Minnesota Sports Forum

I understand that is vastly premature, but I'm curious to hear what position people think the Wolves should address via this year's draft. I have faith in our front court if Wiggins, Bjelica, and Towns all continue showing varying degrees of potential. Of those three, obviously Bjelica is the most likely to diminish, but I have been impressed by his recent production. Of course, there's also the discussion of whether Towns could play the Center position on a frequent basis in the physical Western conference. If that's not realistic, Dieng does very little for me as a long-term answer. Regardless, the PG position is what troubles me most. I am quite wary of Rubio consistently playing 65-70 games a season, and although the Wolves play significantly better when he's on the floor, that doesn't mean much if he's absent from the active roster. More than anything, I'd just like to hear if there's a general consensus on where this forum thinks the Wolves roster most desperately need a tune-up. Thoughts?

Get rid of Martin, start Zach at the two and get a defensive specialist behind him. The second unit just has no perimeter defense. Hopefully it would be a 3&D guy, but at this point I'd take the SG version of Hollis-Jefferson.

Ricky/Lavine/Wiggins/NB/Towns
Tyus/Defensive Guru/Bazz/Dieng/Pek

That's what I would roll with.

PG PG PG, then a 4. Think trades.

Need a point guard that won't average an injury every other season.

khans2k5 wrote:Get rid of Martin, start Zach at the two and get a defensive specialist behind him. The second unit just has no perimeter defense. Hopefully it would be a 3&D guy, but at this point I'd take the SG version of Hollis-Jefferson.

Ricky/Lavine/Wiggins/NB/Towns
Tyus/Defensive Guru/Bazz/Dieng/Pek

That's what I would roll with.

A defensive perimeter defender does make slot of sense. It's so early though and this team has been good enough it makes me wonder where we will be picking. I want to see how things play out for a while before I get too deep into anything. Besides college BB has barely started. :)

I think you could go in a number of different directions, but typically best talent available rules the day unless there is an obvious logjam of talent already at that position.

PG - It's the biggest wildcard because of Rubio's health and Mitchell's insistence that LaVine is a PG. If the current coaching/front office regime is mostly in tact when we draft, I don't see us getting another PG with LaVine and Tyus Jones in the mix. However, if we get a new regime in that sees LaVine more as a SG/combo guard and Tyus Jones as a career backup, I could see this position in play come draft time. My hope is that Rubio recovers from this hamstring thing quickly and plays every one of our remaining games.....but I doubt it.

Center - I think this is a distinct possibility because Towns is versatile enough to play either PF or C. And with Dieng's rookie contract expiring after next season, it would be nice to get another skilled big man in the pipeline on a rookie deal. I have no desire to match the $10-15M/year Dieng may end up getting in restricted free agency. The only thing that changes the calculus on this is if Pekovic fully recovers from his foot problems, which seems doubtful.

Power Forward - KG may not even play next year and Payne is still on shaky ground. I feel like Bjelica is our only reliable option right now.

Small Forward/Shooting Guard (i.e. wings) - If there is a really strong prospect available here, I wouldn't pass it up just because we have Wiggins, Shabazz, and LaVine (who I think is a SG).

I think all else being equal, getting another talented big man in the mix makes sense. But if Rubio's health problems persist and Zach doesn't progress as a PG, I could very much see us leaning in that direction.

I would also add to my perimeter defending 2 case that it protects us from Rubio injuries because Zach can then slide over to the 1 and the 3&D guy can step right into the starting lineup between Zach and Wiggins and we keep the offensive and defensive balance of the starting 5. If we lose Ricky, we'd still have Zach, Tyus, draft pick and Wiggins to man the guard spots. This scenario of course is if we properly develop Zach as a combo guard. If Zach is still playing point exclusively come draft time I'd rather get a 3&D SF to start next to Wiggins because we'll already have 3 PG's of varying quality. Basically I want a 3&D wing. If he can play both spots that'd be ideal with the Lavine situation possibly being up in the air.

khans2k5 wrote:I would also add to my perimeter defending 2 case that it protects us from Rubio injuries because Zach can then slide over to the 1 and the 3&D guy can step right into the starting lineup between Zach and Wiggins and we keep the offensive and defensive balance of the starting 5. If we lose Ricky, we'd still have Zach, Tyus, draft pick and Wiggins to man the guard spots. This scenario of course is if we properly develop Zach as a combo guard. If Zach is still playing point exclusively come draft time I'd rather get a 3&D SF to start next to Wiggins because we'll already have 3 PG's of varying quality. Basically I want a 3&D wing. If he can play both spots that'd be ideal with the Lavine situation possibly being up in the air.

I agree that we could use a 3 & D wing, but I wonder if this is something we can obtain via trade or free agency, meaning we get someone proven in this regard. I can't think of many college prospects that are defined as 3 & D players out of the gate. They sort of become that over time.