Minnesota Sports Forum

My tiers:

Guys we ABSOLUTELY must get if they're within grasp:
Karl Anthony Towns
Mario Hezonja

Guys I wouldn't exactly mind as a plan B, though it requires moving down
Bobby Portis
Trey Lyles
Delon Wright

Guys that I wouldn't necessarily be happy taking but it could be worse
D'Angelo Russell
Justise Wiinslow
Kristaps Porzingis
Jahlil Okafor
Willie Cauley-Stein

Guys I would avoid at all costs
Myles Turner
Emmanuel Mudiay
Kevon Looney
Stanley Johnson
Kelly Oubre

Wild, what do you have against each of these guys?
Emmanuel Mudiay
Kevon Looney
Stanley Johnson
Kelly Oubre

Can we add Fred Holberg to that top tier, WildWolf? ;)

Just absolutely love the way his teams play.

Star prospects: Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor, Emmanuel Mudiay, D'Angelo Russell.

Starter prospects: Stanley Johnson, Willie Cauley-Stein, Bobby Portis, Frank Kaminsky, Mario Hezonja, Justise Winslow, Jerian Grant, Montrezl Harrell.

Prospects I'm not a fan of: Kristaps Porzingiz, Kelly Oubre, Myles Turner, Cliff Alexander, Kevon Looney.

Mario Hezonja = Peja Stojakovic

Or am I dreaming? WE NEED SCORING (amoung other things). I know LIP says stay away, but Bazz had bad press too. I'm thinking Mario is worth the risk if we are picking 5th or lower

papalrep wrote:Wild, what do you have against each of these guys?
Emmanuel Mudiay
Kevon Looney
Stanley Johnson
Kelly Oubre

I'll start with Oubre.

He's a Bill Self guy and Kansas prospects other than Wiggins and Embiid (and truth be told, I see it a bit with Wiggins too), they're passive. They're tentative, and they're generally guys that have confidence issues.

Looney is undersized. I look at Utah and I see a team that could be dominant just because they'll always have a size advantage. While he's a max effort guy, he's too dependent on others to get him going.

Stanley Johnson's biggest weakness is his jumper. On this team it's not a good recipe for success. If we're not gonna draft a big, we need shooters galore. Flip needs to come to grips with that. We need defense too don't get me wrong, but we don't our offense filled with guys who play confused.

Mudiay to me is not a SG and we can't plan on him doing that. This team has a major problem with confusing versatility with thinking players can play anywhere and be every bit as successful. We need to build a team and that means making tough decisions. If we draft Mudiay, then Flip needs to make a choice: Mudiay or Rubio: having both will not work. BPA works if you're cool with replacing the incumbent. It doesn't if you're thinking they can play together and everything will be fine. The #1 questions Flip needs to ask for guys in between positions or who can play multiple positions is "where are they best suited?" In Mudiay's case it's at the point. Don't then draft him to play a position he won't be as good. That goes for anyone.

Right now, I think we have a PG and a SG (Rubio and Wiggins). I think we have a SF too in Muhammad but may or may not be better suited off the bench. Payne, probably a backup 4. Everyone else, Flip needs to make concrete choices because he's constructing a team. He can't view these guys as assets. Assets for who?

Camden wrote:Star prospects: Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor, Emmanuel Mudiay, D'Angelo Russell.

Starter prospects: Stanley Johnson, Willie Cauley-Stein, Bobby Portis, Frank Kaminsky, Mario Hezonja, Justise Winslow, Jerian Grant, Montrezl Harrell.

Prospects I'm not a fan of: Kristaps Porzingiz, Kelly Oubre, Myles Turner, Cliff Alexander, Kevon Looney.

I agree with your list 100% very nicely done

papalrep wrote:Mario Hezonja = Peja Stojakovic

Or am I dreaming? WE NEED SCORING (amoung other things). I know LIP says stay away, but Bazz had bad press too. I'm thinking Mario is worth the risk if we are picking 5th or lower

From the highlights he looks a lot like Peja, but...per DX, his weaknesses include that he doesn't work well outside of ISO situations, etc, loses focus often, doesn't work well within the flow of the offense, and the team does better with him off the court than on....which almost sounds just like a poor basketball IQ. I'd be a bit leery of that if that's true.

Wildwolf--The #1 questions Flip needs to ask for guys in between positions or who can play multiple positions is "where are they best suited?" In Mudiay's case it's at the point. Don't then draft him to play a position he won't be as good. That goes for anyone.

TOM KELLY - (paraphrasing) "the least I can do for a player is put him in a position where he can succeed".

Great point Wildwolf. Why draft Madiay if we believe in Ricky? The only reason to draft is if we have given up on Ricky, or to use him for trade bait - we got Bazz and Dieng by trading down, but neither are difference makers. If we are not lucky (Towns or Okafor), I say draft Hezonja or Cauley Stein. One is a shooter, the other is a rim protector. Get someone who can address some of our many woes. Madiay does not belong on our team, because I have not given up on Ricky.

If Mudiay is the only one left to us at 4 (if we end up there) you have to take him. He's a tier higher than anyone else in the draft. You don't pass on a top tier player because of Ricky. He can back Ricky up, play a few minutes at the 2 and either take Ricky's spot or become a trade piece down the line. Bledsoe was a backup PG until he was traded to the Suns even though he would have started on several other teams during his backup years. We haven't won enough to pick regarding fit unless it is with players in similar tiers, i.e. Russell and Towns. Mudiay is in the potential star tier. If you trade down you are trading into a lower tier and thus less likely to get a star. We need another star and if Mudiay is the only one left from that top tier you take him and figure out the rest later.

The only starting spot up for grabs is the 4 and you guys are saying our pick should be starter material out of the gate so that means he has to be a 4 otherwise he won't fit your starting criteria. Russell won't start. Towns and Okafor may not even start for us. Mudiay wouldn't start. Given the impact rookies have, it should be perfectly fine to draft someone with the expectation they come off the bench for a year and possibly more until they get that starting spot. If we are starting a rookie next year it doesn't bode well for our ability to win games because they just aren't consistently good players. Then when we undoubtedly have injuries they can get their shot, but we shouldn't be counting on them from day 1 to be a big part of a winning team.