Just figured I'd mention this

[Notanoob]

We all know that we need a small forward. This year we have our draft pick and are unlikely to make the playoffs, so we'll be stuck in that 8-14th pick dead zone. Here are the guys to keep your eyes on, baring either a disaster season or a miracle and we win the lottery:

Stanley Johnson-best prospect and least likely to be there for us, since someone will probably stay in college and thus bump him out of our range. At 6'7" or 6'8" with about a 7' wingspan, this freshman is a monster defensive wing prospect. He's very strong, physical and committed to defense. He's a stud athlete who can dunk with authority. He isn't selfish but is TO prone. Comes to play with an attitude, he's passionate with a good motor. He has only an okay handle but gets by because he's so strong and fast. Poor shooter who takes a few more shots than he should. Think a sane Ron Artest if things work out, or perhaps just a taller, more explosive version of Marcus Smart. It would be awesome to land him. He'll be playing at Arizona.

Sam Dekker- I know, I know, he's white, but this guy is a legit wing prospect. He's an above average athlete-very fast for a 6'9" guy, and he can get up and dunk nicely. Like all Wisconsin Badgers he is a committed and fairly savvy defender; that said, he's limited by his poor wingspan, he can only become a positive defender, not a real stud. Capable shooter, but not good off the dribble. He struggled this last season probably because he wasn't getting as many spot-up opportunities and had more defensive focus. Unselfish passer and uses his size to be an effective post player. Competent ballhandler, but not a secondary ball handler in the NBA or anything. Very good chance that he has a long career as a glue guy.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson- A freaking stud defender, he's also 6'7" with a 7' wingspan like Johnson, but we've already seen him play in college. Like everyone at Arizona, he's very committed on defense, always in his stance, quick and plays with excellent defensive technique. Conservative defense depresses his steals and blocks numbers-don't be fooled, he is great in the passing lanes and a top-notch shot blocker for a wing. Problem is that he has terrible perimeter skills- he's worse than Josh Smith at shooting as it stands, he doesn't have passing instincts and is a mediocre ballhandler. All of his offensive issues were compounded at Arizona where nobody could shoot and the offense was basically just chucking up long 2's and gunning for rebounds. He's a good enough finisher and strong enough to get through contact, but he could struggle to stay on the court in the NBA if he doesn't get better at something.

After that trio, we fall to the 2nd round for a SF, although who knows where they'll end up come draft day.

Theo Pinson and Justin Jackson- spindly, offense-only SFs going to UNC. Think Rodney Hood. IDK if they'll come out, really.

Brendan Dawson- analytics will really like him for his awesome ORB, steals and blocks numbers, which all indicate a stud in the making. However, like Hollis-Jefferson, he really doesn't have the offensive skills of a perimeter player. He can't shoot at all and he's uncomfortable with the ball in his hand. At least he shows a better feel for the offense with his cutting and by crashing the offensive glass so effectively. If he suddenly can hit 3's at like 33% he could be a good role player type at least.

Devin Robinson- pretty underrated SF candidate at Florida. Dude's about 6'8" with a 6'11.5" wingspan, can shoot and apparently has a solid feel for the game. He's skinny and not a great ball handler yet, but he has a size and length advantage over other stick-men like Pinson and Jackson.

Going back to the first round, if we don't have a SF available, we naturally have other options. I'll look for PGs and PFs, since I'm not fully comfortable with Jennings, and Monroe could walk leaving us with just Smith at PF.

Chris Walker- an athlete, not a basketball player. Basically Drummond but a bit shorter, skinnier and faster. Super-freak athlete though. Barely saw the floor for Florida last season.

Tyus Jones- mature, excellent passer, good shooter and ballhandler. Likely would be cool with deferring to our bigs and sticking to PnRs and shooting 3's. However, he's small, not a great athlete, and a poor defender at this point, although he does have instincts to get in the passing lanes like most smart PGs. Decent PG prospect who's going to Duke.

Bobby Portis- 6'10' with a 7'1.5" wingspan, and a good athlete. Mobile but not explosive or a big leaper. Very competitive and hard working on both ends of the floor. Very strong, comfortable playing in the post on either end, but not like Moose is on offense- he still needs a lot of polish. Aware and willing passer, doesn't turn the ball over. Good mid-range shooter. Crashes the offensive glass. Good quickness so he can guard the PnR for us, long enough to provide a bit of rim protection. Smart player, all of that 'feel for the game' stuff. Plays team defense. Despite being a good offensive rebounder he wasn't a good defensive rebounder. Face up game is limited at this point. He doesn't have the first step to get past people yet, or a good handle. Overall I think he's pretty underrated and can be a two-way starting PF and a good fit for us.

