Minnesota Sports Forum

Camden wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:I like Poeltl 100 times better than Jamal Murray. Poeltl can play good defense and Murray, well he is a horrible defender, almost as bad as Bazz. Also Murray is ball dominant and we don't need his ball hogging ways when we have 3 young guys to feed. He'd clash with our young guys the way Dion Waiters did in Cleveland. I'd rather Gary Payton II than Murray (even though Murray is mocked much higher) as Gary is not an alpha scorer like Murray, but sure can defend well and pass the ball.

I sure hope we can learn the lessons that KMart and Bazz have taught us. Players that are ball dominant and can't defend are not a good fit in our regular rotation.

He's not even ball dominant at Kentucky so I'm not sure where you're getting that idea from. Here's the thing: I feel like you haven't watched much of Murray with the way you talk about him and you have these ideas about him that you feel are right in your head, but they don't match with what's happened on the court. I'm not taking a jab at you here because there's a ton of prospects and not every game is accessible to everyone. The Murray to Waiters comparison is way, way off, though.

Murray plays mostly off-ball at Kentucky. Ulis runs the show. Part of what makes Murray so good is his ability to come off screens, square up and drain threes. That's part of the scouting report with that guy. If you ask almost anyone who follows Wildcat basketball, they'd also tell you that Murray isn't handling the ball enough. That seems to agree with what I thought about him too in that his point guard abilities offensively haven't been displayed enough this season. He's not being used the same way he was during the 2015 Pan Ams where he shredded the competition with scoring and facilitating despite being years younger than practically everyone there.

Calipari also has a track record of misusing guys so that they'll develop in other areas of their games. Most recently, we saw that with Towns, but also with Booker. Did you see any of that ball-handling and passing ability from Booker in college? I sure didn't and I watched just about every game of theirs when I was infatuated with Towns.

Point being, I think you're misjudging Murray and overvaluing other guys.

TeamRicky wrote:I like Poeltl 100 times better than Jamal Murray. Poeltl can play good defense and Murray, well he is a horrible defender, almost as bad as Bazz. Also Murray is ball dominant and we don't need his ball hogging ways when we have 3 young guys to feed. He'd clash with our young guys the way Dion Waiters did in Cleveland. I'd rather Gary Payton II than Murray (even though Murray is mocked much higher) as Gary is not an alpha scorer like Murray, but sure can defend well and pass the ball.

I sure hope we can learn the lessons that KMart and Bazz have taught us. Players that are ball dominant and can't defend are not a good fit in our regular rotation.

Camden wrote:Updated: http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Ben-Simmons-NBA-Draft-Scouting-Report-and-Video-Breakdown-5391

Hicks123 wrote:

Camden wrote:Updated: http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Ben-Simmons-NBA-Draft-Scouting-Report-and-Video-Breakdown-5391

Despite all the question marks.....I take this guy and don't look back.

While I LOVE the idea of drafting a 2-way player, that breed COMING OUT OF COLLEGE is non-existent anymore. Scoring gets you a scholarship....and later a big contract. As Q pointed out on bigs, I will expand to ALL high-caliber draft picks. Since most of these guys are coming into the NBA at 19-20 years old, they simply haven't had the seasoning to develop these 2-way skills everyone drools over. Defense takes time, and is typically the last skill these kids learn. I think you take the best kid (skills, size, athleticism, etc), and then you work with him. Simmons is in my opinion the most talented player in this draft, and I don't even see Ingram (whom I like a lot) as being close. Simmons ability to get up the court like a guard, his vision, size, rebounding, etc is already elite. Many worry about his 3pt shooting, but we again need to remember that he is a PF in the NBA. He will probably never be a dominant long-range shooter, but he will more than likely become adequate. Put that with his other skills, and you certainly have an all-star type player...maybe more.