Minnesota Sports Forum

Thoughts on this pick? Does he slot in nicely next to Towns? I did very little research on players outside of the lottery so I'm curious to hear what you all think. I have to say I was kind of happy when they mentioned that he's an emotional player who's gotten a few technicals, we could use some of that fire on our team!

Not all technicals are created equal.

Hate the player. Immature. Poor defender. Settles for shots. Doesn't know how to play the game. Hothead. Inconsistent. Petulant.

But there's so much length and athleticism upside here if it pans out. This is a GM Stash.

If it pans out against the odds... Rosas looks like a genius.
If it doesn't pan out... odds are Rosas is already fired or the Wolves are good enough that one last pick won't matter.

After all, these GMs who are so into analytics... you don't think they know that more than 1/2 of current GMs have been with their teams 3 years or less?

Yeah, he's another one of these "super talented players that could be great IF he puts it all together mentally" types. How often do these guys put it all together? Almost never.

I would have much preferred a prospect with a big-time work ethic that could blossom further, but at least offers a decent floor. That's the San Antonio method. Draft smart, unsexy players and then we'll try to turn you into something even better. And if you don't blow up, you will still be a solid rotation guy we can plug into our system.

Q12543 wrote:Yeah, he's another one of these "super talented players that could be great IF he puts it all together mentally" types. How often do these guys put it all together? Almost never.

I would have much preferred a prospect with a big-time work ethic that could blossom further, but at least offers a decent floor. That's the San Antonio method. Draft smart, unsexy players and then we'll try to turn you into something even better. And if you don't blow up, you will still be a solid rotation guy we can plug into our system.

I think the one thing that I haven't come to terms with yet about this week...

... is that the league's youngest and most inexperienced franchise (from top to bottom) with two stars known league-wide for their immature (justified or not) and no accountability in place and no winning culture and no level of success and no clear leadership...

...took arguably the two biggest enigmas in the entire draft. It's fine to take a chance on upside. But you need the infrastructure in place to develop them.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Yeah, he's another one of these "super talented players that could be great IF he puts it all together mentally" types. How often do these guys put it all together? Almost never.

I would have much preferred a prospect with a big-time work ethic that could blossom further, but at least offers a decent floor. That's the San Antonio method. Draft smart, unsexy players and then we'll try to turn you into something even better. And if you don't blow up, you will still be a solid rotation guy we can plug into our system.

I think the one thing that I haven't come to terms with yet about this week...

... is that the league's youngest and most inexperienced franchise (from top to bottom) with two stars known league-wide for their immature (justified or not) and no accountability in place and no winning culture and no level of success and no clear leadership...

...took arguably the two biggest enigmas in the entire draft. It's fine to take a chance on upside. But you need the infrastructure in place to develop them.

Don't worry. This is what Ryan Saunders is there for...

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Yeah, he's another one of these "super talented players that could be great IF he puts it all together mentally" types. How often do these guys put it all together? Almost never.

I would have much preferred a prospect with a big-time work ethic that could blossom further, but at least offers a decent floor. That's the San Antonio method. Draft smart, unsexy players and then we'll try to turn you into something even better. And if you don't blow up, you will still be a solid rotation guy we can plug into our system.

I think the one thing that I haven't come to terms with yet about this week...

... is that the league's youngest and most inexperienced franchise (from top to bottom) with two stars known league-wide for their immature (justified or not) and no accountability in place and no winning culture and no level of success and no clear leadership...

...took arguably the two biggest enigmas in the entire draft. It's fine to take a chance on upside. But you need the infrastructure in place to develop them.

Agreed. Our house is built on a shaky foundation to put it mildly.

This is why everything I have read and listened to outside of this site thought the Rubio move was absolutely the right thing to do. And it wasn't just for sentimental reasons.

Having said that, Ricky's ball-sharing, defense, and generally good attitude isn't enough if ultimately DLO and KAT aren't capable of leading. Those are the horses Rosas and Ryan are ultimately betting on.

Q12543 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Yeah, he's another one of these "super talented players that could be great IF he puts it all together mentally" types. How often do these guys put it all together? Almost never.

I would have much preferred a prospect with a big-time work ethic that could blossom further, but at least offers a decent floor. That's the San Antonio method. Draft smart, unsexy players and then we'll try to turn you into something even better. And if you don't blow up, you will still be a solid rotation guy we can plug into our system.

