Lottery/draft stuff from other teams (split from game thread)

[Blob]

It might be good news Westbrook broke Nuggets hearts tonight with amazing buzzer 3 and eliminated from the playoffs. If you are Malone, you give your main guys night off Tuesday in Dallas, right? It is emotional let down so its going to be tough for them to get up to play that game. The Mavs may have hard time losing no matter how hard they try...and we know that tank is full steam ahead! General Carlise has that tank running on all cylinders!

Speaking of teams that stink, Wolves down 2 in LA at half. This team the Wolves is ridiculous to have two players so talented in Towns and Wiggins and be stuck with our win total. I have good read on this team since I have watched 4-5 of their games rooting for them to win. Futile! The problem is PG. Rubio is a joke. He's pound pound pound pass. His defense is terrible. He gambles he falls asleep. He's brick city. And Dunn has serious bust potential! It takes longer with PGs but he's 23. He shoots moon ball that squirts out of hand (38% FGs 30% on 3s). There is such a thing as too much arc! He's creating less room for error when he launches his shot into the rafters! And as far as blow by speed or breaking down his man, its not happening.

I mention this because I think the Wolves may target a PG (trade Rubio or Dunn) and potentially take our guy De'Aaron Fox before we pick. This is reason for us to lose out and root for a big Wolves win tonight!

 

[Kingsroots]

It might be good news Westbrook broke Nuggets hearts tonight with amazing buzzer 3 and eliminated from the playoffs. If you are Malone, you give your main guys night off Tuesday in Dallas, right? It is emotional let down so its going to be tough for them to get up to play that game. The Mavs may have hard time losing no matter how hard they try...and we know that tank is full steam ahead! General Carlise has that tank running on all cylinders!

Speaking of teams that stink, Wolves down 2 in LA at half. This team the Wolves is ridiculous to have two players so talented in Towns and Wiggins and be stuck with our win total. I have good read on this team since I have watched 4-5 of their games rooting for them to win. Futile! The problem is PG. Rubio is a joke. He's pound pound pound pass. His defense is terrible. He gambles he falls asleep. He's brick city. And Dunn has serious bust potential! It takes longer with PGs but he's 23. He shoots moon ball that squirts out of hand (38% FGs 30% on 3s). There is such a thing as too much arc! He's creating less room for error when he launches his shot into the rafters! And as far as blow by speed or breaking down his man, its not happening.

I mention this because I think the Wolves may target a PG (trade Rubio or Dunn) and potentially take our guy De'Aaron Fox before we pick. This is reason for us to lose out and root for a big Wolves win tonight!

Im watching the Laker / Wolves game on NBA TV right now and it makes me feel more optimistic with the youth we have going forward. I agree, both teams are sucking hard to end the season. The Knicks, Suns, and Mavs are even more pathetic. I actually was giving the 76ers some credit for playing hard and winning some games up until just last week when they shut a bunch more of their youth down for the year. In the scope of everything, if we can land the 7th and 10th picks in this years draft, get one of the pg's and one of the top 3's, I'll be happy going into next year. I also believe we'll make a few moves in the offseason either in FA or via trades. I'm definitely excited for next year.

 

[Blob]

Im watching the Laker / Wolves game on NBA TV right now and it makes me feel more optimistic with the youth we have going forward. I agree, both teams are sucking hard to end the season. The Knicks, Suns, and Mavs are even more pathetic. I actually was giving the 76ers some credit for playing hard and winning some games up until just last week when they shut a bunch more of their youth down for the year. In the scope of everything, if we can land the 7th and 10th picks in this years draft, get one of the pg's and one of the top 3's, I'll be happy going into next year. I also believe we'll make a few moves in the offseason either in FA or via trades. I'm definitely excited for next year.

