Minnesota Sports Forum

I just read this scouting report from Sam Vecenie:

"Haliburton's feel for the game is just absolutely off the charts. He has a case for having the highest basketball IQ in this draft class. He makes the right decision all the time. That starts as a ballhandler. Haliburton is an extremely high-level passer out of all situations. He'll make the head-man pass in transition Sees everything and plays unselfishly. The game is not about his numbers despite the fact that he put up great numbers this year. Despite not exactly being a high-level pick-and-roll scorer, he can make every pass in the book as a pick-and-roll passer. He also shoots it really well off the catch despite funky mechanics, and he's a smart team defender. The weakness here is that he's not much of a pull-up threat, and is far from the crazy level of athlete that NBA lead guards tend to be. But in the right role, Haliburton can affect winning at a really, really high level."

C'mon! I'm a grown man. It's a bad look for me to have such a crush on such a young player.

_____

So a team that has two "stars" looking to get theirs... but no history of winning pedigree... can land the quintessential table-setting, uber-smart, unselfish third wheel to happily let those guys cook?

NBA Draft 2020: Making the case for James Wiseman as best player in the class, ahead of LaMelo Ball

Link: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-draft-2020-making-the-case-for-james-wiseman-as-best-player-in-the-class-ahead-of-lamelo-ball/

https://twitter.com/thehoopcentral/status/1328350294233608192?s=21

This guy is just shooting darts blindfolded at this point.

khans2k5 wrote:https://twitter.com/thehoopcentral/status/1328350294233608192?s=21

This guy is just shooting darts blindfolded at this point.

Not Jonathan Givony's finest off-season, to be honest.

khans2k5 wrote:https://twitter.com/thehoopcentral/status/1328350294233608192?s=21

This guy is just shooting darts blindfolded at this point.

An aspiring Doogie. :)

Personally, I really like Haliburton.

I'm aware that most of my favorite guys are not stars but usually role players, specifically, unselfish dudes who vastly outperform their physical and skill limitations and leave everything on the court every game, driven both by a desire to win and joy at the opportunity to play. Brewer has long been one of my favorite guys. Okogie is up there. Sadly, Jimmy was too.

Haliburton seems like more of a cerebral player than those guys, and not quite the "dog" I love, where you can tell they're dialed up to 100 on every play. But man, he's close. I do think if Wiseman, Ball, or Edwards actually reach their potential, they'd be better picks. But the relatively high chance they won't and the possibility of trading down a bit and getting another asset would make a trade-down in which we pick up Haliburton and another asset (a first rounder next year would be awesome) kind of exciting to me, even though positionally, I know we really need a switchable 4 who can stretch the floor most of all (who doesn't?).

lipoli390 wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:https://twitter.com/thehoopcentral/status/1328350294233608192?s=21

This guy is just shooting darts blindfolded at this point.

An aspiring Doogie. :)

To be fair... maybe he's just playing the role of Wolves pawn... ala how the GS Warriors use these guys. The more discussions and options the Wolves are considering at this point... may end up being better in the grand scheme of things.

That's an actual strategy some teams use. And they're using the media more and more to get their narratives out there.

In return, a guy like Givoney gets more access to the Wolves down the line.

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Personally, I really like Haliburton.

I'm aware that most of my favorite guys are not stars but usually role players, specifically, unselfish dudes who vastly outperform their physical and skill limitations and leave everything on the court every game, driven both by a desire to win and joy at the opportunity to play. Brewer has long been one of my favorite guys. Okogie is up there. Sadly, Jimmy was too.

Haliburton seems like more of a cerebral player than those guys, and not quite the "dog" I love, where you can tell they're dialed up to 100 on every play. But man, he's close. I do think if Wiseman, Ball, or Edwards actually reach their potential, they'd be better picks. But the relatively high chance they won't and the possibility of trading down a bit and getting another asset would make a trade-down in which we pick up Haliburton and another asset (a first rounder next year would be awesome) kind of exciting to me, even though positionally, I know we really need a switchable 4 who can stretch the floor most of all (who doesn't?).

I'd take a trade down for Tyrese Haliburton over straight up taking Anthony Edwards or LaMelo Ball, but I'd take James Wiseman straight up over any other option besides a Ben Simmons, Devin Booker, or Bradley Beal trade.

Haliburton's a winning player. I'm certain of that.

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Personally, I really like Haliburton.

I'm aware that most of my favorite guys are not stars but usually role players, specifically, unselfish dudes who vastly outperform their physical and skill limitations and leave everything on the court every game, driven both by a desire to win and joy at the opportunity to play. Brewer has long been one of my favorite guys. Okogie is up there. Sadly, Jimmy was too.

Haliburton seems like more of a cerebral player than those guys, and not quite the "dog" I love, where you can tell they're dialed up to 100 on every play. But man, he's close. I do think if Wiseman, Ball, or Edwards actually reach their potential, they'd be better picks. But the relatively high chance they won't and the possibility of trading down a bit and getting another asset would make a trade-down in which we pick up Haliburton and another asset (a first rounder next year would be awesome) kind of exciting to me, even though positionally, I know we really need a switchable 4 who can stretch the floor most of all (who doesn't?).

I've loved Haliburton as a prospect for a long time. Most analysts agree he has a high floor, but believe he doesn't have a particularly high ceiling. I agree he has a high floor, but I also think he has a really high ceiling. As I reflect on current and past NBA stars, I see nearly all of them having the following four characteristics: (1) really high basketball IQs; (2) extreme competitive drive; (3) highly developed skills for their position; and (4) either elite athleticism or good size for their position. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird are the two best examples, but there are others like Steve Nash, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan, etc. None of those players were elite athletes, although most of them had good or very good size for their respective positions. Steve Nash is at least one example of an NBA star who just had the first three characteristics. I don't think he had particularly good size for his position.

Haliburton strikes me as a guy who fits the mold of the players I listed. He appears to have at least three of the four main characteristics I mentioned - i.e., an extremely high basketball IQ, high level skill set (passing, ball-handling and stationary perimeter shooting), and very good size for his position. I don't have a full sense of his competitive drive and that's the only thing holding me back so far from putting him in my top 3. The good news, however, is that there are absolutely no reports questioning his motor or competitiveness. So he might end up in my top three by tomorrow when I post my draft board.

This is an interesting tweet considering how many players with Nigerian heritage the Vikings have had on their roster the last few years.

Jonathan Givony
@DraftExpress
·
1h
Seven of the 60 players projected to be drafted are of Nigerian heritage (8 if you include Desmond Bane), a crazy number for a country of ~200 million people. That's only going to increase year by year with the investment the NBA is making in Africa