I will be devastated if we fall to 4 in the lottery

[AbeVigodaLive]

Flip isn't that stupid. He will take BPA rather than reach for WCS in the top 4. He may decide that a center is a must. If so, he would surely trade down for him. At least, I think we can give him that much credit.

Yeah, I can't imagine a 66-loss team is reaching that far to fill such a specific need...

The number says 66 loss, but we definitely are a better team than that. I personally wouldn't mind trading down for WCS. We have a few great prospects, 2-4 good players. We need to take players who fit/help Wiggins/lavine in my opinion. I don't want to draft a Kevin love when we have big all, or a derrick Williams when we have Kevin love, etc.

For example, Okafor play does not fit this teams style and would be either a waste of his talent, or would hinder Wiggins/ lavines.

We need outside scoring, post/rim defense, pg scoring. In that order.

Towns, Russell, hezonja, porzingis, WCS, mudiay, maybe Winslow have to be the only targets.

A 54 - 58 loss team still sucks balls.

Wiggins has promise as a legit building block, definitely. LaVine? Maybe. But I wouldn't count my chickens on that one. Same with Muhammad. They might be nice pieces, but are they good enough to start on a playoff team someday? I don't know yet. Rubio is a nice player, but has some deep-rooted flaws that are looking more and more like serious long-term issues.

So I'm all in on gathering the BEST assets. A good GM will know what to do with them.


[Note: I'm down on Okafor a bit too, at least compared to Towns. But he still has incredible value from other teams. That could be used to the Wolves advantage. I wouldn't ignore him to reach for somebody else that fits the Wolves better in the moment. Even with the perfect complement, this team is multiple years away from the playoffs.]

[Phenom]

Based on everything I've read about Hezonja, he would clearly be BPA at 4.

If by "BPA", we mean Biggest Possible A-hole"!

If Hezonja is Biggest Possible A-hole at 4, whom is then the bigger A-hole that would be likely drafted before him? :P

Ha, Hezonja is BPA at any draft slot!

That's ok. MJ is a big A hole also. I'm over the sweethearts.

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

What if we land #1-#2, and the Clips were interested in a S&T for Jordan. Would you do it? The reality is that the Clips, while they could certainly pay Jordan, they may need to shed some salary....and a swap of Jordan for Towns/Okafor may be something they would consider. I do it in a heartbeat. I didn't realize that Jordan was only 26.

[AbeVigodaLive]

What if we land #1-#2, and the Clips were interested in a S&T for Jordan. Would you do it? The reality is that the Clips, while they could certainly pay Jordan, they may need to shed some salary....and a swap of Jordan for Towns/Okafor may be something they would consider. I do it in a heartbeat. I didn't realize that Jordan was only 26.

He's at (or close) to his peak now, right? And yet, he's still pulled OFF the floor during some of the most important moments of games in the playoffs. But for me this goes beyond the free throw shooting.

I don't think Jordan turns the Wolves into a playoff team. He's great, even arguably the best at some things... but he's so limited in other areas. He's sorta the big man version of Rubio in some ways.

I know I rip when teams try to hide behind the "promise of hope" declarations. But that's what you can sell (legitimately) when you have a #1 or #2 draft pick. Look at how Wiggins revitalized the fanbase. To have TWO guys capable of that at the same time? That's Glen Taylor's wet dream (sorry for the visual).

And... with a rookie, you have him locked up for 4 years. And the odds are still slightly in favor of extending him beyond that. Usually, you get them for the first two contracts in their careers before they look elsewhere. With Jordan, you'd be nabbing him at his highest price point (more than 2x what you'd pay for a Towns) and you get probably him for only about 1/2 as many years.

The Wolves are in a position to hope for the superstar... not the All Star.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

What if we land #1-#2, and the Clips were interested in a S&T for Jordan. Would you do it? The reality is that the Clips, while they could certainly pay Jordan, they may need to shed some salary....and a swap of Jordan for Towns/Okafor may be something they would consider. I do it in a heartbeat. I didn't realize that Jordan was only 26.

I think Okafor and Towns will both be better than DJ so I wouldn't do it. We can't afford to put the cart before the horse. DJ can't be the second best player on your team if you want to win so our only chance would be Lavine and Wiggins become stars in that scenario. Take who's left of Okafor/Towns, win 25-30 games next year and get one more high pick before we have to start dealing all of our picks away because of trades. That way we have 4 legitimate chances in the stardom bucket of Wiggins, Lavine, Okafor or Towns and a high pick in next year's draft.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

What if we land #1-#2, and the Clips were interested in a S&T for Jordan. Would you do it? The reality is that the Clips, while they could certainly pay Jordan, they may need to shed some salary....and a swap of Jordan for Towns/Okafor may be something they would consider. I do it in a heartbeat. I didn't realize that Jordan was only 26.

