Danny Wolf - Michigan

[tmorgan]

How would you compare Danny Wolf to Moritz Wagner or Alec Kessler or Bill Laimbeer or all of the others.

Danny definitely doesn’t project as as good a shooter as Mo or Bill (bringing in Kessler is just weird… he made 10 threes in his short NBA career). Both his 3p% and ft% have not been good thus far. You’d hope he works hard on his shot, because if he can’t be a credible threat from outside, I doubt he has much of an NBA career.

Wolf is, however, at least an interesting option as a passing hub off the bench. Good handle and good vision for a guy his size, both of which are pretty much just absolute zeroes for Wagner and Laimbeer.

I think he’ll snag defensive rebounds better than Wagner because he’s wider. He’s not going to rebound like Billy, but he’ll move a little better. The big worry is that he’ll get targeted in the P&R no matter what position he plays.

I’m a fan of his. He has a small shot at becoming a solid starter, and a good shot at becoming a solid or better bench player. Reasonable investment of a non-lottery first this year, unless you’re picking for toolsy upside, then go with someone else. I think Yaxel is going to really show out this year as his replacement at Michigan, and tho he’s older, he’s a more athletic version of Wolf, someone that actually could be a good starter down the line.

[JMAC3]

How would you compare Danny Wolf to Moritz Wagner or Alec Kessler or Bill Laimbeer or all of the others.

Danny definitely doesn’t project as as good a shooter as Mo or Bill (bringing in Kessler is just weird… he made 10 threes in his short NBA career). Both his 3p% and ft% have not been good thus far. You’d hope he works hard on his shot, because if he can’t be a credible threat from outside, I doubt he has much of an NBA career.

Wolf is, however, at least an interesting option as a passing hub off the bench. Good handle and good vision for a guy his size, both of which are pretty much just absolute zeroes for Wagner and Laimbeer.

I think he’ll snag defensive rebounds better than Wagner because he’s wider. He’s not going to rebound like Billy, but he’ll move a little better. The big worry is that he’ll get targeted in the P&R no matter what position he plays.

I’m a fan of his. He has a small shot at becoming a solid starter, and a good shot at becoming a solid or better bench player. Reasonable investment of a non-lottery first this year, unless you’re picking for toolsy upside, then go with someone else. I think Yaxel is going to really show out this year as his replacement at Michigan, and tho he’s older, he’s a more athletic version of Wolf, someone that actually could be a good starter down the line.

Would be interested to see what he shot in Catch and Shoot situations, only 65% of his threes were assisted. That is more typical of a point guard not a center, so scaling him down in the NBA to a shot diet that looks more like Naz Reid (97% assisted threes) or Mo Wagner (98.5% assisted threes) then his shooting percentage is a lot closer to those guys imo.

[azcatz11]

Sadly, those defensive stats aren't really going to tell us enough because he's playing against mostly non-NBAers (and next to another 7'0 in Vlad Goldin).

You have to ask yourself, if he's an oversized 4 man (like Lauri Markannen for example), can he guard the somewhat smaller/quicker big guys like Scottie Barnes, Jalen Johnson, Jaren Jackson Jr, Julius Randle, and Paolo Banchero? Like Evan Mobley can guard all of those guys, but he can also scale up and defend the rim, Markannen cannot do that, even if he is a better offensive player than Evan so far in his career. Danny is 7'0 or so, but he's still not really a rim protector, the way recent draftees like Clingan, Lively, Holmgren, Missi, Kessler or Ware are.

So if he can't really get away with being a small-ball 5 due to his lack of effective rim protection, you need him to exhibit elite offensive skills against pro defenses (ala Sengun, Sabonis, Jokic) to make up for it. Otherwise, some NBA team is just going to stick him in a corner and make him be a stretch big and pray to God he isn't a sieve as a backline defender off the bench (ala Kelly Olynyk or Bobby Portis).

Look. I will always remember how people discarded my explanations that Deni Avdija is rarest case of teenager which is considered well above average wing defender which can switch on bigs and PGs in EuroLeague (which basically never happens, the only other good defender among young prospects in EuroLeague was Rubio ) and claimed that in NBA he is too slow to guard wings and too weak to guard bigs... because for them he just looked as someone who can't be good defender.