Delon Wright- criminally underrated PG prospect toiling at Utah. 6'5", really good finsher, draws fouls well, doesn't turn the ball over, crazy steals+blocks+ORB numbers for a guard, just insane numbers. Dribbles the air out of the ball a bit, but that's because his team is complete trash. Only real flaw is that he is totally incompetent at shooting the ball. He's sub-JSmoove in that department. We might be able to get him in the 2nd round, honestly.

Shawn Long- another 2nd round pick possibility, he played with Elfried Payton last season. Dude has solid numbers across the board for a center, but is a good 3 point shooter- shot 40% from 3 on good volume. Long plays for Louisiana Lafeyette.

Jerian Grant- 2nd round pick at this point, but not for any good reason. Dude can handle the ball, shoot, and draw fouls. A bit weak on defense but he should be a steal. Very similar prospect to RJ Hunter of Georgia State, who's projected to go a lot higher than him, although he's also pretty good and I'd like to have him. Grant plays for Notre Dame.

Terran Petteway- I'd like to see how he looks when he doesn't have to carry his team's offense. He's got some real talent as a scorer and has some good physical tools (pretty good shot-blocker for a guard). If he develops a 3 point shot he could make it in the league. He's playing for Nebraska. He'll go undrafted if he doesn't improve this season.

Domantas Sabonis- if he's anything like his dad he'd be nice to have around. He'll be at Gonzaga. Currently projected to be a 2nd round pick.

Just throwing this out there.

[kf96]

You have 2 more SF what we could pick next year Justise Winslow and Mario Hezonja

[ImHeisenberg]

SF will definitely be a position that will require attention in the next draft.

Looking at the free agent small forwards- it's going to be a thin class next summer.

There's always the trade market, though!

[Notanoob]

You have 2 more SF what we could pick next year Justise Winslow and Mario Hezonja

Those guys are out of our range IMO barring a disaster/miracle, and I view Hezonja as a guard, not a forward.

[joseph mamah]

I like Kelly Oubre a lot, but he may be out of our range. Its hard to say though because mock drafts arent really worth much this early in the year, theyre going to change a lot between now and the draft.

[whitehops]

some free agents next offseason:

- Rudy Gay
- Wesley Matthews
- derrick Williams
- luc mbah a moute
- danny green
-Gerald green
- mirza teletovic
- mike dunleavy
- dorrell wright
- Michael Beasley


there's others too, but I just wanted to show that we have options.

[theBigLip]

Great research on the SFs, although I disagree with your original assumption that we won't make the playoffs. I think we do, which unfortunately gives us less opportunity to fix this position in the draft.

[MotownMadness]

some free agents next offseason:

- Rudy Gay
- Wesley Matthews
- derrick Williams
- luc mbah a moute
- danny green
-Gerald green
- mirza teletovic
- mike dunleavy
- dorrell wright
- Michael Beasley


there's others too, but I just wanted to show that we have options.

I would like to pick up one or two of Danny Green, Gerald Green or Teletovic

[Kilo]

A lot of ifs in this, but if Meeks, KCP and Dinwiddie all play well for us, than KCP could be used as trade bait, added to our pick to move up 5-6 spots in the draft if there is a SF we really like above the others. Better be damn sure at this player though, because keeping Pope and the #11 pick versus trading both for the #6 pick would be a high price to pay but this team NEEDS a #1 Alpha scoring option in the worst way.

Or we could just in the lottery. One benefit about losing the pick last year is that we won't have to fear winning the 2nd or 3rd pick and then having to ship that one to Charlotte as only the first overall pick had protection this next draft.

[kf96]

NBA Goodman's 2015 NBA Mock 1.0 - ESPN (via http://ble.ac/teamstream-) http://teamstre.am/1xtR99b

[Kilo]

NBA Goodman's 2015 NBA Mock 1.0 - ESPN (via http://ble.ac/teamstream-) http://teamstre.am/1xtR99b

If the draft fell like that to our pick, we'd take Stanley or Dekker over a PF. Even when Monroe leaves we'll have Smith and Jerebko at the PF, if we draft a big it will be one capable of playing both the four and five, not a pure PF.

