2018 Prospects: Scouting the draft

[Klomp]

At pick 20, any rotation player should probably be considered a good pick. So the idea that he would only 20 mpg really isn't a sticking a point for me.

I usually try to look past the current year when assessing the team's needs before the draft. I also believe young players should have a reasonable path to starting. I don't see that on the wing.

I'm not saying I'd be upset if a wing was drafted, I just don't want to lock it in as the only possibility two months before the draft.

[wolfen]

Considering Teague and Tyus and likely Rose and the lack of wings on the this deep and the depth of wings in this draft, I can't see Minnesota taking a PG unless something insane happened like Sexton fell. They are drafting a wing. Book it.

I guess it's all about where you feel you need the biggest help.

How many minutes do guys play behind Butler and Wiggins? Like it or not, those two aren't going anywhere for a long time. That leaves only about 20 minutes between the two spots for backups. Is that really the best way to spend your draft capital, or should you draft someone where they can eventually develop into a bigger difference-maker for the team?

To me, keep the reserve wings for veterans who sign in FA, and use our draft capital to improve at our weaker spots like PG.

Ya this is where I'm at exactly. We're going to need help NEXT year at the wing position. Thibs likes vets, he'll grab a couple wings in free agency or via a trade. We'd love to think that a wing at 20 could step right in and be a very good rotational player, but it's tough to see that happening. It would certainly have to be an older player, one with experience, maybe someone like Chandler Hutchison. A lot of the younger wings we've been talking about may need some gleague time. Heck it could be more likely we land a rotational wing in round 2 that could step in and get some minutes since by that point in the draft it's usually experienced juniors or seniors. Theo Pinson, Allonso Trier, Svi Mykhailiuk, Vince Edwards, Malik Newman, Trevon Blueit, all older guys that could fit that description.

[wolfen]

This post is in no way an attempt to slam KAT. But this series with the rockets is making me think what the modern NBA center should be. Part of me thinks that Capella is the new model for NBA center instead of KAT. Not overly massive, but extremely athletic, long, hard-nosed, and on offense is a supreme pick setter and catcher of lobs. Ya I know it's the rockets' model, but holy crap does it work. 4 of the players on the court handle the ball, drive, shoot and the center either gets a pass in the dunker's spot or is setting picks and rolling to the hoop. The rockets totally believe that a traditional way of using a center is inefficient, and really they are right. The days of dumping the ball down low to a center and letting him operate with post moves, even if you're really good at it (like KAT), it's still inefficient compared to using your center in the rocket style.

Kind of makes you re-think things in the frontcourt. Maybe we need to target a guy in the draft like Chimezie Metu (http://www.nbadraftroom.com/2017/06/chimezie-metu.html). Because he's limited offensively, he won't be a lotto pick, and there is a chance he COULD last until our pick in round 2. He's the only guy in the draft I can find who has Capella-like charactertics. From nba draft room:

Metu has shown great improvement over the years, blossoming into a possible first round pick. He's a
bouncy power forward prospect who loves to play above the rim and is a high level dunker and shot blocker.

High level dunker and shot blocker. Me likey. He's not going to be a guy who tries to beat guys in the post with post moves, nor is he going to jack 3's. He can just focus on emulating Capella - we're going to train you to be the ultimate team player - set nasty screens, play tough D, and throw down nasty dunks. Don't do anything that would take away from that efficiency.

As I type this, I would say another guy who would fit this description as well would be Robert Williams. Duh... He's a lot like Capella, even moreso than Metu...

[alabamawolf]

Teague, Butler, Taj, Jamal all these players have short contracts. I think the team management will try and build a team for now. That means trading the pick unless 3 or 4 players are there. Trade the pick along with a player for vet help.

I don’t think so. The short term goal was to make the playoffs, but Towns and Wiggins are still young players and the Wolves still need to look to the future.

Exactly. Get the young pups playoff experience and retool after 2 seasons

[Klomp]

Kind of makes you re-think things in the frontcourt. Maybe we need to target a guy in the draft like Chimezie Metu (http://www.nbadraftroom.com/2017/06/chimezie-metu.html). Because he's limited offensively, he won't be a lotto pick, and there is a chance he COULD last until our pick in round 2. He's the only guy in the draft I can find who has Capella-like charactertics. From nba draft room:

Mitchell Robinson could be another.

