Minnesota Sports Forum

KiwiMatt wrote:Dude it wasn't just a matter of Deing going down. It was a matter of Justin Hamilton and Adrein Payne being are only healthy bigs, both of who are rookies.

Our defense sucked even with Dieng. That's the point I'm making. Don't neglect value on the defensive end of the floor.

I look to trade the pick. If I don't get a good offer I would go Mudiay and try and trade Rubio. Maybe we can swap him for a PF or C.

I'm not trying to throw this thread off course (hopefully I'm not), but I have an idea.

Let's say OKC decides to re-sign Kanter, which I think they will. And Ibaka should come back just fine from his injury.

Would anyone trade Muhammad for Adams straight up? And do you think OKC would entertain it?

The Thunder would have Kanter and McGary, and could draft someone like Myles Turner with their own lottery pick to regain some shot-blocking. Lamb and Waiters haven't done much scoring off the bench for them. Roberson's a defensive role player. Augustin and Collins are really solid vet guys, just mix in Morrow/Muhammad/Roberson/McGary and it's a decent unit. The point is, they could use the offensive punch.

For Minnesota, I think it's a no-brainer. Adams is a physical, chippy 7'0 big man who rebounds, blocks shots, runs the floor well and is not afraid to send a message with a hard foul here and there.

Adams at center, Towns at power forward, with Rubio, LaVine and Wiggins around them. I like. I like a lot.

I'm sure Kiwi would support this (lol).

Camden0916 wrote:I'm not trying to throw this thread off course (hopefully I'm not), but I have an idea.

Let's say OKC decides to re-sign Kanter, which I think they will. And Ibaka should come back just fine from his injury.

Would anyone trade Muhammad for Adams straight up? And do you think OKC would entertain it?

The Thunder would have Kanter and McGary, and could draft someone like Myles Turner with their own lottery pick to regain some shot-blocking. Lamb and Waiters haven't done much scoring off the bench for them. Roberson's a defensive role player. Augustin and Collins are really solid vet guys, just mix in Morrow/Muhammad/Roberson/McGary and it's a decent unit. The point is, they could use the offensive punch.

For Minnesota, I think it's a no-brainer. Adams is a physical, chippy 7'0 big man who rebounds, blocks shots, runs the floor well and is not afraid to send a message with a hard foul here and there.

Adams at center, Towns at power forward, with Rubio, LaVine and Wiggins around them. I like. I like a lot.

I'm sure Kiwi would support this (lol).

I don't think that would be putting Towns at his best position though. Offensively and defensively I think he projects much better as a C than a PF. Not saying he couldn't play it.

I think he's interchangeable; my opinion. Could play center with Bjelica at forward and play next to Adams in my hypothetical trade. Mobile enough to contain 4s, still big/strong enough to handle 5s.

Anyways, I think with the league going small, teams will find they need to punish them for it by going big. The thing is, though, not every team has a 4/5 hybrid like Davis or Horford, or in this case Towns.

So if Golden State wanted to play their small all and have Draymond on Karlito, okie dokie. Feed Towns on the block.

Camden wrote:I'm not trying to throw this thread off course (hopefully I'm not), but I have an idea.

Let's say OKC decides to re-sign Kanter, which I think they will. And Ibaka should come back just fine from his injury.

Would anyone trade Muhammad for Adams straight up? And do you think OKC would entertain it?

The Thunder would have Kanter and McGary, and could draft someone like Myles Turner with their own lottery pick to regain some shot-blocking. Lamb and Waiters haven't done much scoring off the bench for them. Roberson's a defensive role player. Augustin and Collins are really solid vet guys, just mix in Morrow/Muhammad/Roberson/McGary and it's a decent unit. The point is, they could use the offensive punch.

For Minnesota, I think it's a no-brainer. Adams is a physical, chippy 7'0 big man who rebounds, blocks shots, runs the floor well and is not afraid to send a message with a hard foul here and there.

Adams at center, Towns at power forward, with Rubio, LaVine and Wiggins around them. I like. I like a lot.

I'm sure Kiwi would support this (lol).

Cam I would froth at the mouth if that happened and would be on the first plane to MIN for season opener next season waiving my NZ flag and wearing my all black top under my Wolves singlet lol.

I think OKC value Steven a lot more than most people think though and we'd need to send them more than Bazz to get him.

I want to keep Bazz as a part of our core which I think Bazz should be apart of (Rubio, Wiggins, Bazz, Rookie). I think he can improve enough to either be a starter at SF or a 6th man instant offense option.

Camden wrote:I'm not trying to throw this thread off course (hopefully I'm not), but I have an idea.

Let's say OKC decides to re-sign Kanter, which I think they will. And Ibaka should come back just fine from his injury.

Would anyone trade Muhammad for Adams straight up? And do you think OKC would entertain it?

The Thunder would have Kanter and McGary, and could draft someone like Myles Turner with their own lottery pick to regain some shot-blocking. Lamb and Waiters haven't done much scoring off the bench for them. Roberson's a defensive role player. Augustin and Collins are really solid vet guys, just mix in Morrow/Muhammad/Roberson/McGary and it's a decent unit. The point is, they could use the offensive punch.

For Minnesota, I think it's a no-brainer. Adams is a physical, chippy 7'0 big man who rebounds, blocks shots, runs the floor well and is not afraid to send a message with a hard foul here and there.

Adams at center, Towns at power forward, with Rubio, LaVine and Wiggins around them. I like. I like a lot.

I'm sure Kiwi would support this (lol).

I like Adams, having someone who is capable and willing to hold his own would be a welcome edition. Watching some of our bigs simply get pushed aside down low was frustrating. I have a hard time seeing the Thunder doing it though. Unless they have no confidence in Waiters or their other wings (I believe they're all under contract next year) and they are unsure about Durant's recovery.

I like Towns but not at PF, I think he's definitely a center in the NBA. I like Frank the tank but I don't think I'd be going out on a limb if I said he was relatively slow and Towns struggled mightily when he was matched up on him. I can't imagine he'd have any bet luck against NBA PF's. Towns might develop a shot but right now he doesn't have it, the lane would be incredibly clogged it would hurt Wiggins and others if they tried to drive.

Towns struggled mightily on Kaminsky? We must have watched a different basketball game. Most of Frank's damage came against switches on P&R action and he got some buckets on WCS. Towns didn't even guard him that much as I believe he was on Hayes for the majority of the game.

Frank hit a P&P three on him where Karl was a step late to contest. That's the one I remember being upset with Karl, but other than that he contained his perimeter drives and did a good job battling in the post. "Struggled mightily" he did not.

I'm still miffed as to why UK did so much switching on defense, even after WIS showed they were capable of taking advantage of it (Kaminsky and Dekker ate on switches).

Meh. Just because he didn't take many jumpers in college doesn't mean he doesn't have one. He has NBA three-point range it's just a matter of it being asked of him.

I don't think you can go into next year and just give Towns the starting 4 spot. He's only interchangeable if the matchups allow it otherwise he'll get torched against small ball 4's and quicker 4's like Griffin, AD, etc. I think you have to draft him as your C and you can get away with him playing some 4 when the matchup allows it. I don't think you can fight the small ball and quicker 4's with Towns' size because he'd have to always post that guy up to take advantage and now you have two guys in the post with Ricky and no space to operate inside the arc. Defensively he loses his best asset as well by being pulled away from the basket and not being in position to play help defense and protect the rim. We'd be better off if we took him to play 5 only and use his unproven mid-range game and our stretch 4's to just leave everything open inside 15 ft for Wiggins and Lavine to take advantage.