[Notanoob]

I like Kelly Oubre a lot, but he may be out of our range. Its hard to say though because mock drafts arent really worth much this early in the year, theyre going to change a lot between now and the draft.

Kansas guys always get drafted higher than they should, Self typically makes guys look better than they are. Oubre is a top-notch prospect, and I think that the only way we land him is if we win the lottery or he gets hurt. These guys are people who I think that we can realistically draft.

Also, I think that we should have a running thread on college basketball to keep track of these prospects through the season- a Detroit Lions tradition as it were. It'll be good for you guys, you'll have a better handle on who's who come draft day and won't be relying on analysts who don't know what they're doing.

[Hotmayo]

OT but the timberwolves are stacked. Maybe sign n trade moose to their squad for like dieng, Bennett, brewer ?

[sfballa13]

OT but the timberwolves are stacked. Maybe sign n trade moose to their squad for like dieng, Bennett, brewer ?

Wolves have a young, deep team

Rubio / Mo Williams - Lavine
KMart / JJ Barrea
Wiggins / Bennett - Brewer - Budinger
Thad Young / Fesenko - Turiaf
Pekovic / Dieng

Brewer - Budinger will sit in favor of Bennett but there is no way we can pry Dieng from the Wolves as Cle already tried and failed

[Hotmayo]

OT but the timberwolves are stacked. Maybe sign n trade moose to their squad for like dieng, Bennett, brewer ?

Wolves have a young, deep team

Rubio / Mo Williams - Lavine
KMart / JJ Barrea
Wiggins / Bennett - Brewer - Budinger
Thad Young / Fesenko - Turiaf
Pekovic / Dieng

Brewer - Budinger will sit in favor of Bennett but there is no way we can pry Dieng from the Wolves as Cle already tried and failed

i mean if moose ends up hating it here than at the trade deadline i would try and at least take thad young and bennet from them

[sfballa13]

OT but the timberwolves are stacked. Maybe sign n trade moose to their squad for like dieng, Bennett, brewer ?

Wolves have a young, deep team

Rubio / Mo Williams - Lavine
KMart / JJ Barrea
Wiggins / Bennett - Brewer - Budinger
Thad Young / Fesenko - Turiaf
Pekovic / Dieng

Brewer - Budinger will sit in favor of Bennett but there is no way we can pry Dieng from the Wolves as Cle already tried and failed

i mean if moose ends up hating it here than at the trade deadline i would try and at least take thad young and bennet from them

Id forget about even asking for Bennett as they value him even more than people realize

We easily could do Monroe, Jerebko, Singler for Thad Young and Corey Brewer

Minnesota gets a young big man and saves 8M in the process

We get our starting SF and PF and make a run for the playoffs

Jennings - Augustin
KCP - Meeks
Brewer - Martin / Butler
Young / Smith
Drummond / Thabeet

[Kilo]

Monroe is not going to sign to play in Minnesota. He's very likely walking for nothing with so many teams having money next off-season. Pellies could be our only trade possibility if he wants to go home I guess. If I was a betting man, I'd guess he ends up in Dallas to play center between Dirk and Parsons.

[joseph mamah]

I wonder what it would take to just get Brewer? The Wolves logjam at forward makes him kind of expendable, and we should have the cap room to take on his contract without sending anything back. If we could get him for a couple 2nd rounders it would help shore up the SF position for the time being.

[princeofpalace]

I think we'll be looking at a midfirst with our draft pick, which we should go with a SF, PG or possible a PF since we don't know what Monroe will do and know that Smith is not our PF of the future.

I think FA is likely the place where we acquire a SF- I really like Gerald Green since is a very good shooter and defender, Khris Middleton could also be interesting.

If we can sign Green while retaining Monroe and Singler, we could be very good next season.

Jennings/Augustin/Dinwiddie
KCP/Meeks/Martin
Green/Singler
Monroe/Smith
Drummond/Monroe/Gray

[kf96]

I think we'll be looking at a midfirst with our draft pick, which we should go with a SF, PG or possible a PF since we don't know what Monroe will do and know that Smith is not our PF of the future.

I think FA is likely the place where we acquire a SF- I really like Gerald Green since is a very good shooter and defender, Khris Middleton could also be interesting.

If we can sign Green while retaining Monroe and Singler, we could be very good next season.

Jennings/Augustin/Dinwiddie
KCP/Meeks/Martin
Green/Singler
Monroe/Smith
Drummond/Monroe/Gray

Or if Aflalo opt out from his player option we could sign him to play sf for us.