I think the one thing that I haven't come to terms with yet about this week...

... is that the league's youngest and most inexperienced franchise (from top to bottom) with two stars known league-wide for their immature (justified or not) and no accountability in place and no winning culture and no level of success and no clear leadership...

...took arguably the two biggest enigmas in the entire draft. It's fine to take a chance on upside. But you need the infrastructure in place to develop them.

Agreed. Our house is built on a shaky foundation to put it mildly.

This is why everything I have read and listened to outside of this site thought the Rubio move was absolutely the right thing to do. And it wasn't just for sentimental reasons.

Having said that, Ricky's ball-sharing, defense, and generally good attitude isn't enough if ultimately DLO and KAT aren't capable of leading. Those are the horses Rosas and Ryan are ultimately betting on.

True. But for as much as I like Rubio... he was a cornerstone of the franchise for 6 seasons...

... and the team sucked balls or underperformed the entire time. Does he have enough clout to lead a different cast of characters by example? I hope so.

It'll be fun seeing him in action again. He'll help. I just don't know how much.

Q12543 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Yeah, he's another one of these "super talented players that could be great IF he puts it all together mentally" types. How often do these guys put it all together? Almost never.

I would have much preferred a prospect with a big-time work ethic that could blossom further, but at least offers a decent floor. That's the San Antonio method. Draft smart, unsexy players and then we'll try to turn you into something even better. And if you don't blow up, you will still be a solid rotation guy we can plug into our system.

I think the one thing that I haven't come to terms with yet about this week...

... is that the league's youngest and most inexperienced franchise (from top to bottom) with two stars known league-wide for their immature (justified or not) and no accountability in place and no winning culture and no level of success and no clear leadership...

...took arguably the two biggest enigmas in the entire draft. It's fine to take a chance on upside. But you need the infrastructure in place to develop them.

Agreed. Our house is built on a shaky foundation to put it mildly.

This is why everything I have read and listened to outside of this site thought the Rubio move was absolutely the right thing to do. And it wasn't just for sentimental reasons.

Having said that, Ricky's ball-sharing, defense, and generally good attitude isn't enough if ultimately DLO and KAT aren't capable of leading. Those are the horses Rosas and Ryan are ultimately betting on.

Yikes. Color me skeptical

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Yeah, he's another one of these "super talented players that could be great IF he puts it all together mentally" types. How often do these guys put it all together? Almost never.

I would have much preferred a prospect with a big-time work ethic that could blossom further, but at least offers a decent floor. That's the San Antonio method. Draft smart, unsexy players and then we'll try to turn you into something even better. And if you don't blow up, you will still be a solid rotation guy we can plug into our system.

I think the one thing that I haven't come to terms with yet about this week...

... is that the league's youngest and most inexperienced franchise (from top to bottom) with two stars known league-wide for their immature (justified or not) and no accountability in place and no winning culture and no level of success and no clear leadership...

...took arguably the two biggest enigmas in the entire draft. It's fine to take a chance on upside. But you need the infrastructure in place to develop them.

Agreed. Our house is built on a shaky foundation to put it mildly.

This is why everything I have read and listened to outside of this site thought the Rubio move was absolutely the right thing to do. And it wasn't just for sentimental reasons.

Having said that, Ricky's ball-sharing, defense, and generally good attitude isn't enough if ultimately DLO and KAT aren't capable of leading. Those are the horses Rosas and Ryan are ultimately betting on.

True. But for as much as I like Rubio... he was a cornerstone of the franchise for 6 seasons...

... and the team sucked balls or underperformed the entire time. Does he have enough clout to lead a different cast of characters by example? I hope so.

It'll be fun seeing him in action again. He'll help. I just don't know how much.

I agree. He helps, but isn't a magic elixir. No one is going to make DLO and KAT try on defense. At some point, these two need to become real leaders and not put up just a nice act (which is mostly directed at KAT). But keep in mind these guys are still pretty young too.

Harden was embarrassingly mocked for his defensive foibles in his first few years in Houston (remember some of the viral video compilations?), but he eventually got better on that end. He's no stopper, but for a guy with such a massive usage on offense, he's no longer a big liability on that end and hasn't been for a few years now.