Minnesota Sports Forum

2 sides to Wade Baldwin

Pessimistic View
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2016/1/28/10839660/wade-baldwin-iv-nba-draft-2016-vanderbilt-scouting-report-vanderbilt

Optimistic View
http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball-news/4689650-2016-nba-draft-wade-baldwin-scouting-report-vanderbilt-ranking-lottery

I'm almost always a fan of quality over quantity. However if you miss out on the 4 or 5 top guys and the next 10 or so guys are similarly graded and you think you can add a few more picks and some quality bench players, you at least consider it. Its too early to say whether I'd parlay the top pick into multiple firsts and players. We need to find out where we draft. If we play .500 ball or better here on out, its easy to see us passing New Orleans and possibly another team. We also could have teams behind us sneak ahead in the lottery. So I could see if we picked 6th, 7th or 8th and we can't get someone who's a good fit, to at least consider trading back for multiple picks while targeting guys like Valentine and McCaw (if he comes out) and Payton in the early second round. I still would prefer we get a top 4 pick and get the guy we want.

If we had a bench of

Tyus/Payton
Valentine
Turner/McCaw
Olynyk/Bjelica
Noah/KG/Dubs

I'd be very happy

TeamRicky wrote:I'm almost always a fan of quality over quantity. However if you miss out on the 4 or 5 top guys and the next 10 or so guys are similarly graded and you think you can add a few more picks and some quality bench players, you at least consider it. Its too early to say whether I'd parlay the top pick into multiple firsts and players. We need to find out where we draft. If we play .500 ball or better here on out, its easy to see us passing New Orleans and possibly another team. We also could have teams behind us sneak ahead in the lottery. So I could see if we picked 6th, 7th or 8th and we can't get someone who's a good fit, to at least consider trading back for multiple picks while targeting guys like Valentine and McCaw (if he comes out) and Payton in the early second round. I still would prefer we get a top 4 pick and get the guy we want.

What makes this year's guys better than last year's or the year before? That's who they are going to have to beat for playing time. This is the worst draft since the Bennett draft and you want to pick up multiple players from it? We should be trying to get as few players as possible from this draft because they aren't going to be worth it. I just don't see how getting three rookies from this draft is worth it. I think you are way overvaluing the guys in this draft. Half the guys you mention throughout this thread I haven't even heard of before and I follow guys like Ford all year long and you think those guys are potentially quality NBA depth? I just don't see it. Take BPA and get out and hope he becomes something.

TeamRicky wrote:I'm almost always a fan of quality over quantity. However if you miss out on the 4 or 5 top guys and the next 10 or so guys are similarly graded and you think you can add a few more picks and some quality bench players, you at least consider it. Its too early to say whether I'd parlay the top pick into multiple firsts and players. We need to find out where we draft. If we play .500 ball or better here on out, its easy to see us passing New Orleans and possibly another team. We also could have teams behind us sneak ahead in the lottery. So I could see if we picked 6th, 7th or 8th and we can't get someone who's a good fit, to at least consider trading back for multiple picks while targeting guys like Valentine and McCaw (if he comes out) and Payton in the early second round. I still would prefer we get a top 4 pick and get the guy we want.

If we had a bench of

Tyus/Payton
Valentine
Turner/McCaw
Olynyk/Bjelica
Noah/KG/Dubs

I'd be very happy

That's an insane amount of players needing playing time. Pick 4 and the rest don't/shouldn't play. How do you keep everyone happy in that scenario?

Yeah, that's too many bodies that need minutes to have on one group. You have the quantity, but it still looks like a sub-par bench to me and one I wouldn't be too happy about.

I would rather have journey type players as backups then hope for rookies to provide good backups. I just have a feeling this is a weak draft class outside of top 4.

Camden wrote:Yeah, that's too many bodies that need minutes to have on one group. You have the quantity, but it still looks like a sub-par bench to me and one I wouldn't be too happy about.

I think it would be a huge, huge improvement and potentially one of the best in the NBA. You have guys who are good defenders at every position. Now, we have nobody who can defend on our bench. Payton, McCaw, Valentine, KG/Olynyk and Noah would be a superb defensive second unit. With a coach like Thibs and our starters, we'd become the best defense in the NBA within 2 years. Elite Defense = Championships.

Trading down can be pretty risky. khans says this draft is as bad as the Bennett draft and Flip traded down and ended up being disappointed even though at this point I would say it was a successful trade down. No he didn't knock it out of the park but...and that's the point trading down can be risky you don't know for sure if you will get the guy/s you really want. There was some pretty useful players that came out that year so it's possible to find the right one/s but we don't exactly have full confidence in that process with unknowns of who will even be in charge of that process and when we do know that it may not be a person with a known track record on their own.

Ultimately there is a decent chunk of time to hopefully have some more questions answered before we really go over these scenarios. what is our draft position have some players like Tyus, Bjelica or even Bazz made their mark over the last chunk of games?

TeamRicky wrote:

Camden wrote:Yeah, that's too many bodies that need minutes to have on one group. You have the quantity, but it still looks like a sub-par bench to me and one I wouldn't be too happy about.

I think it would be a huge, huge improvement and potentially one of the best in the NBA. You have guys who are good defenders at every position. Now, we have nobody who can defend on our bench. Payton, McCaw, Valentine, KG/Olynyk and Noah would be a superb defensive second unit. With a coach like Thibs and our starters, we'd become the best defense in the NBA within 2 years. Elite Defense = Championships.

Payton, McCaw and especially Valentine aren't walking into the league as good defenders their rookie year. They're going to get manhandled. I also know that McCaw and Payton are your guys, and that's fine because I do the same thing, but they're second round talents in a weak overall draft class. They're probably going to be worse than Payne was and is.

Also, KG's likely retiring, or rather, he should retire. Noah's a huge question mark in terms of health and Olynyk's a poor defender. Your proposed bench isn't what I'd call superb in any sense of the word.

TeamRicky wrote:

Camden wrote:Yeah, that's too many bodies that need minutes to have on one group. You have the quantity, but it still looks like a sub-par bench to me and one I wouldn't be too happy about.

I think it would be a huge, huge improvement and potentially one of the best in the NBA. You have guys who are good defenders at every position. Now, we have nobody who can defend on our bench. Payton, McCaw, Valentine, KG/Olynyk and Noah would be a superb defensive second unit. With a coach like Thibs and our starters, we'd become the best defense in the NBA within 2 years. Elite Defense = Championships.

I'm sorry but a bench unit led by three rookies is going to be garbage next year. You are way overvaluing the impact later 1st and early second round rookies have on a team. Talking about them like sure things isn't great either. Odds are highly unlikely all 3 pan out how you see them and create this elite defensive unit you are portraying.