If Wolves can't get this one, its hopeless. The Lakers have their tank line-up with World Peace T-Rob Brewer and two no names. And unlike our game there, Thibs is going all-out for the win! Props to him for not tanking! His starters are back for crunch time in fact he put Towns in with 9:00 to go. He's coaching like it is playoffs!

 

[Kingz19]

KAT with 40/20 and Wiggins with 41. Timberwolves up 4 with 33 seconds left

 

[Blob]

Unbelievable.

 

[Kingz19]

Russell game winning 3 at the buzzers. In and out and back in. Lakers win

Those assholes better lose their pick. They help us on Friday only to screw us on Sunday.

 

[Kingsroots]

Lol "ice in his veins" won it for the Lakeshow. Wolves blow.

 

[The Effort Police]

It might be good news Westbrook broke Nuggets hearts tonight with amazing buzzer 3 and eliminated from the playoffs. If you are Malone, you give your main guys night off Tuesday in Dallas, right? It is emotional let down so its going to be tough for them to get up to play that game. The Mavs may have hard time losing no matter how hard they try...and we know that tank is full steam ahead! General Carlise has that tank running on all cylinders!

Speaking of teams that stink, Wolves down 2 in LA at half. This team the Wolves is ridiculous to have two players so talented in Towns and Wiggins and be stuck with our win total. I have good read on this team since I have watched 4-5 of their games rooting for them to win. Futile! The problem is PG. Rubio is a joke. He's pound pound pound pass. His defense is terrible. He gambles he falls asleep. He's brick city. And Dunn has serious bust potential! It takes longer with PGs but he's 23. He shoots moon ball that squirts out of hand (38% FGs 30% on 3s). There is such a thing as too much arc! He's creating less room for error when he launches his shot into the rafters! And as far as blow by speed or breaking down his man, its not happening.

I mention this because I think the Wolves may target a PG (trade Rubio or Dunn) and potentially take our guy De'Aaron Fox before we pick. This is reason for us to lose out and root for a big Wolves win tonight!

The Lakers rolled out a sorry *** lineup for the majority of the 4th and the Wolves still couldn't close despite Wiggins and Towns having career nights. That's beyond pathetic.

I hope the Wolves don't take a PG, I know Rubio and Dunn are flawed players, but they just picked Dunn this past draft. I'm hoping they end up with Markkanen; gets rid of one of my unwanted options and it makes a lot of sense for them. But everything screams to me that my guy Isaac is a Thibs pick, and that scares me.

 

[Tetsujin]

The Lakers rolled out a sorry *** lineup for the majority of the 4th and the Wolves still couldn't close despite Wiggins and Towns having career nights. That's beyond pathetic.

I hope the Wolves don't take a PG, I know Rubio and Dunn are flawed players, but they just picked Dunn this past draft. I'm hoping they end up with Markkanen; gets rid of one of my unwanted options and it makes a lot of sense for them. But everything screams to me that my guy Isaac is a Thibs pick, and that scares me.

Where would they put him though? Wiggins, Lavine, and Shabazz are already going to take up most of the minutes at the wing and Isaac is nowhere near strong enough to play the 4 on a consistent basis.

 

[Kingster]

It might be good news Westbrook broke Nuggets hearts tonight with amazing buzzer 3 and eliminated from the playoffs. If you are Malone, you give your main guys night off Tuesday in Dallas, right? It is emotional let down so its going to be tough for them to get up to play that game. The Mavs may have hard time losing no matter how hard they try...and we know that tank is full steam ahead! General Carlise has that tank running on all cylinders!

Speaking of teams that stink, Wolves down 2 in LA at half. This team the Wolves is ridiculous to have two players so talented in Towns and Wiggins and be stuck with our win total. I have good read on this team since I have watched 4-5 of their games rooting for them to win. Futile! The problem is PG. Rubio is a joke. He's pound pound pound pass. His defense is terrible. He gambles he falls asleep. He's brick city. And Dunn has serious bust potential! It takes longer with PGs but he's 23. He shoots moon ball that squirts out of hand (38% FGs 30% on 3s). There is such a thing as too much arc! He's creating less room for error when he launches his shot into the rafters! And as far as blow by speed or breaking down his man, its not happening.