Now. I don't say that Wolf is like Avdija. Obviously he's not playing in 2nd best league and he's already 3rd year player. Still. When you say for example - look Markannen's struggling, you should remember that Markannen was rather bad defender in college. He was specifically bad rim protector for his size with just 0.5 blk per game to Wolf's not bad at all 1.6, he was below average defensive rebounder at 4.8 per game - to Wolf's really good 7.8. His DPBM was among worst on his team, his DRtg was below average on his team (DWS was good though) - while Wolf leads his team in all those metrics and among leaders in his league too.

Sure Lauri was freshman and Wolf is junior (while only one year older) and he could improve by 3rd season if he was still in college... but still you can't project outcome of pretty bad college defender to pretty good college defender.

If you believe Wolf will be the offensive player (or of similar success) as Markannen, of course you draft him and don't look back, just don't be surprised if he becomes situational if he can't find his place as a defender as well. One thing about the NBA, a player usually has to earn extra responsibilities on offense. It's the defense that gets them on the floor first (unless they are top 5-10 picks).

I went back and watched Wolf highlights. I fear a team is going to park him in the corner. He's a really good 3 point shooter but how much of the creation we saw at Michigan will he do in the NBA? Michigan didn't really have a PG...Donaldson is a combo guard / chucker who was bad early in the season and got hot in the tournament.

Honestly, San Antonio would be a good fit for him

[Chuck Everett]

I went back and watched Wolf highlights. I fear a team is going to park him in the corner. He's a really good 3 point shooter but how much of the creation we saw at Michigan will he do in the NBA? Michigan didn't really have a PG...Donaldson is a combo guard / chucker who was bad early in the season and got hot in the tournament.

Honestly, San Antonio would be a good fit for him

Pacers would have been a good fit since their offense is based on ball movement and passing, but they traded their pick. Thunder would be a good fit as well since they are used to running inverted pick and rolls (but the minutes probably wouldn't be there off rip for him). Could see him in Brooklyn as he's a much different player than Claxton, Sharpe and Clowney. He's more skilled than three of those guys, but may be the worst rebounder and defender.

Tankathon has him going to 22nd to Atlanta. That seems like his range, but like I said, Brooklyn at 19 looks like a good fit. Even Memphis at 16, if they are letting Santi Aldama walk.

[tmorgan]

I’d like him in Detroit, but we’d need to acquire a pick. We’re looking for a timeshare 4 with Tobias and could bring him along slowly.

[Klomp]

I went back and watched Wolf highlights. I fear a team is going to park him in the corner. He's a really good 3 point shooter but how much of the creation we saw at Michigan will he do in the NBA? Michigan didn't really have a PG...Donaldson is a combo guard / chucker who was bad early in the season and got hot in the tournament.

Honestly, San Antonio would be a good fit for him

This is why I personally love a Minnesota fit for him. If you look at how they use their 4/5s, it's in a way that accentuates those best qualities Wolf has (and the marketing potential is endless).

I don't know if he provides the best asset value for Minnesota though, if they even keep the pick.

[FarBeyondDriven]

I went back and watched Wolf highlights. I fear a team is going to park him in the corner. He's a really good 3 point shooter but how much of the creation we saw at Michigan will he do in the NBA? Michigan didn't really have a PG...Donaldson is a combo guard / chucker who was bad early in the season and got hot in the tournament.

Honestly, San Antonio would be a good fit for him

This is why I personally love a Minnesota fit for him. If you look at how they use their 4/5s, it's in a way that accentuates those best qualities Wolf has (and the marketing potential is endless).

I don't know if he provides the best asset value for Minnesota though, if they even keep the pick.

lmao I didn't consider that. They have to draft him now. His jersey might outsell Ant's. I think 17 is too rich but I could see a team like the Nets trading them the 19th pick and a 2nd rounder to jump ahead of the Wizards for a center like Raynaud or Sorber and the Wolves getting Wolf at 19.