Minnesota Sports Forum

If the Wolves actually keep the pick, I'm hoping they have the gumption to take James Wiseman and bolster the interior. As I've argued in the past, he makes sense for many reasons -- specifically, his defensive potential and ability to stretch the floor vertically. They don't make guys with his physical tools all that often and in drafting him you're theoretically making Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell's lives easier on both ends of the court.

Camden wrote:If the Wolves actually keep the pick, I'm hoping they have the gumption to take James Wiseman and bolster the interior. As I've argued in the past, he makes sense for many reasons -- specifically, his defensive potential and ability to stretch the floor vertically. They don't make guys with his physical tools all that often and in drafting him you're theoretically making Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell's lives easier on both ends of the court.

I'd love to see the trio of Towns/Russell/Wiseman

WildWolf2813 wrote:

Duke13 wrote:Take Edwards and call it a day. The guys physical tools and skills set are through the roof. Please don't tell me his floor his Waiters

1. He's not a good shooter.

2. He's not a willing defender.

3. The things he's good at are things we ask of Beasley and Russell.

4. He thinks he's better than what he is, which is fine except this team has to decide how good he's expected to become.

5. This franchise hasn't shown any indication that they can unlock the talents of guys who have suspect motors. They just got rid of a guy who eerily has similar characteristics to Edwards in Wiggins. Why revisit that? So Ryan Saunders can yell at him at halftime after a crappy first half? High ceiling, but he has the floor of a journeyman.


His biggest asset is that he's a Crean guy, and he's helped develop Wade and Oladipo.

On a recent podcast Jon K made a point that if they took Edwards they have other options to play besides him and maybe force him to do other things and also not be relied on in terms of scoring. They could treat him more like OKC did with Harden and have him maybe be the guy doing things off the bench.

It would be interesting to look back at Cream's record in regards to NBA players. I really enjoyed Crean when he was doing media stuff especially during the draft. He really knew his stuff.

The thing with Anthony Edwards is that he's never won. His play has never led his team to winning. Not in high school. Not at the University of Georgia. I have my doubts that he'll ever win at the NBA level either. He's supremely talented, but he's just not conducive to winning. His shot selection is a big issue and his inconsistent effort on defense is troubling although to be expected for youngsters. You'd wish that a guy with his ability and physical makeup would make his presence felt a lot more on that end of the floor.

Camden0916 wrote:The thing with Anthony Edwards is that he's never won. His play has never led his team to winning. Not in high school. Not at the University of Georgia. I have my doubts that he'll ever win at the NBA level either. He's supremely talented, but he's just not conducive to winning. His shot selection is a big issue and his inconsistent effort on defense is troubling although to be expected for youngsters. You'd wish that a guy with his ability and physical makeup would make his presence felt a lot more on that end of the floor.

There are certainly questions about him...as are pretty much any of the top prospects in this draft more than the typical draft. He hasn't won at any level but I'm not really sure how much I'm gonna buy into that. What did the rest of his team look like? what was the completion level etc etc. looking at some basic stats Georgia was one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the nation. They had 1 other guy that scored over 10ppg. Was some of that Edwards doing? Sure that's possible. We don't know how things are going to break for some prospects. Ben Simmons was questioned in Terms of winning and especially defense and right now those are 2 of his strengths when we talk about his overall game. We have seen guys with this franchise that either had positive defensive abilities in college or who profiled well in that regard...flounder on that end. I spent a bit of time this morning looking into Edwards. I do think his ability as an offensive player/potential is pretty high. It would be nice to have a perimeter player that's actually built very strong. Is he going to put in the work and be a good teammate have the right BBIQ? Idk and that brings us back around to winning. I just want someone good at basketball. A star or all-star would be awesome. Just please no guys that are out of the league in a few years...Sigh

I don't have the full confidence of this group to pick the right guy but honestly I'm not sure if I would feel really good about getting the right guy except for a handful of teams were making the pick. Maybe we can Danny Ainge someone and trade down and get a good player anyway. Lol

kekgeek1 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Wowzers. Well, that was unexpected. Of course it happened in a year where the talent is pretty even and there is no obvious NBA-read star to be had.