I mention this because I think the Wolves may target a PG (trade Rubio or Dunn) and potentially take our guy De'Aaron Fox before we pick. This is reason for us to lose out and root for a big Wolves win tonight!

I would understand the Wolves making a trade to bring in a veteran point guard who could hit 3s, but not a rookie defensive pg who can't. Isn't that what they have in Dunn? I don't see how Fox is going to be all that much better than Dunn is in his rookie year.

 

[kingsboi]

I would understand the Wolves making a trade to bring in a veteran point guard who could hit 3s, but not a rookie defensive pg who can't. Isn't that what they have in Dunn? I don't see how Fox is going to be all that much better than Dunn is in his rookie year.

You really don't think Fox can top Dunn's fantastic rookie season stats of 3.7 PPG, 2.2 RPG & 2.2 AST on 37% FG & 29.6 from 3?

 

[Blob]

I would understand the Wolves making a trade to bring in a veteran point guard who could hit 3s, but not a rookie defensive pg who can't. Isn't that what they have in Dunn? I don't see how Fox is going to be all that much better than Dunn is in his rookie year.

I agree with Effort Police after thinking about this more. Isaac makes sense for them to position between two dominant scorers Wiggins and Towns as slasher, runner and defender. They could also move Wiggins to SG and have frontline of Isaac and Dieng and Towns. Fox would be considered but waiting on him probably does not fit the timeline for Wiggins and Towns. The pressure to win and make playoffs is going to be higher after disappointing season. Even before LaVine's injury this was not good team. Markkenan would space floor but will do nothing defensively. The team was 28th in defense even with Thibs ranting up and down sidelines like Chris Farley in van down by river character for 48 minutes per for 82 games.

I would not discount what Fox can do as rookie just because Dunn was bad. Dunn has shaky handles and not speed or first step to get into lane. This was masked in college because he was physically dominant. Now the competition has raised, he has been exposed. If PG cannot get to spots on floor he is going to struggle. And lacking a shot (38% FGs 30% on 3s) hurts him because defenders back off and deny penetration. Let me tell you, that "moon ball" shot is troublesome, if I am a Wolves fan, I am concerned! The opportunity was there to replace Rubio, and he never made compelling case.

All this is surprising to me because I thought Dunn was going to be good pro. He can still be okay but he needs to remake that hideous jumper! Quickness is another issue. The quickness component on guards and size component on bigs is hard to gauge off pre-draft video but crucial to success or lack thereof. Fox will face same challenges as Dunn since his shot is suspect, but if he can get by defenders with his speed and first step, he can be an immediate contributor unlike Dunn. Regardless the Kings losing out and hoping for tie with Wolves and winning coin flip (which seems best case scenario now) may be only way to nab Isaac with our first pick and PG (Smith or Ntlinkina) with the second pick.

 

[Kingster]

You really don't think Fox can top Dunn's fantastic rookie season stats of 3.7 PPG, 2.2 RPG & 2.2 AST on 37% FG & 29.6 from 3?

If he does better, it's not going to be by enough to be worth talking about. Fox is going to be a project, just like Dunn. They both could be very good eventually, but it's going to take a while, imo. Remember how everybody wanted Dunn last year? Same thing with Fox this year. Fox is the new unwrapped toy from which our imagination is going wild with how great he's going to be. Dunn is the old used toy in the toy box that that just doesn't bring the same excitement it did before it was unwrapped.

