Minnesota Sports Forum

khans2k5 wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:Bender vs. Poeltl vs Skal vs. Noah (plus pick) vs. Ezeli (plus pick) vs Biyombo (plus pick) vs. Nene (plus pick). If all of these guys are options for us as third center. Who would you pick?

There is no logic to this. The first three guys can be the pick next to the latter guys who all could be added via free agency with any of the first three guys. They also aren't all Centers. Skal, Bender and Nene are 4's and the rest 5's. I think Towns/Dieng/Poeltl/Belly is a balanced frontcourt. I think Towns/Dieng/any of Biyombo/Noah/Ezeli and Skal is a balanced frontcourt. I think Pek is our third Center until his deal is done. I think Poeltl gives us the most flexibility in free agency because our frontcourt would be fine with or without any additional moves whereas Skal would require one of the defensive bigs to be signed because he doesn't have the beef we need in the frontcourt.

TeamRicky wrote:Would you trade 5th overall pick for two of Denver's picks if you thought you could get both Skal and Valentine? Denver has 3 and possibly 4 first rounders (Their pick which they can swap with the Knicks pick if its lower, the Blazers pick, Memphis pick and Houston's pick if its not in the lottery).

TeamRicky wrote:Would you trade 5th overall pick for two of Denver's picks if you thought you could get both Skal and Valentine? Denver has 3 and possibly 4 first rounders (Their pick which they can swap with the Knicks pick if its lower, the Blazers pick, Memphis pick and Houston's pick if its not in the lottery).

TeamRicky wrote:Would you trade 5th overall pick for two of Denver's picks if you thought you could get both Skal and Valentine? Denver has 3 and possibly 4 first rounders (Their pick which they can swap with the Knicks pick if its lower, the Blazers pick, Memphis pick and Houston's pick if its not in the lottery).

Camden wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:Would you trade 5th overall pick for two of Denver's picks if you thought you could get both Skal and Valentine? Denver has 3 and possibly 4 first rounders (Their pick which they can swap with the Knicks pick if its lower, the Blazers pick, Memphis pick and Houston's pick if its not in the lottery).

Negative. I'm leaning further away from trading down as we head into the NCAA tourney. I liked it as an option weeks ago, but some players have separated themselves from the rest (mainly Poeltl, Murray, Heild to go with Ingram and Simmons).

TeamRicky wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:Bender vs. Poeltl vs Skal vs. Noah (plus pick) vs. Ezeli (plus pick) vs Biyombo (plus pick) vs. Nene (plus pick). If all of these guys are options for us as third center. Who would you pick?

There is no logic to this. The first three guys can be the pick next to the latter guys who all could be added via free agency with any of the first three guys. They also aren't all Centers. Skal, Bender and Nene are 4's and the rest 5's. I think Towns/Dieng/Poeltl/Belly is a balanced frontcourt. I think Towns/Dieng/any of Biyombo/Noah/Ezeli and Skal is a balanced frontcourt. I think Pek is our third Center until his deal is done. I think Poeltl gives us the most flexibility in free agency because our frontcourt would be fine with or without any additional moves whereas Skal would require one of the defensive bigs to be signed because he doesn't have the beef we need in the frontcourt.

The logic is this--we should add a quality big--but we could do so in free agency or the draft. If we address it in free agency, we'd be free to look at a wing player or point guard with our draft pick such as Brown, Dunn, Hield or Valentine. I'm not saying which is better, but lets not be locked into one scenario if we can address getting both a quality big and a quality non-big.

Camden wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:Would you trade 5th overall pick for two of Denver's picks if you thought you could get both Skal and Valentine? Denver has 3 and possibly 4 first rounders (Their pick which they can swap with the Knicks pick if its lower, the Blazers pick, Memphis pick and Houston's pick if its not in the lottery).

Negative. I'm leaning further away from trading down as we head into the NCAA tourney. I liked it as an option weeks ago, but some players have separated themselves from the rest (mainly Poeltl, Murray, Heild to go with Ingram and Simmons).

khans2k5 wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:Bender vs. Poeltl vs Skal vs. Noah (plus pick) vs. Ezeli (plus pick) vs Biyombo (plus pick) vs. Nene (plus pick). If all of these guys are options for us as third center. Who would you pick?

