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

[mrhockey89]

Q, I don't disagree that rebounding isn't a strength of WCS, but I very much disagree with WCS not being stronger. I think he's already stronger than Gorgui, and he has a frame that's more able and likely to be able go gain weight than Gorgui. Additionally, he's 4 years younger and it likely to gain strength. I see a lot of Tyson Chandler in WCS.

Additionally, WCS can guard just about a position well. He moves very similarly (and has length/athleticism) to KG on the defensive end, which was always a huge advantage to the Wolves in their glory days, as he was the best PnR defender we have ever had. WCS also has the defensive basketball IQ to translate into an effective NBA defender.

Again, I'm not suggesting we take him in the top 4, but I certainly wouldn't mind having him on this team, and I'd gladly trade Dieng and others to make it happen.

What if we get #1, take Towns, then get the opportunity to trade LaVine for #5-6 and WCS is on the board. Pull the trigger?

Rubio/insert 2nd rounder here
Martin/Neal
Wiggins/Shabazz
KG+Towns
WCS/Pekovic

That doesn't sound half-bad to me...and fast forward a year or two and we'll be able to replace AB and Payne if/when needed too.

[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.

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.

You only have a small window to get and use high picks. This was year 1 of the rebuilding effort and yes we are rebuilding again now that Love is gone. DJ helps us become a better team, but he's simply not good enough to have title aspirations with him as your second best guy. Ricky can only be the third best player on your team at best like DJ hence why even with a healthy Ricky we are usually at or just above .500. You just can't take the last ten years into account with this rebuild. This is an entirely new rebuild and we have to have the patience to do it right or you cap our potential as a bottom 4 playoff team at best.

We have 1 guy that looks like he can be a star. We have another who has the potential but has a long way to go. We need more if we ever want to be better than a 5-8 seed. I know it sucks that it's going to take at least 1 more pretty bad season but you have to do it if you have any championship aspirations whatsoever. There is no point going all out for a playoff spot next season with how strong the West is right now. You're just asking for a beat down in the playoffs because we simply aren't ready. Kahn royally fucked this organization over with his epic failure during the last rebuild. We have to look past that and have the patience to do it right this time. DJ simply isn't good enough to make the risk worth it. If we had two guys looking like sure things he would be, but we only have 1 right now. You don't make these types of moves when you are still multiple core pieces away.

We aren't at the point where the team needs to be "addressed". We just finished year 1 of the rebuild and got off to a great start. You add a high pick this year and a high pick next year and you "address the team" that off season when the cap takes a big jump and Wiggins is hitting year 3 in the league. The last two years with Love weren't rebuilding years. They were just years we were crappy while trying to win and the lack of high picks killed our ability to get a better long-term outlook for the franchise. We've taken it on the chin for a decade and we need to for one more year to do this right. Now is simply not the time to try to improve all at once unless it returns a sure fire star which DJ is just a good player.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Q, I don't disagree that rebounding isn't a strength of WCS, but I very much disagree with WCS not being stronger. I think he's already stronger than Gorgui, and he has a frame that's more able and likely to be able go gain weight than Gorgui. Additionally, he's 4 years younger and it likely to gain strength. I see a lot of Tyson Chandler in WCS.

Additionally, WCS can guard just about a position well. He moves very similarly (and has length/athleticism) to KG on the defensive end, which was always a huge advantage to the Wolves in their glory days, as he was the best PnR defender we have ever had. WCS also has the defensive basketball IQ to translate into an effective NBA defender.

Again, I'm not suggesting we take him in the top 4, but I certainly wouldn't mind having him on this team, and I'd gladly trade Dieng and others to make it happen.

What if we get #1, take Towns, then get the opportunity to trade LaVine for #5-6 and WCS is on the board. Pull the trigger?

Rubio/insert 2nd rounder here
Martin/Neal
Wiggins/Shabazz
KG+Towns
WCS/Pekovic

That doesn't sound half-bad to me...and fast forward a year or two and we'll be able to replace AB and Payne if/when needed too.

I agree WCS has KG-like potential in terms of guarding people, but here again, KG is an elite defensive rebounder. That's what makes him especially great. He is super rangy defensively AND he ends possessions on the (first) missed shot.

No way does anyone trade the pick WCS will be selected for LaVine. Ain't happening.

[mrhockey89]

Q, I don't disagree that rebounding isn't a strength of WCS, but I very much disagree with WCS not being stronger. I think he's already stronger than Gorgui, and he has a frame that's more able and likely to be able go gain weight than Gorgui. Additionally, he's 4 years younger and it likely to gain strength. I see a lot of Tyson Chandler in WCS.

Additionally, WCS can guard just about a position well. He moves very similarly (and has length/athleticism) to KG on the defensive end, which was always a huge advantage to the Wolves in their glory days, as he was the best PnR defender we have ever had. WCS also has the defensive basketball IQ to translate into an effective NBA defender.

Again, I'm not suggesting we take him in the top 4, but I certainly wouldn't mind having him on this team, and I'd gladly trade Dieng and others to make it happen.

