Minnesota Sports Forum

I know it's a bit early to delve deeply into the upcoming NBA draft. But there's nothing particularly interesting to talk about when it comes to the Wolves over the remaining games this season. Moreover, this upcoming offseason looks like it will be one of the most important offseasons in Wolves history as it will present one last chance to build a contender around KAT after the gross mismanagement we've seen over the past several years.

The Wolves have KAT locked in for 5 years after the end of this season. That's the good news. It doesn't give us a full 5 years to fix things, but it probably gives us 3 years to become a playoff team on the rise before KAT says he wants out. We don't have any cap room and cap room doesn't mean much for this franchise anyway because we're simply not a destination for elite free agents and likely never will be. We don't have particularly attractive trade assets other than KAT and, in any event, teams rarely take huge leaps forward through trades.

So that leaves us with the NBA draft. We'll likely be drafting in the 11-13 range this June. But that time, the consensus elite players - Zion, Ja and RJ will be gone. If the Wolves have lottery luck and end up in the top three, then the prospects for this team will have suddenly skyrocketed. I see Zion and Ja as the two likely NBA superstars among those three. I'm not nearly as high on Barrett, but if we're drafting 3rd I'd grab him if Zion and Ja are off the board.

But now back to reality. Drafting in the 11-13 range, the Wolves will need to decide whether to take the player with the highest ceiling or the highest floor. I'm inclined to go for the high ceiling player, but my caveat is to avoid high ceiling players with red flags, particularly regarding effort, intensity, motivation. That's why I wouldn't even consider taking Reddish. Among the players I've seen play in games and/or highlight videos and based on what I've read, here's my top 10 list of favorites for the Wolves in order of preference:

1. Zion Williamson
2. Ja Morant
3. RJ Barrett
4. Darius Garland - (I think he'll be a great NBA player. Reminds me of Curry)
5. KZ Okpala - (the last of those I see as potential stars)

6. Nickeil Alexander-Walker
7. Keldon Johnson
8. Jarrett Culver
9. De'Andre Hunter
10. Jaxson Hayes

All this is very preliminary. I'm looking forward to seeing some of these guys in full games during the tournament. And there's a lot more to read and even more highlight reels to watch. But this is where I'm at right now.

My final point is this. Contrary to what some have written on this board, where we end up in the draft order really does matter. Whether we're 10 or 13 could be the difference between the chance to draft an elite player or a basic rotation player. If drafting 13th instead of 11th means we lose the chance to draft Darius Garland, I'd consider that a horrendous outcome. So I consider this organization's failure to soft tank effectively the past 2 weeks to be another in a long string of mistakes by an organization that never thinks strategically. Further, nearly every minute of playing time that Teague, Rose, Bayless and Gibson have gotten at the expense of minutes for Jones, Okogie, KBD, Reynolds and Saric over the past several weeks has been similarly symptomatic of an organization that remains clueless.

Before I start, Lip, what do you want them to do? Sit Towns? You think Towns wants to do that? They can't do anything more than what they've done when it comes to "soft tanking." They're without their 2nd best player, they play Wiggins a ton and they're always out 3 guys because of injury. Where they wind up in the lottery is where they were meant to wind up.

This is a team that not including their 2 way guys will have five guys in their first or 2nd year and all of them will likely be in summer league (Okogie, Bates-Diop, Reynolds, 1st rounder, 2nd rounder). If they get their 2 2 way guys, that's 7 out of 17 spots, so we're gonna get a big time extended look at these guys in Vegas, so I'm not worried about KBD or Okogie being run into the ground, especially when Okogie has hit the rookie wall hard. KBD and Reynolds are the only 2 who should see more of an uptick in their PT. Not to make this an offseason thread, but at this point, I don't think I'd bring Jones back and if a deal for Saric appears whether it's for a 2020 first or attaching him with Wiggins I'm all for it.


Back to the draft.

