Minnesota Sports Forum

Camden wrote:I wish we would stop thinking that KG is able to take guys who are awful defensively (Bennett, Payne, Okafor, etc.). My belief is that KG on the court makes that five man unit much better than if he was off. That's the impact he has. He may help the other guys learn some things here and there, but he's not a miracle worker. He's no NBA equivalent to Jesus. If they're awful on defense, perhaps KG can make them just below average.

Okafor's problems on defense lie with his lateral quickness, effort, intensity and understanding of positioning. KG can only help with one of those weaknesses and that's positioning. Defense is something that is instilled in a player. Something they've grown up with even. Wiggins, for instance, was preached to by his father while growing up the importance of defense. Mitchell taught his son to have that dog in him. Rubio's got that dog in him. Okafor is much more interested in scoring buckets; not locking down on defense. You can't teach that.

I'm with Cam here. I think there has been a myth that guys can "make" other guys better players. Advice is nice, but I am with Cam that some of these things, either guys have it or they don't. And agree that KG certainly helps while on floor....but I am also skeptical he can transform these crappy guys into good defenders.

khans2k5 wrote:We still need a backup PG so Mudiay would not be a terrible pick. He also wouldn't be relied on to be the guy out of the gate. He could develop behind Ricky and be a different type of player than Ricky to run the second unit. He'd also be a good trade chip. We have needs pretty much everywhere so we have to take BPA and go from there. We also really shouldn't be relying on any rookie to play 30+ minutes like Wiggins because it just doesn't lead to many wins.

the problem is that using a TOP 4 pick on a backup PG is a massive waste of time, money and a good asset.

BPA is only something you should do if you're looking for a player to build around. We arguably have two. Why look to draft someone who plays the same position as our most important player?

I can't let go of the idea of Flip possibly wanting Mudiay given how interested he was in signing Bledsoe.

Q12543 wrote:Well, that's pretty much a crazy best-case scenario you are banking on for every player! It also should remind us of the phenomenal run of drafting OKC did over the course of three drafts: 2007 - Kevin Durant 2008 - Westbrook AND Ibaka (at #24!) 2009 - Harden That is reeeeeee-diculous!

They also drafted Glen Davis and Carl Landry in 2nd round 2007 and Eric Bledsoe with 18th pick 2010 but traded all of them. Pretty awesome drafting in four consecutive years.

I still think that greatest draft run has been Phoenix 94-99 if you consider their draft position:
94: Wesley Person with 23rd pick
95: Michael Finley with 21st pick
96: Steve Nash with 15th pick
97: Stephen Jackson with 42nd pick (he was waived though and only became something after San Antonio picked him)
98: no picks
99: Shawn Marion with 9th pick

WildWolf2813 wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:We still need a backup PG so Mudiay would not be a terrible pick. He also wouldn't be relied on to be the guy out of the gate. He could develop behind Ricky and be a different type of player than Ricky to run the second unit. He'd also be a good trade chip. We have needs pretty much everywhere so we have to take BPA and go from there. We also really shouldn't be relying on any rookie to play 30+ minutes like Wiggins because it just doesn't lead to many wins.

the problem is that using a TOP 4 pick on a backup PG is a massive waste of time, money and a good asset.

BPA is only something you should do if you're looking for a player to build around. We arguably have two. Why look to draft someone who plays the same position as our most important player?

If we draft a 1-2-3-5 next year they aren't starting with the exception of maybe Okafor. The only starting spot up for grabs for a rookie would be the 4 spot and even that might still have KG's name on it. Russell would have to beat out Martin and Lavine (with an off season to bulk up) which will be very difficult. Towns would have to go through half the team to get his spot unless he plays the 4, but he'd still have to go through a couple guys there who could improve themselves to grab the spot. I think even Okafor might not get the spot because Flip wants to win which won't involve any rookies getting big minutes unless we have injuries. We're stacked with vets and young guys who will be more experienced than whoever comes in so I would be pretty surprised to see many if any of the guys we could draft take hold of a starting spot from day 1 on our team. They might be good players, but lets not ignore the fact that the transition to the pros is not as smooth as get picked, start right away and become a star. Wiggins is having a great rookie year and we saw it take him more than a 1/4 of the season to start to put it together which is pretty fast for his age. Most players take 2-3 years to become consistently good players so I don't think you should take anyone in this draft with the expectation they are going to be a big contributor logging more than 20-25 MPG's next year. We have too many other players who are just going to be better than a rookie going into next season.

Also Mudiay could beat out Ricky by year 3 or 4. Ricky has some big weaknesses in his game that Mudiay could prove to surpass him and we'd be able to control Mudiay longer than Ricky since he'd be a rookie deal and RFA to Ricky's UFA. Mudiay's biggest problem right now is his shooting like Ricky, but he can score at the basket which Ricky can't do. He's a great athlete with good size which gives him a higher defensive ceiling than Ricky. Ricky is not a star so you shouldn't pass someone up if you think they could be a star because of Ricky. Mudiay is the same triple double threat who can score much better than Ricky so I would take him at 4 and not look back if Okafor, Towns and Russell are off the board.

We need BPA. I feel think in the long run Russell and Mudiay will have the biggest impact. I am hoping we get either one of them. I read an article on Mudiay and he really has had a great year of growth off the court and now that he is done in China is coming back to work with Brown until the draft.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2015/story/_/id/12415902/how-does-emmanuel-mudiay-project-next-level-nba-draft

Thought the board would enjoy this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoHfZOdh2pk

Three things that came to mind.
1. Impressive for both of them
2. Towns must have grown because he didn't look any taller then Wiggins
3. Towns played the Hoops Summit in 2013 and 2014?

Looked at 2013. Livio Jean-Charles was the top scorer and he was drafted and stashed by the Spurs. Currently playing for a Euro team owned by Tony Parker in France.