There is no logic to this. The first three guys can be the pick next to the latter guys who all could be added via free agency with any of the first three guys. They also aren't all Centers. Skal, Bender and Nene are 4's and the rest 5's. I think Towns/Dieng/Poeltl/Belly is a balanced frontcourt. I think Towns/Dieng/any of Biyombo/Noah/Ezeli and Skal is a balanced frontcourt. I think Pek is our third Center until his deal is done. I think Poeltl gives us the most flexibility in free agency because our frontcourt would be fine with or without any additional moves whereas Skal would require one of the defensive bigs to be signed because he doesn't have the beef we need in the frontcourt.

The logic is this--we should add a quality big--but we could do so in free agency or the draft. If we address it in free agency, we'd be free to look at a wing player or point guard with our draft pick such as Brown, Dunn, Hield or Valentine. I'm not saying which is better, but lets not be locked into one scenario if we can address getting both a quality big and a quality non-big.

The same thing could be said for drafting a big and signing a wing in free agency. That's why you just take BPA. We have room everywhere. Take BPA and sign the rest we need in free agency. If that's Dunn so be it. If it's Poeltl or Skal so be it. We have options so we should take BPA and not try to trade back for less quality. Get the best guy you can and fill in the rest of the holes later.

TeamRicky wrote:

Camden wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:Would you trade 5th overall pick for two of Denver's picks if you thought you could get both Skal and Valentine? Denver has 3 and possibly 4 first rounders (Their pick which they can swap with the Knicks pick if its lower, the Blazers pick, Memphis pick and Houston's pick if its not in the lottery).

Negative. I'm leaning further away from trading down as we head into the NCAA tourney. I liked it as an option weeks ago, but some players have separated themselves from the rest (mainly Poeltl, Murray, Heild to go with Ingram and Simmons).

Again, I prefer taking the BPA, but Murray is a bad fit for this team and I'd take Bender, Dunn then Valentine over him with no hesitation.

Camden wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:

Camden wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:Would you trade 5th overall pick for two of Denver's picks if you thought you could get both Skal and Valentine? Denver has 3 and possibly 4 first rounders (Their pick which they can swap with the Knicks pick if its lower, the Blazers pick, Memphis pick and Houston's pick if its not in the lottery).

Negative. I'm leaning further away from trading down as we head into the NCAA tourney. I liked it as an option weeks ago, but some players have separated themselves from the rest (mainly Poeltl, Murray, Heild to go with Ingram and Simmons).

Again, I prefer taking the BPA, but Murray is a bad fit for this team and I'd take Bender, Dunn then Valentine over him with no hesitation.

Murray's a high volume, great efficiency shooter from three with a handle and underrated athleticism. Offensively he's really nice and we could absolutely use him off the bench. He's just bad defensively and that's part of why I don't like him above some other guys, but he could fit here.

You're overrating Valentine tremendously. I'll say this every time you mention him as a top-five pick consideration.

TeamRicky wrote:

Camden wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:

Camden wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:Would you trade 5th overall pick for two of Denver's picks if you thought you could get both Skal and Valentine? Denver has 3 and possibly 4 first rounders (Their pick which they can swap with the Knicks pick if its lower, the Blazers pick, Memphis pick and Houston's pick if its not in the lottery).

Negative. I'm leaning further away from trading down as we head into the NCAA tourney. I liked it as an option weeks ago, but some players have separated themselves from the rest (mainly Poeltl, Murray, Heild to go with Ingram and Simmons).

Again, I prefer taking the BPA, but Murray is a bad fit for this team and I'd take Bender, Dunn then Valentine over him with no hesitation.

Murray's a high volume, great efficiency shooter from three with a handle and underrated athleticism. Offensively he's really nice and we could absolutely use him off the bench. He's just bad defensively and that's part of why I don't like him above some other guys, but he could fit here.

You're overrating Valentine tremendously. I'll say this every time you mention him as a top-five pick consideration.

I think Murray is a horrible fit. We don't need a poor defending volume shooter. We have Bazz for that role and he's among the worst plus minus guys in the league. So why double down? I never ranked Valentine in my top 5 but he's in my top ten.