If they consider the international route at 13 (let's go with this pick), Goga Bitadze is an option if they wanna go big. He's from a program out there that knows how to develop bigs. He gets better every year, and he can help on defense as a big man tandem with Towns where Towns can play smaller.

Domestically, Jaxson Hayes out of Texas is basically our chance to get a Willie Cauley-Stein type of guy alongside Towns. His downside is that he's not a good rebounder, Shabazz-like as a passer, and hurt his knee the other day, but there's a template with him where he can be developed. Let's be real, this is not a playoff team next year, so this franchise has to prove they're serious about player development. Bol Bol is another guy who fits this mold.

If they draft a wing, it needs to be made clear to everyone that he, Wiggins and Okogie are fighting for a starting job. Only Towns and Covington should be assured roster spots. I wouldn't mind Alexander-Walker, but whoever they draft, if this team goes down, they better go down drafting a guy who most feel will be a good shooter. Get a shooter. Get a rebounder. Everything else can be taught. The way this team is built right now, they're only gonna make but so many changes to the team. They can't screw up this draft, and if they even wanna add an undrafted free agent to the bunch, so be it. If this team can't manage to find one really good player out of 7 or 8 first or 2nd year guys, then it's time to start the countdown towards a Towns trade.





As a Tar Heels fan, I say this with love: Stay away for Nassir Little and stay away from Coby White. Absolute no-nos.

Come on Lip. Your last sentence is a bit much from a guy that typically sees the bigger picture. Ryan Saunders is coaching for a chance to coach again next year. While it may benefit longer term to tank and drop a couple draft slots, I think Saunders may disagree. Now reality states he is probably not the answer whether he wins or loses a few more games, but if I am in his shoes, I am trying to win at all costs....as my immediate future in coaching could depend on it. There is a lot of money potentially at state for a coach in his position. I just don't feel it is as easy as you make it seem. Lot's of variables in play.

Regarding draft,seems extremely light after those first 3 you mention. I agree Barrett is 3 over the first 2, but I also have to say that while he is a bit lacking in the efficiency department, he is the most versatile player I have seen play this year. He is aggressive, and everything tends to run through him on that team. He has a lot of responsibility, and he accepts that every game. Love his attacking demeaner. As referenced in game yesterday, he has great looking shot with feet set, but struggles from 3 right now when on the move. Overall, I love his prospects to be a stud at the next level.

I still think Bol Bol needs to be reviewed as an option. Injury is a concern, although it is probably the only reason he would be available to us in our spot. In watching highlights, he is just so strange from a skillset standpoint. He has a buttery 3 point shot, and a great pump and drive game. Weird watching a guy 7'2" with some of the skills he has. Clearly, weight may be a problem, but man, he is so skilled. Too bad for him that he got hurt. He would have been fun to watch progress.

Hicks123 wrote:Come on Lip. Your last sentence is a bit much from a guy that typically sees the bigger picture. Ryan Saunders is coaching for a chance to coach again next year. While it may benefit longer term to tank and drop a couple draft slots, I think Saunders may disagree. Now reality states he is probably not the answer whether he wins or loses a few more games, but if I am in his shoes, I am trying to win at all costs....as my immediate future in coaching could depend on it. There is a lot of money potentially at state for a coach in his position. I just don't feel it is as easy as you make it seem. Lot's of variables in play.

Regarding draft,seems extremely light after those first 3 you mention. I agree Barrett is 3 over the first 2, but I also have to say that while he is a bit lacking in the efficiency department, he is the most versatile player I have seen play this year. He is aggressive, and everything tends to run through him on that team. He has a lot of responsibility, and he accepts that every game. Love his attacking demeaner. As referenced in game yesterday, he has great looking shot with feet set, but struggles from 3 right now when on the move. Overall, I love his prospects to be a stud at the next level.