I might blink on Gobert (whose not going anywhere by the way, so it's a pipedream), but probably not Jordan. Gobert is a defensive superstar and he's young enough that his offense can still develop further.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I don't do it. I don't even think about doing it, to be honest. We get a less-than-AllStar player for a top-two pick AND we have to pay him max?

[TheFuture]

Flip isn't that stupid. He will take BPA rather than reach for WCS in the top 4. He may decide that a center is a must. If so, he would surely trade down for him. At least, I think we can give him that much credit.

Yeah, I can't imagine a 66-loss team is reaching that far to fill such a specific need...

The number says 66 loss, but we definitely are a better team than that. I personally wouldn't mind trading down for WCS. We have a few great prospects, 2-4 good players. We need to take players who fit/help Wiggins/lavine in my opinion. I don't want to draft a Kevin love when we have big all, or a derrick Williams when we have Kevin love, etc.

For example, Okafor play does not fit this teams style and would be either a waste of his talent, or would hinder Wiggins/ lavines.

We need outside scoring, post/rim defense, pg scoring. In that order.

Towns, Russell, hezonja, porzingis, WCS, mudiay, maybe Winslow have to be the only targets.

A 54 - 58 loss team still sucks balls.

Wiggins has promise as a legit building block, definitely. LaVine? Maybe. But I wouldn't count my chickens on that one. Same with Muhammad. They might be nice pieces, but are they good enough to start on a playoff team someday? I don't know yet. Rubio is a nice player, but has some deep-rooted flaws that are looking more and more like serious long-term issues.

So I'm all in on gathering the BEST assets. A good GM will know what to do with them.


[Note: I'm down on Okafor a bit too, at least compared to Towns. But he still has incredible value from other teams. That could be used to the Wolves advantage. I wouldn't ignore him to reach for somebody else that fits the Wolves better in the moment. Even with the perfect complement, this team is multiple years away from the playoffs.]

If we are at 3 or 4 and Okafor is there, I take him as well, but only because he provides the best leverage at that point for a trade down that nets us a different player + other assets.

[northernhoops [enjin:9491634]]

Could probably get Jordan for KMart Shabazz and Dieng

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

What if we land #1-#2, and the Clips were interested in a S&T for Jordan. Would you do it? The reality is that the Clips, while they could certainly pay Jordan, they may need to shed some salary....and a swap of Jordan for Towns/Okafor may be something they would consider. I do it in a heartbeat. I didn't realize that Jordan was only 26.

I think Okafor and Towns will both be better than DJ so I wouldn't do it. We can't afford to put the cart before the horse. DJ can't be the second best player on your team if you want to win so our only chance would be Lavine and Wiggins become stars in that scenario. Take who's left of Okafor/Towns, win 25-30 games next year and get one more high pick before we have to start dealing all of our picks away because of trades. That way we have 4 legitimate chances in the stardom bucket of Wiggins, Lavine, Okafor or Towns and a high pick in next year's draft.

I understand the sentiment from all that posted response....I just don't agree. The sentence in bold above may as well be our slogan at this point. We have had 10 consecutive seasons of winning less than 40 games, and what do we have to show for it? A 16 win team. Is one more draft pick going to change that? Or 2, or 3?

I thought Jordan was an interesting guy to bring up because he is the absolute ceiling of a guy like WCS (although I don't think WCS ever hits near this ceiling), and likely equal in value to Okafor if he fulfills his destiny as an offensively gifted center. I do agree that Towns potential is intriguing, but he is certainly nothing close to a sure thing in my book. And it is mentioned that DJ couldn't be the 2nd best player, yet many on this board are OK with Rubio being this guy? Rubio isn't near the impact player that DJ is IMO....not even close really. DJ, while certainly being a bit of a problem at the end of games just finished a season shooting 71%. He is also a defensive force. Everyone has always clamored for the guy that can finish off lobs from Rubio's shots....I mean passes....and this is truly the absolute top guy in this type of environment.

I actually fully expected the masses to reject. We are perpetually in this space of looking 3-4 years down the road. Guess what....if we never address the current status of the team, we will continue to look 3-4 years down the road.