[wolfen]

Kind of makes you re-think things in the frontcourt. Maybe we need to target a guy in the draft like Chimezie Metu (http://www.nbadraftroom.com/2017/06/chimezie-metu.html). Because he's limited offensively, he won't be a lotto pick, and there is a chance he COULD last until our pick in round 2. He's the only guy in the draft I can find who has Capella-like charactertics. From nba draft room:

Mitchell Robinson could be another.

Ya those 3 are the ones that would fit the bill. If we could somehow monkey 3 draft picks and land a grouping like Metu, Elie Okobo, and Jacob Evans, I'd be thrilled. Capela-lite, a good young scoring PG to groom, and a nice 3 & D wing with athleticism...

[KGdaBom]

Kind of makes you re-think things in the frontcourt. Maybe we need to target a guy in the draft like Chimezie Metu (http://www.nbadraftroom.com/2017/06/chimezie-metu.html). Because he's limited offensively, he won't be a lotto pick, and there is a chance he COULD last until our pick in round 2. He's the only guy in the draft I can find who has Capella-like charactertics. From nba draft room:

Mitchell Robinson could be another.

Ya those 3 are the ones that would fit the bill. If we could somehow monkey 3 draft picks and land a grouping like Metu, Elie Okobo, and Jacob Evans, I'd be thrilled. Capela-lite, a good young scoring PG to groom, and a nice 3 & D wing with athleticism...

The Patton situation adds some urgency to getting another big.

[wolfen]

Mitchell Robinson could be another.

Ya those 3 are the ones that would fit the bill. If we could somehow monkey 3 draft picks and land a grouping like Metu, Elie Okobo, and Jacob Evans, I'd be thrilled. Capela-lite, a good young scoring PG to groom, and a nice 3 & D wing with athleticism...

The Patton situation adds some urgency to getting another big.

Agreed. That and Gorgs is about has far from "modern day big" as you can get, and Taj isn't getting any younger. Wow who would have thought we'd be talking bigs in this thread...

[Klomp]

Wow who would have thought we'd be talking bigs in this thread...

I have been for awhile. It's shortsighted to completely ignore a whole position group, because you never know what will happen in the draft.

[Klomp]

Read on Twitter

[wolfen]

This squad needs to keep up with the Joneses and get some 3 point shooting. Trade Tyus to ATL for pick 30.

3 point shooters, at

20 - Shamet, Musa, Simons

30 - Okobo, Trent Jr., DiVencenzo, Mykhailiuk

48 - Milton, Newman, Hudson, Holiday, Trier, Graham, Bluiett, Adams

The dream is Shamet, Okobo, and Milton. Okobo has starting PG upside, Shamet can be bench sniper at the 1 or the 2, Milton shoots it well and may be able to guard 3 positions off the bench with the way the league is going. Coincidentally, all 3 have condor wing-spans even though they aren't overly tall - Shamet 6-4, 6-11 wing span, Okobo 6-3, 6-8 wing span, Milton 6-6, 6-11 wing span.

It would be nice if one of them would be a contributor in year one (although Thibs would hold them back), but drafting 3 shooters increases the odds that you'll hit on one.

Sign Rose, Illyasova, and Joe Harris as free agents, rid yourself of Tyus and Bjelly. Try to get rid of Gorgs, probably won't happen though. I'm ready for a new wave of players in the rotation, getting rid of Tyus and Bjelly, and possibly Crawford. Certainly good free agent signings would help. Let's see what we've got in Patton, Jefferson, Brown. Hope one of the rooks you drafted can contribute right away and develop the others down in Des Moines. I'm excited about the future of the squad, hope the organization can make some good personnel decisions this off season and also consider modifying strategy a bit...

[mplsfonz23]

What are the thoughts on Anferee Simmons?

Seems like the kind of ISO PG Thibs wants. Give a year to learn and replace JT.

[TheDominator273]

What are the thoughts on Anferee Simmons?