I still think Bol Bol needs to be reviewed as an option. Injury is a concern, although it is probably the only reason he would be available to us in our spot. In watching highlights, he is just so strange from a skillset standpoint. He has a buttery 3 point shot, and a great pump and drive game. Weird watching a guy 7'2" with some of the skills he has. Clearly, weight may be a problem, but man, he is so skilled. Too bad for him that he got hurt. He would have been fun to watch progress.

My 2 concerns with Bol Bol is that like his dad, I'm not sure he can add more weight to his frame, so he's basically a 7'2'' wing who can't move like a wing.

Also, he also has effort issues. I'm not as worried about injuries unless they're chronic injuries.

I agree with Lip 100% that there is absolutely more we could be doing to "soft tank". Rose and Gibson should not be playing at all at this point (and for the last few weeks). No, you don't bench KAT, you let him get his stats and give him every opportunity to get all NBA, but you let him to do it with 4 youngsters on the court at all times. With our remaining schedule, I think we'll end in the 10 or 11 spot, but we wasted a chance to get to 7 or 8. I also agree with WW that let Jones go if there's a deal for Saric (like a protected FRP), we jump all over that. The whole soft tank plan assumes that we have someone competent running the show this summer, otherwise it's moot.

Also, why isn't this a playoff team next year?? with RoCo healthy, Towns is that good to where there's no excuse for not getting the 7 or 8 spot. It's really depressing how most of the posters on these boards are light years better than our GM's have been for... ever. Where do they get these clowns? It's not hard, you keep KAT and Cov and you make everything else available (including one FRP) for one of the following guards... D Russell, Beal, McCollum, Kemba, Holiday, Lavine, Gary Harris (no FRP on the last two). Any of these guys would make a great trio to build around and MAKE the playoffs for sure next year. i guarantee you can do a deal for one of those 7 under these parameters... but we won't. Ain't rocket science.

lipoli390 wrote:I know it's a bit early to delve deeply into the upcoming NBA draft. But there's nothing particularly interesting to talk about when it comes to the Wolves over the remaining games this season. Moreover, this upcoming offseason looks like it will be one of the most important offseasons in Wolves history as it will present one last chance to build a contender around KAT after the gross mismanagement we've seen over the past several years.

The Wolves have KAT locked in for 5 years after the end of this season. That's the good news. It doesn't give us a full 5 years to fix things, but it probably gives us 3 years to become a playoff team on the rise before KAT says he wants out. We don't have any cap room and cap room doesn't mean much for this franchise anyway because we're simply not a destination for elite free agents and likely never will be. We don't have particularly attractive trade assets other than KAT and, in any event, teams rarely take huge leaps forward through trades.

So that leaves us with the NBA draft. We'll likely be drafting in the 11-13 range this June. But that time, the consensus elite players - Zion, Ja and RJ will be gone. If the Wolves have lottery luck and end up in the top three, then the prospects for this team will have suddenly skyrocketed. I see Zion and Ja as the two likely NBA superstars among those three. I'm not nearly as high on Barrett, but if we're drafting 3rd I'd grab him if Zion and Ja are off the board.

But now back to reality. Drafting in the 11-13 range, the Wolves will need to decide whether to take the player with the highest ceiling or the highest floor. I'm inclined to go for the high ceiling player, but my caveat is to avoid high ceiling players with red flags, particularly regarding effort, intensity, motivation. That's why I wouldn't even consider taking Reddish. Among the players I've seen play in games and/or highlight videos and based on what I've read, here's my top 10 list of favorites for the Wolves in order of preference:

1. Zion Williamson
2. Ja Morant
3. RJ Barrett
4. Darius Garland - (I think he'll be a great NBA player. Reminds me of Curry)
5. KZ Okpala - (the last of those I see as potential stars)

6. Nickeil Alexander-Walker
7. Keldon Johnson
8. Jarrett Culver
9. De'Andre Hunter
10. Jaxson Hayes

All this is very preliminary. I'm looking forward to seeing some of these guys in full games during the tournament. And there's a lot more to read and even more highlight reels to watch. But this is where I'm at right now.