 

[Kingster]

I agree with Effort Police after thinking about this more. Isaac makes sense for them to position between two dominant scorers Wiggins and Towns as slasher, runner and defender. They could also move Wiggins to SG and have frontline of Isaac and Dieng and Towns. Fox would be considered but waiting on him probably does not fit the timeline for Wiggins and Towns. The pressure to win and make playoffs is going to be higher after disappointing season. Even before LaVine's injury this was not good team. Markkenan would space floor but will do nothing defensively. The team was 28th in defense even with Thibs ranting up and down sidelines like Chris Farley in van down by river character for 48 minutes per for 82 games.

I would not discount what Fox can do as rookie just because Dunn was bad. Dunn has shaky handles and not speed or first step to get into lane. This was masked in college because he was physically dominant. Now the competition has raised, he has been exposed. If PG cannot get to spots on floor he is going to struggle. And lacking a shot (38% FGs 30% on 3s) hurts him because defenders back off and deny penetration. Let me tell you, that "moon ball" shot is troublesome, if I am a Wolves fan, I am concerned! The opportunity was there to replace Rubio, and he never made compelling case.

All this is surprising to me because I thought Dunn was going to be good pro. He can still be okay but he needs to remake that hideous jumper! Quickness is another issue. The quickness component on guards and size component on bigs is hard to gauge off pre-draft video but crucial to success or lack thereof. Fox will face same challenges as Dunn since his shot is suspect, but if he can get by defenders with his speed and first step, he can be an immediate contributor unlike Dunn. Regardless the Kings losing out and hoping for tie with Wolves and winning coin flip (which seems best case scenario now) may be only way to nab Isaac with our first pick and PG (Smith or Ntlinkina) with the second pick.

The Wolves really need a veteran point guard that can shoot 3s and spread the floor. I could easily see them trading their pick for such a player, or doing some other trade that lands them a veteran pg that can shoot 3s. I think they've had enough pain with the Rubio experiment. They've been beating their heads against the Rubio Wall for years, hoping beyond hope that he would get a consistent 3 point shot. It's time to throw in that towel. If they don't do a deal with their pick and if Lavine comes back ok from surgery they should think about trading him next year for such a point guard.

 

[funkykingston]

The Wolves really need a veteran point guard that can shoot 3s and spread the floor. I could easily see them trading their pick for such a player, or doing some other trade that lands them a veteran pg that can shoot 3s. I think they've had enough pain with the Rubio experiment. They've been beating their heads against the Rubio Wall for years, hoping beyond hope that he would get a consistent 3 point shot. It's time to throw in that towel. If they don't do a deal with their pick and if Lavine comes back ok from surgery they should think about trading him next year for such a point guard.

Thibs isn't wired to wait patiently and develop young guys. He wants defense and he wants to win and a rookie PG doesn't give you either of those things.

If they keep the pick then Markkanen makes some sense. He goes against what Thibs wants defensively but he the Wolves desperately need shooting and he'd stretch the floor for Towns and Wiggins. Isaac could be a good fit too but I don't see him logging minutes at the PF often his rookie year.

I would agree that I think the most likely scenario is Minnesota trading that pick.

 

[Kingz19]

Westbrook sitting tonight and Wolves are home. They should be flagged by the league for throwing games if they lose.

Kings will likely win as well.

What happens if they finish with the same records? Is this one of those instances where owning a tie breaker screws you over? Draft express has them picking 7th but NBA mock draft net has us at 7th. I think draft express covers their bases better though since mock draft net hasn't caught on to Chicago getting our second rounder yet

And Dallas tank job has been absolutely shameful

 

[kingsboi]

If he does better, it's not going to be by enough to be worth talking about. Fox is going to be a project, just like Dunn. They both could be very good eventually, but it's going to take a while, imo. Remember how everybody wanted Dunn last year? Same thing with Fox this year. Fox is the new unwrapped toy from which our imagination is going wild with how great he's going to be. Dunn is the old used toy in the toy box that that just doesn't bring the same excitement it did before it was unwrapped.

