If we lose this one, I'll become a Pistons fan: Warriors/Wolves GDT

[AbeVigodaLive]

Mike Conley's past 6 games:

113 minutes.
3 - 24 fg.
2.2 ppg
1.8 apg

Per 36 minutes:
4.1 points
3.5 assists
1.3 TOs

Famed 1st rd bust, William Avery career Per 36:
11.3 points
5.9 assists
3.2 TO
33/26/71 shooting splits
7.3 PER

Rob Dillingham per 36 this season:
13.3 points
6.5 assists
3.7 TO
33/36/75 splits
6.3 PER

Conley has stunk. He's been terrible. The question is whether him being a nothing on the court is better than whatever Dillingham can be. I'll just say it's not like Dillingham has put any heat on Conley to earn more time. He's 3 for his last 17 from the field with a negative 5/6 assist/TO ratio.

Also of note... William Avery actually improved in year 2 before having his worst season in year 3. Dillingham has worse numbers across the board... and seemingly less trust from the coaches than as a rookie.


[Note: Rob Dillingham is not the worst player in Wolves history. Obviously. But considering the assets given up for him (and the accompanying expectations) he could eventually go down as the worst draft pick. A guy like Ndudi Ebi was far worse as a player, but he was drafted #25 or something. The rub with that is he was the only 1st rd. draft pick in a 4-year stretch (Joe Smith saga) so his flameout was pretty important at the time.]

[thedoper]

Mike Conley's past 6 games:

113 minutes.
3 - 24 fg.
2.2 ppg
1.8 apg

Per 36 minutes:
4.1 points
3.5 assists
1.3 TOs

Famed 1st rd bust, William Avery career Per 36:
11.3 points
5.9 assists
3.2 TO
33/26/71 shooting splits
7.3 PER

Rob Dillingham per 36 this season:
13.3 points
6.5 assists
3.7 TO
33/36/75 splits
6.3 PER

Conley has stunk. He's been terrible. The question is whether him being a nothing on the court is better than whatever Dillingham can be. I'll just say it's not like Dillingham has put any heat on Conley to earn more time. He's 3 for his last 17 from the field with a negative 5/6 assist/TO ratio.

Also of note... William Avery actually improved in year 2 before having his worst season in year 3. Dillingham has worse numbers across the board... and seemingly less trust from the coaches than as a rookie.


[Note: Rob Dillingham is not the worst player in Wolves history. Obviously. But considering the assets given up for him (and the accompanying expectations) he could eventually go down as the worst draft pick. A guy like Ndudi Ebi was far worse as a player, but he was drafted #25 or something. The rub with that is he was the only 1st rd. draft pick in a 4-year stretch (Joe Smith saga) so his flameout was pretty important at the time.]

Paul Grant, Wes Johnson, and Derek Williams would all like to have a word with you. They are holding bats apparently.

[KiwiMatt]

The big difference Abe is Mike is playing with the starters and rotation players. Rob Dillingham is given garbage time minutes with the 'end of benchers'. Put Rob in with better players and his stats (and development) would improve, just like Bones.

You can blame Rob and TC all you want but this has been a development failure by the Wolves coaching staff. He should have had significant time in the G League last season, and be in the rotation this season warts and all.

I am not ready to give up on Rob and simply trade his contract as a salary matcher. Give him some minutes and let him spend some time in the off season with Tyrese Maxey and Darius Garland (as well as in the weight room).

[Lipoli390]

Mike Conley's past 6 games:

113 minutes.
3 - 24 fg.
2.2 ppg
1.8 apg

Per 36 minutes:
4.1 points
3.5 assists
1.3 TOs

Famed 1st rd bust, William Avery career Per 36:
11.3 points
5.9 assists
3.2 TO
33/26/71 shooting splits
7.3 PER

Rob Dillingham per 36 this season:
13.3 points
6.5 assists
3.7 TO
33/36/75 splits
6.3 PER

Conley has stunk. He's been terrible. The question is whether him being a nothing on the court is better than whatever Dillingham can be. I'll just say it's not like Dillingham has put any heat on Conley to earn more time. He's 3 for his last 17 from the field with a negative 5/6 assist/TO ratio.

Also of note... William Avery actually improved in year 2 before having his worst season in year 3. Dillingham has worse numbers across the board... and seemingly less trust from the coaches than as a rookie.