My final point is this. Contrary to what some have written on this board, where we end up in the draft order really does matter. Whether we're 10 or 13 could be the difference between the chance to draft an elite player or a basic rotation player. If drafting 13th instead of 11th means we lose the chance to draft Darius Garland, I'd consider that a horrendous outcome. So I consider this organization's failure to soft tank effectively the past 2 weeks to be another in a long string of mistakes by an organization that never thinks strategically. Further, nearly every minute of playing time that Teague, Rose, Bayless and Gibson have gotten at the expense of minutes for Jones, Okogie, KBD, Reynolds and Saric over the past several weeks has been similarly symptomatic of an organization that remains clueless.

I don't see the benefit in not playing to win at this point. You would be lucky to move up one slot, and with our Karma the team behind us would win the lottery.

I also don't see how throwing a bunch of inexperienced guys on the floor together is going to help them progress. It would be worse than summer league.

there's 7 teams separated by 2 games in the win column right now... you have to think strategically right now (every other smart team is). It's not going to be like summer league with Kat and Tyus out there, but who care's if it did? Also, if we keep our pick, we need to go perimeter player (hopefully PG if the value is there). It's a perimeter player league and we already have the best big (IMO) to build around. I think we'll have some really good options around 10.

WildWolf2813 wrote:Before I start, Lip, what do you want them to do? Sit Towns? You think Towns wants to do that? They can't do anything more than what they've done when it comes to "soft tanking." They're without their 2nd best player, they play Wiggins a ton and they're always out 3 guys because of injury. Where they wind up in the lottery is where they were meant to wind up.

This is a team that not including their 2 way guys will have five guys in their first or 2nd year and all of them will likely be in summer league (Okogie, Bates-Diop, Reynolds, 1st rounder, 2nd rounder). If they get their 2 2 way guys, that's 7 out of 17 spots, so we're gonna get a big time extended look at these guys in Vegas, so I'm not worried about KBD or Okogie being run into the ground, especially when Okogie has hit the rookie wall hard. KBD and Reynolds are the only 2 who should see more of an uptick in their PT. Not to make this an offseason thread, but at this point, I don't think I'd bring Jones back and if a deal for Saric appears whether it's for a 2020 first or attaching him with Wiggins I'm all for it.


Back to the draft.

If they consider the international route at 13 (let's go with this pick), Goga Bitadze is an option if they wanna go big. He's from a program out there that knows how to develop bigs. He gets better every year, and he can help on defense as a big man tandem with Towns where Towns can play smaller.

Domestically, Jaxson Hayes out of Texas is basically our chance to get a Willie Cauley-Stein type of guy alongside Towns. His downside is that he's not a good rebounder, Shabazz-like as a passer, and hurt his knee the other day, but there's a template with him where he can be developed. Let's be real, this is not a playoff team next year, so this franchise has to prove they're serious about player development. Bol Bol is another guy who fits this mold.

If they draft a wing, it needs to be made clear to everyone that he, Wiggins and Okogie are fighting for a starting job. Only Towns and Covington should be assured roster spots. I wouldn't mind Alexander-Walker, but whoever they draft, if this team goes down, they better go down drafting a guy who most feel will be a good shooter. Get a shooter. Get a rebounder. Everything else can be taught. The way this team is built right now, they're only gonna make but so many changes to the team. They can't screw up this draft, and if they even wanna add an undrafted free agent to the bunch, so be it. If this team can't manage to find one really good player out of 7 or 8 first or 2nd year guys, then it's time to start the countdown towards a Towns trade.





As a Tar Heels fan, I say this with love: Stay away for Nassir Little and stay away from Coby White. Absolute no-nos.

Would you be willing to tell us more about why Coby White is a no-no for you. I'm looking forward to hearing more.

I'd be for Bol Bol or Coby white where we're picking. I'm also interested in hearing the downside on white because I really everything I've seen from White.