Poll: Who should the Wolves take with the #1 overall pick?

[mondry]

I fail to see how ending up with Okafor is that bad. The guy is the best post player to come out since Duncan. That is almost 20 years ago. He is only 19. To me this shows great work ethic and great study habits. He has the physical profile to be a solid defender. David Robinson says he reminds him of Duncan. It's not like Okafor is a bum or even a guy who is reached his ceiling.

Will it be a bad result? Of course not. Okafor is a great prospect. But it's hard to see reporters, whether it be Ford, Givony, etc, say that almost universally around the league Towns is considered the #1 guy, only to then say that Flip appears to be one of the Okafor holdouts. Doesn't mean Flip's wrong, just means that he's on a very small island with that thought process.

I guess I'm less worried about group think and more worried about getting the right guy. I fail to see where Towns has so much separation between himself, Okafor, and Russell that would warrant getting upset that we picked the other two over him. For most of the year Okafor was the consensus number one guy. What did he do wrong to universally lose that spot? What has Towns done to universally gain it? I just don't see Towns being so vastly superior to Okafor and Russell and I'm definitely in the minority.

It's not what Okafor did it's what he didn't do. He didn't improve on defense and he didn't improve his free throw shooting. Everyone knew he could score so to just see more of that didn't really do much for his draft stock. Towns on the other hand improved dramatically throughout the season to the point where he's already over taken okafor and it only looks like that gap will be wider and wider as more and more time goes on.

If for some strange reason both players stayed in college one more year we would be able to see that dynamic play out but because the draft is happening at this point in time for both players the gap still looks kind of close for Okafor even though it's misleading. That's why most of us will be extremely upset if the pick is Okafor, as it's very short sighted to think he's still on par with Towns.

Hope that helps explain it.

[The J Rocka]

Pelicans have guards who don't pass, played at a horrible pace (27th), and AD was hardly the go-to guy in the 4th. They still made the POs.

Also, Monty Williams made AD strictly a jump shooter rather than letting him go to work inside or in the P&R. Gentry knows what he has to do to fix that, so expect them to be even better.

[Mattya]

I dont see it. Honestly.

You might need to check your vision then. What makes us better than the Pelicans?

Well, looking at rosters on paper.

I'll say we have a better C.
(*Towns vs Asik - if he comes back to NO)

They have A.Davis (that is huge)

But they dont have Wiggins at SF.

Gordon vs Martin is equal.

Rubio vs Holiday , well i'll take Rubio.

Benchs, i think we have a huge advantage here.

On paper i think we are better for sure.

Towns vs Asik. We will have to see what kind of impact Towns can have right away. They don't have a small forward like Wiggins. Gordon is better than Martin. Rubio vs. Holiday is probably close even though I would rather have Rubio. The gap that Anthony Davis creates is ridiculous right now. He just averaged 24.4 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 3 bpg, 2.2 apg, 1.5 spg and he is only 22. Their bench is better than ours, come on. Norris Cole, Tyreke Evans and Ryan Anderson are better than LaVine, Bazz and Dieng right now. This is completely unrealistic.

[The J Rocka]

Davis might be the best player in the entire league next year. That's absolutely huge.

Wiggins can be huge too.

Davis IS that guy while Wiggins COULD be that guy.

Wiggins still has a lot of work ahead of him. He's still a couple years away from being that guy.

[AQuintus]

Do the Suns, Kings, Thunder, Jazz, Lakers, and Nuggets all fall off too?

I'm not convinced that our roster, when healthy, isn't better than most of those teams and we're about to add the number 1 overall pick.

I know that the team hasn't given us much to be hopeful about over the last decade, but this is a fan board; have some optimism.

[Merc_Porto]

Towns vs Asik. We will have to see what kind of impact Towns can have right away. They don't have a small forward like Wiggins. Gordon is better than Martin. Rubio vs. Holiday is probably close even though I would rather have Rubio. The gap that Anthony Davis creates is ridiculous right now. He just averaged 24.4 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 3 bpg, 2.2 apg, 1.5 spg and he is only 22. Their bench is better than ours, come on. Norris Cole, Tyreke Evans and Ryan Anderson are better than LaVine, Bazz and Dieng right now. This is completely unrealistic.

That is why i said "on paper"
If we draft Towns i expect Towns to be way better than Asik even on his rookie year.

Huge gap right there.

I see Wiggins avg 22 PPG next season, right there is a huge gap too.

Where Gordon is better than Martin ? Come on.

And Rubio vs Holiday is not close in terms of how this players impact the game.

To be fair, i forgot about Evans, he started a lot of games last season, but.

Evans, is he PG or a SF ?
R.Anderson
N.Cole (come on)

Vs

Dieng
Bjelica (hopefully)
Shabazz
Lavine

I dont even count with Pek, if he comes back.

That could be a more productive bench IMO.

[Mattya]

Most people here are optimistic, they just don't have the same playoff expectations as some here do.

[Merc_Porto]

Is out of question that a rotacion of

Rubio /
Martin / Lavine
Wiggins / Shabazz

Can avegare / minimum 65-75 PPG ?

[Mattya]

That is why i said "on paper"

What?

