Minnesota Sports Forum

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)?

Q, don't get me wrong...Kaminsky has been the more effective college player. But based on what I have seen (and I have only seen Portis twice recently), Portis is the better pro prospect. Kaminsky is unusually slow-footd, and while Bo Ryan works his offense and defense to overcome his lack of athleticism, I think he will struggle in the pros. I wouldn't want to see him teamed up with Wiggins, Rubio and Lavine. Portis on the other hand runs the court very well...I have even seem him as the primary ballhandler a couple times on the break. And his quick feet translates into a much better defender at the next level. Plus they say he is still growing...could end up close to 7 feet, and very mobile.

I'm still hoping the Wolves land one of the big 5, but if they have to trade down to get a big, I'd prefer Portis to Kaminsky.

I was hoping Portis would have went pro last summer. He would have likely gone late lottery. He might actually be on this team instead of Lavine.

KiwiMatt wrote:

Camden wrote:I think we've been severely underrating Mudiay on this board.

The comparisons to John Wall have me excited. Although I fear he could be more Brandon Jennings than John Wall.

To be honest not many players get me excited in this years draft. I like Karl Towns as a good fit on this team, but wouldn't take him in the top 3.

I see him as a little less bulky, more fluid Tyreke Evans. A better passer than Evans too. I think he'll be the ROY version of him and improve, not the guy that regressed immediately and eventually got plugged in as a SF for some time.

The John Wall comparison doesn't stick to me. He's not nearly as fast or shot-out-of-a-cannon like Wall.

After watching Turner run I'm out on him. He runs like an old man. There is no way his lower body holds up to the NBA grind.

khans2k5 wrote:After watching Turner run I'm out on him. He runs like an old man. There is no way his lower body holds up to the NBA grind.

Yep. I actually liked everything I read about him before the season started. And then I saw him run... Oh, those knees... That's going to be a problem at some point, no doubt.

I haven't seen Karl Anthony Towns play much, could he be a poor man's Anthony Davis or a rich man's Nerlens Noel? I guess I like the Kentucky big man the last few years, so I'll have to watch more Karl Anthony Towns.
Karl Anthony Towns over Willey Cauley Stein. I'll call him Big KAT if we draft him.

bleedspeed177 wrote:I was hoping Portis would have went pro last summer. He would have likely gone late lottery. He might actually be on this team instead of Lavine.

What is your deal with Lavine? It's comments like this that some of us have been talking about. There's no other way to take it than anti Lavine. It's baffling.

TheGrey08 wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:I was hoping Portis would have went pro last summer. He would have likely gone late lottery. He might actually be on this team instead of Lavine.

What is your deal with Lavine? It's comments like this that some of us have been talking about. There's no other way to take it than anti Lavine. It's baffling.

There wasn't anything wrong with his comment, though. Considering Portis was a much more productive college player last year as a freshman, and he was (is) a two-way player, and we had the K-Love issue, it's a fair comment. In fact, had Portis declared, I would have been screaming that he be our pick.

Flip said it came down to LaVine and Payne, but he took LaVine because he was a homerun type pick. Throw Portis in that mix and it should be a no brainer who we took given the circumstances. He's better than Payne, higher potential than Payne, younger than Payne and at a position we needed youth at.

Grey - Not a dig at LaVine at all. I am glad we got LaVine. It is a dig more so at Payne if anything.

Cam summed it up. Portis was a lottery pick that stayed another year in my eyes. I really think LaVine has the higher upside, but with a quality young big productive player like Portis in the fold I could see going with him in the last draft.

Noted. Still don't see the point in saying it. I get that Portis was a lotto pick last year and likely the same this year, but personally I'm glad we have who we have now.