What if we get #1, take Towns, then get the opportunity to trade LaVine for #5-6 and WCS is on the board. Pull the trigger?

Rubio/insert 2nd rounder here
Martin/Neal
Wiggins/Shabazz
KG+Towns
WCS/Pekovic

That doesn't sound half-bad to me...and fast forward a year or two and we'll be able to replace AB and Payne if/when needed too.

I agree WCS has KG-like potential in terms of guarding people, but here again, KG is an elite defensive rebounder. That's what makes him especially great. He is super rangy defensively AND he ends possessions on the (first) missed shot.

No way does anyone trade the pick WCS will be selected for LaVine. Ain't happening.

I'd like to think KG could teach WCS a few things in terms of positioning himself for rebounds, although WCS challenges absolutely everything from any player (his man or not). The more I think about it though, WCS would be an ideal fit next to this FA named Kevin Love.

So you think LaVine couldn't be viewed by any teams as having as much value as WCS or the other players available at pick #6-7? You might be right, but I can think of some around here that would disagree with that :)

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

KG can teach anyone anything. Lol haven't I made that clear!? :roll:

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Q, I don't disagree that rebounding isn't a strength of WCS, but I very much disagree with WCS not being stronger. I think he's already stronger than Gorgui, and he has a frame that's more able and likely to be able go gain weight than Gorgui. Additionally, he's 4 years younger and it likely to gain strength. I see a lot of Tyson Chandler in WCS.

Additionally, WCS can guard just about a position well. He moves very similarly (and has length/athleticism) to KG on the defensive end, which was always a huge advantage to the Wolves in their glory days, as he was the best PnR defender we have ever had. WCS also has the defensive basketball IQ to translate into an effective NBA defender.

Again, I'm not suggesting we take him in the top 4, but I certainly wouldn't mind having him on this team, and I'd gladly trade Dieng and others to make it happen.

What if we get #1, take Towns, then get the opportunity to trade LaVine for #5-6 and WCS is on the board. Pull the trigger?

Rubio/insert 2nd rounder here
Martin/Neal
Wiggins/Shabazz
KG+Towns
WCS/Pekovic

That doesn't sound half-bad to me...and fast forward a year or two and we'll be able to replace AB and Payne if/when needed too.

I agree WCS has KG-like potential in terms of guarding people, but here again, KG is an elite defensive rebounder. That's what makes him especially great. He is super rangy defensively AND he ends possessions on the (first) missed shot.

No way does anyone trade the pick WCS will be selected for LaVine. Ain't happening.

I'd like to think KG could teach WCS a few things in terms of positioning himself for rebounds, although WCS challenges absolutely everything from any player (his man or not). The more I think about it though, WCS would be an ideal fit next to this FA named Kevin Love.

So you think LaVine couldn't be viewed by any teams as having as much value as WCS or the other players available at pick #6-7? You might be right, but I can think of some around here that would disagree with that :)

Ugh, I'm with Cam on this one. KG's mentoring seemingly knows no bounds! Now he's going to teach a 3-year college player from the best program in the country how to rebound!

By now, WCS is what he is as a rebounder. It's one of the most reliable traits coming out of college. And if he could only muster 10 per 40 minutes while being easily the tallest and most athletic player on the floor for 3 years in college, he's not suddenly going to do better in the pros.

As for LaVine's trade value, I'm 100% positive we have some posters here that think he's worth a top 7 lottery pick. It's the real-life GMs I'm skeptical about!

(I do agree that WCS and Love would have made for a very nice combination. He almost the prototype player you want playing next to Love at C).

[Volans19]

Yes, I agree. Let's stop with the KG is going to be teaching these kids all sorts of fundamentals. I'll be happy if he can just try to get them to play hard

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

So Towns got less than 3 more RPG's per 40 minutes than WCS and everybody is fine with Towns' rebounding potential. Meanwhile WCS is chasing guys around the perimeter while Towns gets to chill in the post. WCS had 162 defensive boards and 89 offensive boards and Towns had 169 and 92. There was about a 4 MPG difference so if Towns is going to be a great to elite rebounder, I don't see why WCS won't be a good enough rebounder. I think holes or weak spots in players games are becoming craters and unfixable trends when these guys are just college players. Some guys will correct them and others won't but I don't think it's fair to just assume a guy like Towns will put it all together while guys like Okafor and WCS won't be able to address and fix their weaknesses.

[Coolbreeze44]

I can't understand why we would want to trade Lavine at this point anyway. I suppose if we end up with a guard with our pick it might make some sense. But Lavine's value to us is on our roster, not somebody else's.

[TheFuture]

Khans, the issue with your statement is that you're banking on a draft pick who has a much better chance of being a role player or busting than being an all-star. On the other hand, Jordan is an all-star right now. He is elite as a rim protector, a help defender, a rebounder on both ends, and a put back/alley pop nightmare. He makes our team a ton better on defense, and he has plenty of use for this team on offense with rubio. If they offer me Jordan and their pick for #3 or #4 I'd take it for sure. Oh, and Jordan is an iron man when it comes to big men. He never misses games. That's huge in its own right.