I'm not sure where the "Ben Simmons is good on defense" narrative is coming from. I don't think he's horrible, but I don't think of him as a good defender. He will do very little to shore up that end of the court for us given the gaping holes that exist right now.

I do agree that he might be the best we can hope for with the #1 pick and he fits the profile of position-less basketball.

Simmons might make 1st team all defense this year. He is an elite defender, now he might get helped with embiid on defense but he is very good on that end

....yet he has one of the worst defensive ratings among Sixers starters and last season (a full one) his team was much better defensively when he was on the bench. That doesn't sound like a 1st team defender to me.

I get that he looks the part. But at the end of the day, a great defender actually should have a net positive impact on team defense. For whatever reason, he just isn't a difference maker on that end.

And to your point, he was playing with the likes of Embiid and Horford. Imagine him with sieves like KAT and Russell and his decent-ish defense will make even less of a difference to this team.

He certainly won't make us worse defensively, but I don't see him moving the needle much the other way.

Oh please don't take Ball. I cant take that headache. KAT ain't gonna like it either.

Camden wrote:The thing with Anthony Edwards is that he's never won. His play has never led his team to winning. Not in high school. Not at the University of Georgia. I have my doubts that he'll ever win at the NBA level either. He's supremely talented, but he's just not conducive to winning. His shot selection is a big issue and his inconsistent effort on defense is troubling although to be expected for youngsters. You'd wish that a guy with his ability and physical makeup would make his presence felt a lot more on that end of the floor.

I found this comment interesting. Just quick research online says his team won the state championship as Junior, and lost in title game as a senior. So.......

Q12543 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Wowzers. Well, that was unexpected. Of course it happened in a year where the talent is pretty even and there is no obvious NBA-read star to be had.

I'm not sure where the "Ben Simmons is good on defense" narrative is coming from. I don't think he's horrible, but I don't think of him as a good defender. He will do very little to shore up that end of the court for us given the gaping holes that exist right now.

I do agree that he might be the best we can hope for with the #1 pick and he fits the profile of position-less basketball.

Simmons might make 1st team all defense this year. He is an elite defender, now he might get helped with embiid on defense but he is very good on that end

....yet he has one of the worst defensive ratings among Sixers starters and last season (a full one) his team was much better defensively when he was on the bench. That doesn't sound like a 1st team defender to me.

I get that he looks the part. But at the end of the day, a great defender actually should have a net positive impact on team defense. For whatever reason, he just isn't a difference maker on that end.

And to your point, he was playing with the likes of Embiid and Horford. Imagine him with sieves like KAT and Russell and his decent-ish defense will make even less of a difference to this team.

He certainly won't make us worse defensively, but I don't see him moving the needle much the other way.

Leading the league in steals isn't making an impact on defense? Give it up Q. Do a simple search and see what the league says about him as a defender.

Hicks123 wrote:

Camden wrote:The thing with Anthony Edwards is that he's never won. His play has never led his team to winning. Not in high school. Not at the University of Georgia. I have my doubts that he'll ever win at the NBA level either. He's supremely talented, but he's just not conducive to winning. His shot selection is a big issue and his inconsistent effort on defense is troubling although to be expected for youngsters. You'd wish that a guy with his ability and physical makeup would make his presence felt a lot more on that end of the floor.

I found this comment interesting. Just quick research online says his team won the state championship as Junior, and lost in title game as a senior. So.......

It wasn't Edwards' team that season, as in he wasn't who led them to victory. They successfully defended their title in 2008, Edwards' junior season and first year on the team after transferring. He had a whopping nine points in the championship game. Excuse me if I don't attribute their winning to his play.