounce Brothers and the Hyphenated Heros.]

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

If Towns can be the defensive anchor people claim he can be then I'd rather put a more offensive oriented player next to him than trying to double down on defense. When it comes down to it you need a defense just good enough to get a stop, but you need multiple options on offense. If you have Towns as an anchor with Wiggins and Ricky on the perimeter and potentially Lavine as at least an average defender I don't think you need an elite defender next to them, but more offense is always welcome. I'd rather bank on a guy like Turner or Lyles who have the potential to be above average defenders with much higher offensive ceilings than WCS. Then you can play 5 out basketball with Towns setting the screens as opposed to 4 out with Towns in a corner and WCS setting the screens.

Why give opposing centers a break and let them defend the limited WCS if you can pull them out to the perimeter with Towns? Plenty of teams are built to handle perimeter oriented 4's now so Towns' offensive advantage is going to come from being a stretch 5. I just don't think WCS and Ricky work on the court at the same time because neither even have a reliable mid-range game yet so teams can go under every screen and just stay in front of WCS and that PnR is effectively shut down.

Look at the 4 teams left. They were built to have 4 shooters on the court and Ricky isn't a shooter so that 4th shooter has to come from the 5 spot which is where Towns is supposedly going to come in. Spacing is a league wide necessity now that Ricky kills, but Towns might be able to fix if we play him at the 5. There's a reason Miami closed out it's games with Lebron at the 4 and Bosh at the 5. The offensive efficiency of those lineups just goes through the roof to the point where you just need to be able to get that stop and you're set. That concept is shown to work from the Warriors playing Draymond at the 5 to the Pelicans being better with Davis at the 5 rather than playing the 4 next to Asik. If Towns can be both that perimeter big and defensive anchor I think you have to play him at the 5 to get the best team result. If we need to go big we have Pek and KG to play with Towns, but for the most part I think you play Towns at the 5 to take advantage of the matchup.

[TRKO [enjin:12664595]]

WCS lack of rebounding turns me off. If he was a better rebounder I would be on board moving up to get him.

Jordan Mickey at 31 could be a great get. At 6'8" he is short, but has long arms. Can block shots and rebound and defend.