Seems like the kind of ISO PG Thibs wants. Give a year to learn and replace JT.

I like Simmons, but I think he'd need more than a year to learn before he would be a starter caliber player.

With the talks of the one and done rule being gone for the 2020 draft, I wonder if it wouldn't be prudent to accumulate picks in that draft. Lots of talent should be available as it would have the best high school players of 2020 along with the one and done players from the class of 2019

[wolfen]

Simons - I'm absolutely interested in him. Should be interesting hearing about his workouts when they start, as well as if he'll play at the combine. Maybe he's further along than anyone knows, maybe he's ready right out of the gate to give some bench combo scoring and then gauge if he's the PG of the future - which is what our pick at 20 really needs to be focused on (we'll get wings in free agency).

Jerome Robinson - We need to add him to the list of shooting wings that need to be taken into consideration. Looks like he's picking up steam in mocks, showing up as early as late round 1. The guy reminds me of Patty Mills when I watch highlights - I'll be honest, I've never seen him play live. Reviews mention the same things I'm seeing - can score at all 3 levels, can play at different speeds, is more than just a scorer, very good passer.

In this thread I've mentioned many ways that we could come out of this draft with 3 picks with some creativity and nab a PG (late round 1), a wing (early round 2), and either a post or other position player who falls to our 2nd round pick that we believe in. ATL and Philly are 2 candidates for us to make deals with to make this work. The other is to trade Tyus for an early pick in round 2. Doing that would increase the need for a bench PG in free agency, but we could probably find a lower level guy on a 1 year cheap contract to fill that void - Chalmers, Tim Frazier, Shane Larkin, of course Derek Rose, Ramon Sessions, etc.

[Domejandro]

Džanan Musa is way too low on every mock, I can't imagine him falling to twenty. If he does, Minnesota should pick him.

I also think Shake Milton is a massive sleeper pick.

[Slim Tubby]

This squad needs to keep up with the Joneses and get some 3 point shooting. Trade Tyus to ATL for pick 30.

3 point shooters, at

20 - Shamet, Musa, Simons

30 - Okobo, Trent Jr., DiVencenzo, Mykhailiuk

48 - Milton, Newman, Hudson, Holiday, Trier, Graham, Bluiett, Adams

The dream is Shamet, Okobo, and Milton. Okobo has starting PG upside, Shamet can be bench sniper at the 1 or the 2, Milton shoots it well and may be able to guard 3 positions off the bench with the way the league is going. Coincidentally, all 3 have condor wing-spans even though they aren't overly tall - Shamet 6-4, 6-11 wing span, Okobo 6-3, 6-8 wing span, Milton 6-6, 6-11 wing span.

It would be nice if one of them would be a contributor in year one (although Thibs would hold them back), but drafting 3 shooters increases the odds that you'll hit on one.

Sign Rose, Illyasova, and Joe Harris as free agents, rid yourself of Tyus and Bjelly. Try to get rid of Gorgs, probably won't happen though. I'm ready for a new wave of players in the rotation, getting rid of Tyus and Bjelly, and possibly Crawford. Certainly good free agent signings would help. Let's see what we've got in Patton, Jefferson, Brown. Hope one of the rooks you drafted can contribute right away and develop the others down in Des Moines. I'm excited about the future of the squad, hope the organization can make some good personnel decisions this off season and also consider modifying strategy a bit...

20.) CG Landry Shamet
30.) SG Gary Trent Jr.
48.) CG Shake Milton

Position flexibility, improved shooting, bench depth, youthful energy...sign me up, Wolfen! (one of my favorite horror movies of all time BTW)

[wolfen]

This squad needs to keep up with the Joneses and get some 3 point shooting. Trade Tyus to ATL for pick 30.

3 point shooters, at

20 - Shamet, Musa, Simons

30 - Okobo, Trent Jr., DiVencenzo, Mykhailiuk

48 - Milton, Newman, Hudson, Holiday, Trier, Graham, Bluiett, Adams

The dream is Shamet, Okobo, and Milton. Okobo has starting PG upside, Shamet can be bench sniper at the 1 or the 2, Milton shoots it well and may be able to guard 3 positions off the bench with the way the league is going. Coincidentally, all 3 have condor wing-spans even though they aren't overly tall - Shamet 6-4, 6-11 wing span, Okobo 6-3, 6-8 wing span, Milton 6-6, 6-11 wing span.