If we draft Towns i expect Towns to be way better than Asik even on his rookie year.

I'm not. Better offensively probably, I doubt he will be as good as Asik defensively in his rookie year.

Huge gap right there.

I don't see huge gap at all.

I see Wiggins avg 22 PPG next season, right there is a huge gap too.

Okay. Now compare the gap between Anthony Davis and our PFs.

Where Gordon is better than Martin ? Come on.

Reality.

And Rubio vs Holiday is not close in terms of how this players impact the game.

Not really.

To be fair, i forgot about Evans, he started a lot of games last season, but.

Evans, is he PG or a SF ?
R.Anderson
N.Cole (come on)

Vs

Dieng
Bjelica (hopefully)
Shabazz
Lavine

Yes Norris Cole. That bench is better than ours.

and again, Anthony Davis is on another level than anyone on our team.

[Merc_Porto]

Ok Mattya.

BUT, I dont see how they are much better than us either. (your opinion)

[No-Man]

there seems to be a thin line between homerism and optimism, I expect the Wolves to be better than this season but they have absolutely 0 chance at getting in the POs.

[Devilzsidewalk]

I'd assume that 8th seed jumps back up to around 50 wins. If everybody stays healthy, we could maybe do .500. We're going to need a full season just to develop on-court chemistry assuming the long-term core is Rubio/Wiggins/Lavine/#1 pick; only Lavine/Wiggins has good on-court time together.

[Mattya]

Ok Mattya.

BUT, I dont see how they are much better than us either. (your opinion)

45 wins vs. 16 wins. It would be beyond optimistic to think we are going to suddenly be extremely healthy in comparison and adding rookie Towns would gives us 29 more wins.

[mondry]

I have a lot of optimism for our team next year, maybe if EVERYTHING went right and we were absurdly healthy we could maybe squeek in but I don't think that will happen. The thunder are a lock next year, with a healthy durant / westbrook / ibaka / kanter they're winning 60 games so that makes 9 teams, utah should be pretty good too. I think that puts us at 10th or 11th in the west.

[Merc_Porto]

45 wins vs. 16 wins.

How can you make that argument ? Is like saying that you / me or another person were right in the season prediction thread last year after what happened to us.

If A.Davis gets injured next season where NO are going to be at end of the season ?
Provaly with 16 wins too.

Of course im doing a prediction on a prespective that we going to stay reasonably healthy next season.

[AQuintus]

so that makes 9 teams,

You're assuming that all 8 teams that made it this year will also make it next year. I don't think that that's a safe assumption to make.

[Mattya]

45 wins vs. 16 wins.

How can you make that argument ? Is like saying that you / me or another person were right in the season prediction thread last year after what happened to us.

If A.Davis gets injured next season where NO are going to be at end of the season ?
Provaly with 16 wins too.

Of course im doing a prediction on a prespective that we going to stay reasonably healthy next season.

That wasn't my argument. My full argument was.

45 wins vs. 16 wins. It would be beyond optimistic to think we are going to suddenly be extremely healthy in comparison and adding rookie Towns would gives us 29 more wins.

Context.

[Calinks]

Do the Suns, Kings, Thunder, Jazz, Lakers, and Nuggets all fall off too?

I'm not convinced that our roster, when healthy, isn't better than most of those teams and we're about to add the number 1 overall pick.

I know that the team hasn't given us much to be hopeful about over the last decade, but this is a fan board; have some optimism.

I think its a realistic approach. Yea, we can and may be better than some of those teams but some of those teams will more than likely be better than us. Look at the facts of the situation.

1. We are the in the west. I don't care if its an aging west, its still the west and the best teams are on another level its not even close.

2. We are still a very young team. We got 20 year old key players, most of our active roster will be less than 3 years removed from college basketball.

3. chemistry. A lot of these other teams have been building their core and chemistry for multiple seasons. With all the injures and new players we are still in the early stages of that process.

Yes we have a lot of talent on this team, the team looks to be fairly deep as well if we remain healthy but we are also a long ways a way from being able to cultivate that talent and be a team that knows itself well enough to thrive in the west. I see us improving over this season, I can see use have some good stretches, but playoffs? I doubt we even flirt with them, none the less get invited to the dance.

[AQuintus]

It would be beyond optimistic to think we are going to suddenly be extremely healthy in comparison and adding rookie Towns would gives us 29 more wins.

It's beyond pessimistic to think that the Wolves' will be as injury riddled next year as they were this year and that Wiggins, LaVine, Dieng, Bennett, Payne, and Shabazz will all show no improvement.

[Merc_Porto]

45 wins vs. 16 wins.

How can you make that argument ? Is like saying that you / me or another person were right in the season prediction thread last year after what happened to us.

If A.Davis gets injured next season where NO are going to be at end of the season ?
Provaly with 16 wins too.

Of course im doing a prediction on a prespective that we going to stay reasonably healthy next season.

That wasn't my argument. My full argument was.

45 wins vs. 16 wins. It would be beyond optimistic to think we are going to suddenly be extremely healthy in comparison and adding rookie Towns would gives us 29 more wins.

Context.

I thought that we were comparing teams on paper. But, ok.