Minnesota Sports Forum

LloydBraun wrote:If we fall out of the top 3, we should trade down and take Kaminsky. Another great game yesterday.

Are you not a fan of mudiay or Johnson?

Such an intriguing draft. Mudiay scares me for the same reasons that Exum did last year. He doesn't look that much better than the local Chinese players in those videos. He should be absolutely dominating from what I can tell. I think Mudiay can play in this league but I put Russell ahead of him just because of the competition. I get really apprehensive beyond Okafor, Russell and Towns. I would trade down for WCS or Myles Turner if we get 4 and we know a team wants Mudiay or Johnson.

Yuck. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2362673-how-concerning-are-jahlil-okafors-defensive-struggles

Compared to Kentucky freshman Karl-Anthony Towns, who's also looking to make a case as the No. 1 prospect in the country, Okafor has 19 fewer blocks despite playing 239 more minutes.

Okafor's 4.6 percent block percentage is abnormally low relative to the block percentages that current NBA big men put up in college.

Of all the centers in the NBA who spent time at the Division I level, only Mason Plumlee and Nikola Vucevic left college their final year with lower block percentages than Okafor. And in the pros, both Plumlee and Vucevic allow their opponents to shoot 54 percent at the rim.

Defending pick-and-rolls has been an adventure for Okafor all season. Teams have even targeted him in an attempt to pull him away from the basket and expose his not-so-quick lateral foot speed.

It got to the point where Duke even switched to zone, something coach Mike Krzyzewski doesn't often play.

"If you watch Duke, you know why they got beat," Louisville coach Rick Pitino told Sports Illustrated's David Gardner. "They got beat with high pick-and-rolls. But they were playing zones. It was a smart move because it takes away from Okafor having to come out."

Okafor's issues stem from a lack of side-to-side mobility. After the initial screen is set, guards have had easy times turning the corner or simply blowing by him.

That article voiced my concerns with Okafor pretty solidly. Read it as a whole. There's more good things in there.

Also, for the talk about Kaminsky, if we traded down for a big, I'd hope it was for Bobby Portis instead. I like his game a ton.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:If we fall out of the top 3, we should trade down and take Kaminsky. Another great game yesterday.

Kaminsky feels very Spurs-esque to me. He's just the kind of guy they would target: Highly skilled and IQ player that gets undervalued because he's an upperclassman and isn't an athletic freak.

Of course, the Spurs know what to do with a player once they get them in their system. And they are very patient (case in point: Corey Joseph).

So I'm curious, do you like the idea of Kamensky for us? He's not typically your type of prospect being an upperclassmen and requiring patience.

Well, I like Kaminsky, but I certainly wouldn't take him with a top 5 pick. Beyond that point, he'd probably get on my radar. The assumption in trading down is that we would get some additional asset + Kaminsky. If we're in the top 3, it would be really hard for me to advocate trading down.

I don't recall being biased against upperclassmen, but I certainly recognize that age is a factor when determining future improvement. That being said, if a player is already really good, as Forrest Gump would say, "Potential is what potential does". For example, I really liked Ty Lawson coming out of North Carolina (Drew and I were consistent cheerleaders for Lawson back at the time) and he was a junior. But he was fantastic and seemed like a safe pick, even as high as where we took Flynn.

As for your comment on patience, I think where you and I get tangled up is you assume my criticism of a current player's performance is somehow an indication that I don't like their potential and we should just jettison them. Just because I think someone should play in the D-League or learn from the end of the bench doesn't mean I think they have no future with us and will never, ever be good. We just have different views of how players develop and how minutes should be allocated.

I love Kaminsky...but only as a college player for Wisconsin, not as a T-Wolf. He is built for the Badgers system, but exactly the opposite of what Flip seems to be trying to build here. His foot speed makes Pek look like Usain Bolt.

I like Cam's take. If Flip doesn't like the options available to him when his turn comes up and still is looking for a big man, he needs to look at Bobby Portis. This guy is still sitting outside of the lottery in most mocks and is really growing on me... has a chance to be a good NBA PF. Great size, above average athleticism, and averaging 18 and 9 on 56% shooting. I think he moves up sharply with a good showing in the tournament, but still could be a great trade-down option.

longstrangetrip wrote:I love Kaminsky...but only as a college player for Wisconsin, not as a T-Wolf. He is built for the Badgers system, but exactly the opposite of what Flip seems to be trying to build here. His foot speed makes Pek look like Usain Bolt.

I like Cam's take. If Flip doesn't like the options available to him when his turn comes up and still is looking for a big man, he needs to look at Bobby Portis. This guy is still sitting outside of the lottery in most mocks and is really growing on me... has a chance to be a good NBA PF. Great size, above average athleticism, and averaging 18 and 9 on 56% shooting. I think he moves up sharply with a good showing in the tournament, but still could be a great trade-down option.

LST, What does Portis do better than Kaminsky (and I admit, I have never watched Portis, and I've only seen Kaminsky a handful of times)?

Q12543 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:I love Kaminsky...but only as a college player for Wisconsin, not as a T-Wolf. He is built for the Badgers system, but exactly the opposite of what Flip seems to be trying to build here. His foot speed makes Pek look like Usain Bolt.

I like Cam's take. If Flip doesn't like the options available to him when his turn comes up and still is looking for a big man, he needs to look at Bobby Portis. This guy is still sitting outside of the lottery in most mocks and is really growing on me... has a chance to be a good NBA PF. Great size, above average athleticism, and averaging 18 and 9 on 56% shooting. I think he moves up sharply with a good showing in the tournament, but still could be a great trade-down option.

LST, What does Portis do better than Kaminsky (and I admit, I have never watched Portis, and I've only seen Kaminsky a handful of times)?

Portis is actually a pretty good defender. Kaminsky, on the other hand, is going to struggle mightily on that end at the next level. Both good scorers. Frank's jumper is going to be his calling card. I think Bobby's better in the post and facing up. Bobby also has that KG mid-range jumper.

And Bobby's a 19-year old sophomore. Added plus.

I don't know Q, you seem to get off guys awfully quick. Now I will have to say a lot of times you've been right on guys. Wes, and Dwill come to mind.