Minnesota Sports Forum

Johnson looks completely disengaged today.I know his team is up and playing great. But I don't see the high motor anywhere today. He seems athletic but only when he wants to be. Maybe he is sick or something. We will see at tournament time but everything I have seen with this kid so far makes me say no. His shot is ugly but relatively effective as far as I can see too, which makes me think he is potentially streaky.

thedoper wrote:Johnson looks completely disengaged today.I know his team is up and playing great. But I don't see the high motor anywhere today. He seems athletic but only when he wants to be. Maybe he is sick or something. We will see at tournament time but everything I have seen with this kid so far makes me say no. His shot is ugly but relatively effective as far as I can see too, which makes me think he is potentially streaky.

To me this draft is about landing Okafor, Towns, or Russell. If we can't then see who will trade up for Mudiay.

TRKO wrote:

thedoper wrote:Johnson looks completely disengaged today.I know his team is up and playing great. But I don't see the high motor anywhere today. He seems athletic but only when he wants to be. Maybe he is sick or something. We will see at tournament time but everything I have seen with this kid so far makes me say no. His shot is ugly but relatively effective as far as I can see too, which makes me think he is potentially streaky.

To me this draft is about landing Okafor, Towns, or Russell. If we can't then see who will trade up for Mudiay.

I feel exactly the same way.

Knicks prefer Towns?

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/03/07/report-no-team-watched-kentucky-more-in-person-this-season-than-the-knicks/

I have decided on the big man front. I prefer Towns over Okafor. Still not sure about the backcourt players and how they stack up against the bigs, but if I had to rank a top 4 today:

1) Towns
2) Okafor
3) Mudiay
4) Russell

I was wary of Towns for awhile, and I still think he looks raw, but his PER is high, the blocks and rebounds are nice, and he would fit a need (of course, defensive 7 footers who can block and rebound fit EVERYONE'S need).

Okafor looks like a sure thing. And Russell has looked really good this year. Should be some good players coming out of this draft.

Still, until the draft lottery, talking about some of these guys could be moot. We could have the 1st pick or if we close the season strong could have more like the 7th or 8th.

The more I see of Russell too the more I like. He has really good passing instincts. One of those guys who could really make the whole team better and he looks like he could legitimately play the 1 or the 2. That would give us an important flexibility as we try to develop guys. Again, assuming he's there when we draft.

Here is why I am NOT on the D'Angelo Russell bandwagon.

Minnesota needs to start building a TEAM, and part of building a team means making tough decisions that make your team better in the long run. Right now, our 2 best players for the foreseeable future are Wiggins and Rubio. Objective #1 is to make sure we do right by them. That means we shouldn't put them in positions where they can't succeed and especially in Wiggins' case, that means he needs to be our SG moving forward. He plays his best basketball there and we'd have a nice defensive backcourt. Drafting Russell guarantees that Wiggins never plays at the 2 (and if he does, that means Russell isn't on the court) and that shouldn't be what we want. At least with someone like Mario Hezonja you can interchange he and Wiggins at the SG/SF spots. You can't do that with Russell unless you want Rubio off the court (and in that case, why bother addressing backup PG?) I also don't think Russell bodes well for LaVine's development either as it really shuts the door on opportunity for LaVine to start down the line (not that I care about this, but anyway). If LaVine becomes the new Jamal Crawford, someone will provide him an opportunity to start that we can't should all go well. This is the kind of long term thinking we need Flip to ponder.

Euros. Suck. Period. No way I take any of those dudes.

I feel Wiggins has been very good at SF. I think that position is fine for him. He can play both SF and SG. I think Russell is the best player in this draft and would play great in between Rubio and Wiggins. Russell can do it all on offense, and I feel he has the ability to develop into a great two way player.