paulbball wrote:SmokeyPaw wrote:paulbball wrote:Worst
1. Lakers - under the shadow of LeBron, media scrutiny. He needs some ball pounding duties to develop his ball skills.
2. Knicks - talents die here
3. Minnesota - dysfunctional franchise like the Knicks. Gonna live in the shadow of Towns for a year or two slowing down his development. Wiggins makes the team cap strapped for the next 4 years.
Actually Towns and Zion would be a great fit.
Not Zion wants to win. Towns does not fit with Zion skill wise. Zion needs floor spacers. Same for Towns. Both also need a PG that the Wolves don't actually have.
Wiggins cripples the Wolves' cap so there is 0 way for Zion to win during his rookie contract.
Treadmilling 5 years with Towns + Wiggins is not a fun thing.
With respect, I wouldn't want to play in Minnesota if I was Zion either, given how dysfunctional the franchise is, but Minnesota is pretty much (from a playing perspective) an ideal fit for Zion.
1. Karl-Anthony Towns is arguably the best fit at the Center position for Zion in the league.
----A. Shoots 41% behind the arc on five shots per game.
----B. Commands consistent double and triple teams and is capable at hitting cutters out of them.
----C. Zion's incredible defensive ability meshes well with Towns' rebounding and rim protection.
----D. No other center offers better spacing and attention at that position to create space for Zion.
2. Robert Covington is a great complimentary piece for any roster.
----A. Top three defensive player.
----B. Shoots 38% behind the arc on just under six-and-a-half attempts per game.
----C. Excellent at covering switch action against ball-handlers.
3. Tyus Jones is a flawed, but stable Point-Guard.
----A. High quality defensive player by most metrics throughout his career.
----B. Is posting an unheard-of 6.55 AST/TO.
4. Keita Bates-Diop and Josh Okogie both project to be solid role-players.
----A. This point isn't very exciting, but at least Minnesota has a little bit of affordable talent.
Minnesota's problem is that the horrendous contracts of Gorgui Dieng and Andrew Wiggins prevents them from obtaining that "final piece", which is why they are projected to be in the NBA treadmill forever. Zion Williamson is literally that "final piece" type of player that they are screwed with not being able to get.
Jeff Teague / Tyus Jones (RFA)
Andrew Wiggins (boo) / Josh Okogie
Robert Covington / Luol Deng* / Cameron Reynolds
Zion Williamson / Keita-Bates Diop
Karl-Anthony Towns / Gorgui Dieng (oof)
I like it more if you swap around Tyus and Okogie into the starting roles, but regardless, that is actually a pretty damn solid squad to surround Zion with. Certainly better than most of the other options (primarily because of Towns and Covington). A duo of Towns and Williamson with Covington as the glue guy is pretty phenomenal.
That said, as I stated, this franchise blows, so if I am Zion, I think I prefer most of the other options and bet on my own talent to raise a team to a similar level.