Minnesota Sports Forum

TRKO wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I'm intrigued by what we would have to give up, and what might be available at Sacramento's pick #6.

Rubio, Muhammed, 31, 36.

I am afraid it would take that much.

I think it is really key that FLip try and maximize the 2nd's. It seems the great teams nail these every few years and they are key to a championship caliber team.

What I thought was interesting when Flip was asked about the 2nd rounders on Sid's podcast was that he said there will be some good players available with those picks but Gavin 3 rookies make the team is unlikely plus the possibility of Bjelica coming over. So here were sorta the options he gave.

Packaging the 2 picks to move up

Team have called on the 2nd rounders to get them offering future compensation or to buy them. Flip didn't seem too excited about these but he mentioned it. A future 2nd round pick might be alright with me except both are pretty high picks tough to be assured even at #36 would would get a 2nd rounder that high or close in the future. My speculation is that you would not value very highly the international players available at that pick to trade it for a future pick

He said if they kept the picks one would obviously be an international player that would stay overseas for a year or two.

My take is moving up is going to depend on how the draft falls both for the Wolves and other teams. If Bjelica is valued by Flip and he thinks he can add him then PG or maybe even a SG (Lavine playing at PG probably is somewhat of an option for Flip) makes some sense. I would imagine PG is the spot the Wolves are looking at filling though based on what Flip has said this weekend. A shooter makes sense too though. I'm excited about this draft beyond just Towns and even beyond what the Wolves do. It should be a fairly entertaining evening.

monsterpile wrote:Does anyone have a international player that you like in the 2nd round that we can stash for later?

I like Lithuanian center Arturas Gudaitis. Gudaitis is strong and surprisingly athletic for a Euro center. He is already 22 but he has already got some real minutes in Euro league and made nice progress in couple of last years.

Mikkeman wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Does anyone have a international player that you like in the 2nd round that we can stash for later?

I like Lithuanian center Arturas Gudaitis. Gudaitis is strong and surprisingly athletic for a Euro center. He is already 22 but he has already got some real minutes in Euro league and made nice progress in couple of last years.

I like him too, milkkeman. Here's Dx's write up on him. Looks like he needs some work on defense, but the size and athleticism are there.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Arturas-Gudaitis-67621/

I agree with monster that it's not likely that Flip will want both second round picks on his roster, even if he doesn't bring Bjelica over. So the most likely scenarios are a sale, a stash, or a package, with a sale clearly being the least attractive option. It's interesting that DX has 5 centers listed in the second round as potential draft and stashers, and I think it's likely that Flip picks one of them. That would buy him a couple years to evaluate Pek/Dieng/Towns at center as he watches the guy develop. The pick could be either center depth or a trade chip in the future.

I like PG Joseph Young, but rumors are Lakers are rumored to want him at 27, but they are also looking to get rid of the pick all together.

bleedspeed177 wrote:I like PG Joseph Young, but rumors are Lakers are rumored to want him at 27, but they are also looking to get rid of the pick all together.

Great scorer and shooter, but not what I think we need backing up Rubio. I agree with Q that we need a distributor/defender on our second unit, and Young is neither of these. I see him as more of a poor man's Mo Williams. I would prefer someone who understands his job is to defend and get the ball to Martin and Shabazz (and anyone else who emerges as a scorer off the bench).

Not sure if somebody answered this in a previous post, but do we still have Gary Neal under contract?

BizarroJerry wrote:Not sure if somebody answered this in a previous post, but do we still have Gary Neal under contract?

Nope...he's an unrestricted free agent.

Here's the Wolves' current financial situation. Brown's deal is not guaranteed, so assuming we sign KG, I see 11 guaranteed contracts. So, room for Towns, Bjelica, one of our second picks, and a free agent.

http://www.basketballinsiders.com/minnesota-timberwolves-team-salary/

Although Trent Tucker mentioned that 14 spots is more likely, because teams like to have that 15th spot open if needed down the road...

longstrangetrip wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:I like PG Joseph Young, but rumors are Lakers are rumored to want him at 27, but they are also looking to get rid of the pick all together.

Great scorer and shooter, but not what I think we need backing up Rubio. I agree with Q that we need a distributor/defender on our second unit, and Young is neither of these. I see him as more of a poor man's Mo Williams. I would prefer someone who understands his job is to defend and get the ball to Martin and Shabazz (and anyone else who emerges as a scorer off the bench).

I think we should have the opposite of Rubio on the bench. He seems to be enough of an athlete to be coached up on defense. I think he would distribute enough to work.