Remember one thing though, Kentucky players tend to be ready for the NBA at a faster clip than somebody out of Providence. That's not a knock on the player or anything but the coaching and the system they play in. I can see Fox contributing faster than people might anticipate. He doesn't have a jumpshot? so what, his mechanics are good. He will get one IMO.

 

[Kingster]

Remember one thing though, Kentucky players tend to be ready for the NBA at a faster clip than somebody out of Providence. That's not a knock on the player or anything but the coaching and the system they play in. I can see Fox contributing faster than people might anticipate. He doesn't have a jumpshot? so what, his mechanics are good. He will get one IMO.

When John Wall entered the NBA, he probably was the most athletically talented point guard in the league. Yet, Wall took a good three years before he started to get it. It's going to be interesting to see how Fox compares in his first year to Wall, and then to a "nobody" in Tyler Ulis who has more instincts for the game and a better outside shot. I'm very curious about what Divac is going to do at point guard. Based on his prior picks, he's going to look for someone who has high BBIQ and is pretty skilled. Maybe he picks a relative "nobody" as a point guard later in the draft as opposed to a highly athletic project point guard. We'll see....

 

[kingsboi]

When John Wall entered the NBA, he probably was the most athletically talented point guard in the league. Yet, Wall took a good three years before he started to get it. It's going to be interesting to see how Fox compares in his first year to Wall, and then to a "nobody" in Tyler Ulis who has more instincts for the game and a better outside shot. I'm very curious about what Divac is going to do at point guard. Based on his prior picks, he's going to look for someone who has high BBIQ and is pretty skilled. Maybe he picks a relative "nobody" as a point guard later in the draft as opposed to a highly athletic project point guard. We'll see....

I mean Wall's rookie season was no slouch by any means. He did average 16.4 PPG, 8.3 ASP & 4.6 RPG, while nearly getting 2 steals a game. His shooting percentages weren't eye opening but for a player with not much of a jumpshot coming into the league, he did all right for himself by getting to the rim and using that speed. Fox is nothing like Wall IMO, they have the speed factor with the ball from end to end but that's where it ends. John's IQ of the game is elite.

 

[andjel]

Philly and Orlando and Dallas are playing close games (lead by 3 pts with less than 4 min to play).
Lets see how pro's close the deals.

 

[andjel]

Philly and Orlando and Dallas are playing close games (lead by 3 pts with less than 4 min to play).
Lets see how pro's close the deals.

Well, Philly/NYK/Orlando actually played games. Good job Philly!

 

[c-webb1s#1]

Looks like Dallas is gonna win it! Just gotta get that L tonight! I'm usually not one to advocate for it, but if its the last game ya might as well.

 

[andjel]

oh my, Dallas won. Where is the tanking world going.

 

[Kingster]

I mean Wall's rookie season was no slouch by any means. He did average 16.4 PPG, 8.3 ASP & 4.6 RPG, while nearly getting 2 steals a game. His shooting percentages weren't eye opening but for a player with not much of a jumpshot coming into the league, he did all right for himself by getting to the rim and using that speed. Fox is nothing like Wall IMO, they have the speed factor with the ball from end to end but that's where it ends. John's IQ of the game is elite.

That's why I picked Wall to compare. If Fox isn't as good as Wall, and Wall didn't do much in terms of shooting percentage in his first three years, I don't think Fox is going to do much either for several years into his career. .409, 423, .441 were Wall's shooting percentages in his first three years, and his 3 pt. shooting was below .300 for all three of his first years. That's not much in terms of success, imo.

 

[kingsboi]

That's why I picked Wall to compare. If Fox isn't as good as Wall, and Wall didn't do much in terms of shooting percentage in his first three years, I don't think Fox is going to do much either for several years into his career. .409, 423, .441 were Wall's shooting percentages in his first three years, and his 3 pt. shooting was below .300 for all three of his first years. That's not much in terms of success, imo.

Wall still won games for Washington despite his below average shooting. Quote me when Fox does the same for his team.