[Note: Rob Dillingham is not the worst player in Wolves history. Obviously. But considering the assets given up for him (and the accompanying expectations) he could eventually go down as the worst draft pick. A guy like Ndudi Ebi was far worse as a player, but he was drafted #25 or something. The rub with that is he was the only 1st rd. draft pick in a 4-year stretch (Joe Smith saga) so his flameout was pretty important at the time.]

Paul Grant, Wes Johnson, and Derek Williams would all like to have a word with you. They are holding bats apparently.

lol. I was thinking the same thing. And those guys got lots of minutes to develop (or not) and show how bad they were.

[thedoper]

Mike Conley's past 6 games:

113 minutes.
3 - 24 fg.
2.2 ppg
1.8 apg

Per 36 minutes:
4.1 points
3.5 assists
1.3 TOs

Famed 1st rd bust, William Avery career Per 36:
11.3 points
5.9 assists
3.2 TO
33/26/71 shooting splits
7.3 PER

Rob Dillingham per 36 this season:
13.3 points
6.5 assists
3.7 TO
33/36/75 splits
6.3 PER

Conley has stunk. He's been terrible. The question is whether him being a nothing on the court is better than whatever Dillingham can be. I'll just say it's not like Dillingham has put any heat on Conley to earn more time. He's 3 for his last 17 from the field with a negative 5/6 assist/TO ratio.

Also of note... William Avery actually improved in year 2 before having his worst season in year 3. Dillingham has worse numbers across the board... and seemingly less trust from the coaches than as a rookie.


[Note: Rob Dillingham is not the worst player in Wolves history. Obviously. But considering the assets given up for him (and the accompanying expectations) he could eventually go down as the worst draft pick. A guy like Ndudi Ebi was far worse as a player, but he was drafted #25 or something. The rub with that is he was the only 1st rd. draft pick in a 4-year stretch (Joe Smith saga) so his flameout was pretty important at the time.]

Paul Grant, Wes Johnson, and Derek Williams would all like to have a word with you. They are holding bats apparently.

lol. I was thinking the same thing. And those guys got lots of minutes to develop (or not) and show how bad they were.

I forgot everyone's favorite Johnny Flynn as well.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Mike Conley's past 6 games:

113 minutes.
3 - 24 fg.
2.2 ppg
1.8 apg

Per 36 minutes:
4.1 points
3.5 assists
1.3 TOs

Famed 1st rd bust, William Avery career Per 36:
11.3 points
5.9 assists
3.2 TO
33/26/71 shooting splits
7.3 PER

Rob Dillingham per 36 this season:
13.3 points
6.5 assists
3.7 TO
33/36/75 splits
6.3 PER

Conley has stunk. He's been terrible. The question is whether him being a nothing on the court is better than whatever Dillingham can be. I'll just say it's not like Dillingham has put any heat on Conley to earn more time. He's 3 for his last 17 from the field with a negative 5/6 assist/TO ratio.

Also of note... William Avery actually improved in year 2 before having his worst season in year 3. Dillingham has worse numbers across the board... and seemingly less trust from the coaches than as a rookie.


[Note: Rob Dillingham is not the worst player in Wolves history. Obviously. But considering the assets given up for him (and the accompanying expectations) he could eventually go down as the worst draft pick. A guy like Ndudi Ebi was far worse as a player, but he was drafted #25 or something. The rub with that is he was the only 1st rd. draft pick in a 4-year stretch (Joe Smith saga) so his flameout was pretty important at the time.]

Paul Grant, Wes Johnson, and Derek Williams would all like to have a word with you. They are holding bats apparently.

Each has their own case to be made:

Paul Grant
#20 pick. 1997.

Grant was 24 years old when drafted by Minnesota. His best college season was 12 ppg/ 5 reb. His 2nd best college season was 5/4. Drafted during the Garnett/Marbury/Gugliotta era of the Timberwolves, Grant was chosen in case Cherokee Parks continued to be a bust or Stanley Roberts ate his own arm... I guess?

In any case, he was a bust. He missed his rookie season with a foot injury. He was traded only a year later as a throw-in in the Marbury trade. He made only 1 basket in Minnesota... and only 1 more with Milwaukee that season.

For a guy who only played 111 career minutes in 16 NBA games, at least it's easy to find Grant's best season. He returned to the NBA with Utah after 4 years in low-level pro leagues. He made 11 baskets during his 10-day contract.

