Minnesota Sports Forum

I'm sure Marrkanen can shoot well, but there are some red flags looking at his stats. Low steals and assists is troubling, especially as these are stats that are pretty good indicators of defense and passing ability. He rebounds well, but his blocks are low for a 7 footer. One other thing as a Wolves fan that is troubling is that D-Will came from the same school and shot 3 pointers at an incredibly high rate and he couldn't replicate it as a pro, nor did he have much else in terms of useful skillsets.

Just watched a bunch of film on Markkenen I am super impressed. Thanks Slim!! Wouldn't object to him at all, 7footer with really good footwork and a silky smooth jumper. I assumed he was going to be super lanky, but he actually looks like he has a frame that can put on weight.

Philosophically I'm not looking at a draft pick to solve our defensive issues, we need to look to free agency and the growth of our core for this. Remember that KAT and Wigg were both touted as top tier defensive prospects. It takes time to master NBA defense, especially with the spread offenses. As I see it Markenen could be the guy with the highest upside where we are picking, that should always be what matters most. See the Milllauake Bucks.

thedoper wrote:Just watched a bunch of film on Markkenen I am super impressed. Thanks Slim!! Wouldn't object to him at all, 7footer with really good footwork and a silky smooth jumper. I assumed he was going to be super lanky, but he actually looks like he has a frame that can put on weight.

Philosophically I'm not looking at a draft pick to solve our defensive issues, we need to look to free agency and the growth of our core for this. Remember that KAT and Wigg were both touted as top tier defensive prospects. It takes time to master NBA defense, especially with the spread offenses. As I see it Markenen could be the guy with the highest upside where we are picking, that should always be what matters most. See the Milllauake Bucks.

The draft pick this year shouldn't solve any issues short term because if he's playing at a rotational level this season, someone screwed up royally.

If the idea of drafting Markkanen is coming with the disclaimer of hoping Thibs can reach him on defense when he hasn't reached anyone on this team, let alone Towns and Wiggins, you're essentially building a team Thibs can't coach, because if this team has to win games 115-110 nightly, Thibs's barking and yelling about defense will get tuned out.

as for "it takes time to master NBA defense", Towns and Wiggins have gotten worse since their rookie seasons.

WildWolf2813 wrote:

thedoper wrote:Just watched a bunch of film on Markkenen I am super impressed. Thanks Slim!! Wouldn't object to him at all, 7footer with really good footwork and a silky smooth jumper. I assumed he was going to be super lanky, but he actually looks like he has a frame that can put on weight.

Philosophically I'm not looking at a draft pick to solve our defensive issues, we need to look to free agency and the growth of our core for this. Remember that KAT and Wigg were both touted as top tier defensive prospects. It takes time to master NBA defense, especially with the spread offenses. As I see it Markenen could be the guy with the highest upside where we are picking, that should always be what matters most. See the Milllauake Bucks.

The draft pick this year shouldn't solve any issues short term because if he's playing at a rotational level this season, someone screwed up royally.

If the idea of drafting Markkanen is coming with the disclaimer of hoping Thibs can reach him on defense when he hasn't reached anyone on this team, let alone Towns and Wiggins, you're essentially building a team Thibs can't coach, because if this team has to win games 115-110 nightly, Thibs's barking and yelling about defense will get tuned out.

as for "it takes time to master NBA defense", Towns and Wiggins have gotten worse since their rookie seasons.

Im not suggesting that Thibs is going to make him an excellent defender, although Lauri seems like he has the athleticism and footwork to be a decent defender.

I am suggesting that a big with a textbook jumper could be a great asset for this team long term. My point about the draft was that even great defensive prospects according to scouts (Towns/Wiggins) don't materialize into that right away. Shooting seems like more of a known commodity to me than "defensive potential" in prospects.

Just because D Will came from Arizona doesn't mean all players going forward are bad Ricky. Did you forget about Iguodala, Bibby, Terry, Jefferson, Arenas etc etc? Arizona is not known for PF/C development, always was a Guard recruitment hub under Lute Olsen.

thedoper wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:

thedoper wrote:Just watched a bunch of film on Markkenen I am super impressed. Thanks Slim!! Wouldn't object to him at all, 7footer with really good footwork and a silky smooth jumper. I assumed he was going to be super lanky, but he actually looks like he has a frame that can put on weight.

Philosophically I'm not looking at a draft pick to solve our defensive issues, we need to look to free agency and the growth of our core for this. Remember that KAT and Wigg were both touted as top tier defensive prospects. It takes time to master NBA defense, especially with the spread offenses. As I see it Markenen could be the guy with the highest upside where we are picking, that should always be what matters most. See the Milllauake Bucks.