It would be nice if one of them would be a contributor in year one (although Thibs would hold them back), but drafting 3 shooters increases the odds that you'll hit on one.

Sign Rose, Illyasova, and Joe Harris as free agents, rid yourself of Tyus and Bjelly. Try to get rid of Gorgs, probably won't happen though. I'm ready for a new wave of players in the rotation, getting rid of Tyus and Bjelly, and possibly Crawford. Certainly good free agent signings would help. Let's see what we've got in Patton, Jefferson, Brown. Hope one of the rooks you drafted can contribute right away and develop the others down in Des Moines. I'm excited about the future of the squad, hope the organization can make some good personnel decisions this off season and also consider modifying strategy a bit...

20.) CG Landry Shamet
30.) SG Gary Trent Jr.
48.) CG Shake Milton

Position flexibility, improved shooting, bench depth, youthful energy...sign me up, Wolfen! (one of my favorite horror movies of all time BTW)

Ya, that movie is a classic... It's looking like if we want the "Shake & Shamet" combo we'd have to move Shake up to the listing I put above at 30. Sounds like he's picking up steam and rising up boards. In fact I've seen him in the teens in a mock or 2. I'd probably take him over Gary Trent if they were both there at 30 in this scenario. That being said I can see Trent Jr. being the guy that, in every draft, teams deeply regret taking. I think he'll be a Wayne Ellington type.

20) Shamet
30) Shake

48 is interesting. If it shook out like nbadraft.net's mock (which it won't), Jacob Evans would be there at 48, which would be the icing on the cake to Shake and Shamet. Evans is more of a physical specimen than either Shake or Shamet and seems to be a nice candidate for 3 and D SF. More knowledgeable websites (The Stepein, NBA draft room) have him in the 20's. A more realistic pick at 48, one who would actually be there at the pick, would be Theo Pinson. It seems like I hear NBA pundits constantly say, "you can learn shooting". I'm starting to believe that statement when I hear it. Rozier, Horford, Avery Bradley, Ariza shot 23% from 3 in college, M Smart, J Holiday, the list really goes on and on. It's almost a given that Pinson would be a potentially great defender and rebounder who can play either SG or SF. He is a great athlete, and has excellent handles, is a team player, distributes the ball. Also excellent in transition. I would draft him at 48 for defense alone, as our defense sucks. But if he works hard and improves his 3 ball to a respectable percentage, you would have a massive steal at 48. Plus the fact that he's older, he might be able to contribute sooner than later. He'll be a better defender than Marcus Georges-Hunt, better rebounder, way better handles. MGH got some minutes this year, certainly Pinson could do the same, no need to re-up with MGH.

[wolfen]

Peach Tree Hoops doing some excellent work on nba draft prospects. Below are links to 3 recent articles on players we've talked about. I'm highly interested in Shamet and Okobo, looking forward to PTH's Shamet breakdown. As I've mentioned before I'd love to flip Tyus for a late first or early 2nd to nab Okobo. Newman and Okogie could both be there with our current 2nd.

Elie Okobo
https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2018/5/5/17314532/nba-draft-2018-scouting-report-elie-okobo-french-guard-scouting-report

Malik Newman
https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2018/5/4/17313852/nba-draft-2018-scouting-report-malik-newman-kansas-jayhawks-atlanta-hawks

Josh Okogie
https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2018/5/3/17308168/nba-draft-2018-scouting-report-josh-okogie-georgia-tech

[Neeva]

Is Donte divencenzo not declaring? He would be perfect at 20 IMO

[wolfen]

Is Donte divencenzo not declaring? He would be perfect at 20 IMO

I like him but not at 20, not good enough value. He's an end of round 1, early round 2 guy IMO. Early entry guys: http://www.nbadraft.net/2018-nba-draft-early-entry-page. He hasn't hired an agent, so he's not "all in" yet.

Underclassmen have 10 days after the combine to decide if they are staying in the draft if they haven't hired an agent.