SHOULD have drafted: Bobby Jackson (#23). After all... the Wolves traded two players and a 1st rd. pick for Bobby Jackson after his rookie season. They could have just drafted him and saved the pick.

Verdict: Paul Grant was a legendary bad pick. The only saving grace is that he was picked #20... and it seemed way too high even in the moment. Again... the guy was a 4/4 guy over his first 3 college seasons!

Derrick Williams
#2 pick. 2011.

I should preface that this was during the David Kahn era. But even then... Derrick Williams was the consensus #2 pick after Kyrie Irving. He averaged 16 and 19 ppg his two years in college... with great efficiency his second season. He didn't shoot a lot of three pointers at Arizona (about 2 per game) but he shot them well his sophomore season (57%!) The rub? He played PF and the Wolves already had Kevin Love (22). The Wolves 2nd leading scorer was also 22 and played SF (Beasley). Williams wasn't really a 4, nor was he a 3. Classic tweener (if that three-point shooting was a fluke).

Williams going #2 wasn't the problem. The Wolves taking Williams at #2 was the problem. The timing was the problem.

Coming off a disastrous 32 - 132 stretch with Rambis/Kahn... trading the #2 pick would have been a bold daring choice... especially since the draft ended up looking pretty blah #2 - #7 in hindsight. Enes Kanter was the consensus #3 pick.

Williams wasn't good but he wasn't all-time worst terrible. He was just terrible for a #2 pick.

In about two seasons, he was a 10/5 guy with the occasional power monster dunk. That three point shooting that looked so good over only 74 attempts 4 feet closer to the hoop? Nope. He shot 30% with the Wolves... and for his career.

The Wolves ended up trading Williams for Jaylen Clark, oops... I mean Trenton Hassell... oops, I mean Luc Mbah a Moute. He was basically an 8/4 guy for his career with 6 different teams in 7 seasons. (Ha. Here's a few of us discussing D. Williams and Mbah a Moute. viewtopic.php?t=29946)

SHOULD have drafted: I remember calling for a trade down at the time since Williams was primed to be Love's backup. But who was reasonable at the time? Jonas Valuncuinus had a decent career (#5), Kemba Walker (9), Klay Thompson (11) and Kawhi Leonard (15). But was it more likely that the Wolves would have traded for one of those guys or for Jan Vesely (6), Bismack Biyombo (7) or Jimmer Fredette (10)? And how would it have played at the time? I don't think trading down would have gone well in the moment. At the time it was the highest pick the Wolves ever had.

Verdict: At least the Wolves took a guy with a track record of quality play. And, just about every other team would have made the same mistake. He just proved to be a tweener who never got better. Despite the high draft spot... I can't put him at #1 on this list.

Smilin' Wesley Johnson
#4 pick. 2010.

I know there's at least one MCS poster here who wants to punch that smile off Wes' face. LOL.

I remember reading up on Wes Johnson prior to the draft when I saw that he had not averaged more than 16 ppg... EVER... not even in HS. And I'm sure I wrote about it extensively here.

Considering his age (23), it seemed like the untapped part of Johnson's game was a bit limited. He played two seasons in Minnesota and proved to be an average-ish player. About 8 ppg and a long body to sorta contest on defense. He was very meh... and that describes his entire career. As a kick to the groin, the Wolves had to trade a lottery-protected 1st to unload Johnson.

But that smile... ooooh that smile!

SHOULD have drafted: Another time I wanted to trade down. But for who? Demarcus Cousins (5) was right there, but there was uncertainty about his attitude... which proved true in the pros despite his prodigious talent. Heck, Cousins played in 654 NBA games, only 46 more than Wes Johnson. I was shocked by that. He would have been the better player in the short term though.

Otherwise, it was Gordon Haywood (9) and Paul George (10). Even Greg Monroe (7) would have been better. I stand by my take that the Wolves should have traded down instead of drafting Wes Johnson. (Don't worry... some of my staunchest "TRADE DOWN!!!" takes end up looking comically bad (don't look up my posts before the 2020 draft.)

Verdict: Wes Johnson was a serviceable player for 6 teams in 8+ seasons. He was never good. Sometimes sorta bad. But ok. Meh. Shrug. Blah. And that's enough to keep him out of the all-time worst draft picks for the Timberwolves.