The draft pick this year shouldn't solve any issues short term because if he's playing at a rotational level this season, someone screwed up royally.

If the idea of drafting Markkanen is coming with the disclaimer of hoping Thibs can reach him on defense when he hasn't reached anyone on this team, let alone Towns and Wiggins, you're essentially building a team Thibs can't coach, because if this team has to win games 115-110 nightly, Thibs's barking and yelling about defense will get tuned out.

as for "it takes time to master NBA defense", Towns and Wiggins have gotten worse since their rookie seasons.

Im not suggesting that Thibs is going to make him an excellent defender, although Lauri seems like he has the athleticism and footwork to be a decent defender.

I am suggesting that a big with a textbook jumper could be a great asset for this team long term. My point about the draft was that even great defensive prospects according to scouts (Towns/Wiggins) don't materialize into that right away. Shooting seems like more of a known commodity to me than "defensive potential" in prospects.

Wiggins has great defensive potential, but you can't teach lazy. Towns is the more troubling of the two. Markkanen wouldn't even have to be a great defensive player if Towns would just shut the hell up sometimes and commit to defense even more than offense. We know he can do it. Cal stripped him of his arsenal at Kentucky so he could focus on defense and the low post, Maybe Thibs needs to do the same.

We need to be taking the highest ceiling guys we can. Settling for shooters out of the draft is dumb because free agency is always full of them. We have lots of established young talent on the team. Just like with Dunn we have the opportunity to bring a high pick off the bench and let them learn to play rather than just throw them in the fire for 30+ MPG's. I don't see the point filling one need out of the draft like shooting if those players don't bring much else to the table. That sounds like drafting a role player when you have other guys on the board with way higher upside and time to develop on our team. This year's rookie really should not be counted on for any kind of important minutes if we want to make the playoffs so we should take the guy that will be best for our team 3-4 years down the road when the stop gap vets we bring in come off the books.

Here is my concern with Collin, if he didn't have the huge game in the Final or versus South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament....would anyone be speaking of him right now? Also, his conference competition is weak. Even in his Draftexpress write up they mention his lack of competition and lack of game tape. For me, the jury is out if he can be an NBA talent who can be more then a glue or fill in the blanks player which Dieng does well for us. We need a player who can be NBA on one level (offense, defense, 3shooting, etc) I don't see a player better then Markkanen in Collins , nor Isaac. If we want a defense and hustle guy then let's trade back and get my favorite baby Huey, Ike Anigbogu for defense only.

slimcalhoun27 wrote:Here is my concern with Collin, if he didn't have the huge game in the Final or versus South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament....would anyone be speaking of him right now? Also, his conference competition is weak. Even in his Draftexpress write up they mention his lack of competition and lack of game tape. For me, the jury is out if he can be an NBA talent who can be more then a glue or fill in the blanks player which Dieng does well for us. We need a player who can be NBA on one level (offense, defense, 3shooting, etc) I don't see a player better then Markkanen in Collins , nor Isaac. If we want a defense and hustle guy then let's trade back and get my favorite baby Huey, Ike Anigbogu for defense only.

the fact that he has a thin frame combined with average legth scares me, hell he struggled badly with length in college what;s going to happen in the NBA?

BloopOracle wrote:

slimcalhoun27 wrote:Here is my concern with Collin, if he didn't have the huge game in the Final or versus South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament....would anyone be speaking of him right now? Also, his conference competition is weak. Even in his Draftexpress write up they mention his lack of competition and lack of game tape. For me, the jury is out if he can be an NBA talent who can be more then a glue or fill in the blanks player which Dieng does well for us. We need a player who can be NBA on one level (offense, defense, 3shooting, etc) I don't see a player better then Markkanen in Collins , nor Isaac. If we want a defense and hustle guy then let's trade back and get my favorite baby Huey, Ike Anigbogu for defense only.

the fact that he has a thin frame combined with average legth scares me, hell he struggled badly with length in college what;s going to happen in the NBA?

What struggles did he have in college? I wanted nearly every game and didn't see him struggle with any defender this year. If thin framed is a concern, then Collins being the same size, and Isaac being 25 pounds lighter and smaller and only a 7'1" wingspan isn't killing the measurements.

Like I mentioned in my write up, I would feel more comfortable with Markk on this team with his skillset and shooting ability. If we can secure a FA PF in Ibaka, (pipe dream) to become our starter then our bench depth with a scorer next to Dieng would be amazing.

Ricky, Dunn
??, Lavine
Wiggins, Bjelica
Ibaka, Markkanen
Kat, Dieng