RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft

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Phil Riewer -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/24/2022 9:09:56 AM)
Punch-Drunk Wolves @PDWolves · 2m Just getting caught up on Minott stuff - Hollinger would’ve taken him as high as 11th. (!) Obviously an outlier take, but worth noting. Sounds like he needs to be taught how to play offense almost from scratch, but the tools & defensive potential are very high. Good value at 45.

Phil Riewer -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/24/2022 9:11:56 AM)
Punch-Drunk Wolves @PDWolves Meh. #Kahnnelly Minnesota is landing on Duke's Wendell Moore at No. 26, source tells ESPN. Punch-Drunk Wolves @PDWolves · 11h #Kahnnelly Minnesota is landing on Auburn 7-footer Walker Kessler at No. 22, source tells ESPN.

Phil Riewer -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/24/2022 9:37:09 AM)
Punch-Drunk Wolves @PDWolves · 18m I was mostly just “anyone but Kessler,” so that stung. Must’ve been a lot worse for EJ Liddell hopefuls. Seems like we took a couple guys in the first round that don’t have an exciting best case or likely case. That’s the disappointment. Maybe 1 of the 3 hits though, who knows.

TJSweens -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/24/2022 9:39:57 AM)
The only thing I can grade Connolly on is trade execution. At a glance, it would seem parlaying 19 into 22 & 26 is good value. I have no idea on the other part of it. Picking good players. Kessler is supposed to be a good rim protector and inside defender. Moore is possibly a late bloomer who can effectively play a role. I don't anticipate we will get the full measure of these two next year. Connolly said he doesn’t expect guys taken in that range to have an immediate impact. I just hope he got it right.

Karl Juhnke -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/24/2022 10:02:51 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: TJSweens The only thing I can grade Connolly on is trade execution. At a glance, it would seem parlaying 19 into 22 & 26 is good value. I have no idea on the other part of it. Picking good players. Kessler is supposed to be a good rim protector and inside defender. Moore is possibly a late bloomer who can effectively play a role. I don't anticipate we will get the full measure of these two next year. Connolly said he doesn’t expect guys taken in that range to have an immediate impact. I just hope he got it right. Yes low first round is kind of that in between zone. You don’t realistically ‘expect’ star power. But on the other hand, it does occasionally happen. So you hope you got lucky. I will say it seems like these picks are an indication of maintaining status quo for this year. They don’t seem to be designed to facilitate big moves, but rather to patch holes in the existing roster. That’s what I suspect is the strategy. A good leap was made in 2021-22. Let that process play out another year. And next year you have a lot more flexibility to make a bigger splash.

Bill Jandro -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/24/2022 10:03:46 AM)
We needed beef and rim protection inside and Kesseler provides that. Looks like a man among boys in this highlight clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTOeQtT15I8

bstinger -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/24/2022 10:29:43 AM)
Certainly looks good in those clips. Needed size for sure and he looks like he can move and has some ball skills.

kgdabom -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/24/2022 10:34:01 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Phil Riewer Punch-Drunk Wolves @PDWolves · 18m I was mostly just “anyone but Kessler,” so that stung. Must’ve been a lot worse for EJ Liddell hopefuls. Seems like we took a couple guys in the first round that don’t have an exciting best case or likely case. That’s the disappointment. Maybe 1 of the 3 hits though, who knows. Phil I was Hopeful for Eason, but once he was gone I was all in on getting the best defender in college basketball Walker Kessler. I'm so tired of us getting punked around the basket. What Brandon Clarke did to us last playoffs was a waking nightmare. I believe the Wolves made the best pick possible. Moore is an all around player very similar to Culver, but one who can really shoot the rock. Looks like an excellent choice.

kgdabom -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/24/2022 10:41:36 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Bill Jandro We needed beef and rim protection inside and Kesseler provides that. Looks like a man among boys in this highlight clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTOeQtT15I8 Thanks for the link. Loved it.

Karl Juhnke -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/24/2022 6:08:19 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Bill Jandro We needed beef and rim protection inside and Kesseler provides that. Looks like a man among boys in this highlight clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTOeQtT15I8 Okay here’s my extensive scouting report, based entirely on a couple of minutes of clips since that’s all I know about him. He looks slow.

kgdabom -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/24/2022 7:47:59 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke quote: ORIGINAL: Bill Jandro We needed beef and rim protection inside and Kesseler provides that. Looks like a man among boys in this highlight clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTOeQtT15I8 Okay here’s my extensive scouting report, based entirely on a couple of minutes of clips since that’s all I know about him. He looks slow. For an NBA guard absolutely looks slow. For a 7 foot plus Center and 256 pounds he is quick and light on his feet. I love his ambidexterity. Just as good with either hand.

Mark Anderson -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/25/2022 8:26:28 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Bill Jandro We needed beef and rim protection inside and Kesseler provides that. Looks like a man among boys in this highlight clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTOeQtT15I8 I think he was underutilized on offensive end also.

Bill Jandro -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/25/2022 5:50:52 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke quote: ORIGINAL: Bill Jandro We needed beef and rim protection inside and Kesseler provides that. Looks like a man among boys in this highlight clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTOeQtT15I8 Okay here’s my extensive scouting report, based entirely on a couple of minutes of clips since that’s all I know about him. He looks slow. He looked fleet of foot pretty good in his highlights but the speed of the game in the NBA is a huge jump. Hopefully his defense translates because it would be nice if he could play along side with Towns for stretches when we play teams with a bruiser down low. At worst, I think Kessler will at least be effective on the second unit.

Elliot -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/26/2022 12:47:15 PM)
Thought this was interesting from John Hollinger: he listed Wolves #40 pick Josh Minott as his #10 top prospect. Jalen Duren and, to a lesser extent, Emoni Bates got a lot of the attention on Memphis this year, while Minott saw his role fluctuate wildly, and he was hardly playing by the end of the year. Minott is also a bad shooter (2 of 14 on 3s in 2021-22) and will be 19 1/2 on draft day, making him a bit old for a freshman. And yet … the analytics on Minott are really impressive, with a sky-high steal rate of a big forward (3.6 per 100 possessions in AAC play), a positive assist-turnover rate and a 14.4 percent rebound rate despite often paying next to a lottery center. History says it would be folly to ignore a player who passes this deftly and gets his hand on this many balls at the defensive end. Even the shooting has some promise — he hit 75.4 percent from the line. It’s not like he was an empty offensive force either, scoring a very respectable 25.3 points per 100 possessions. He didn’t play much, but when he did, he was quite effective. Defensively, Minott can be tight-hipped and slow with his first slide, and a bit over-reliant on using his hands to compensate for it. He also picks up a lot of fouls that way, part of his insane foul rate (6.2 per 100 possessions). That said, Minott probably plays closer to the dribbler of any other player I saw in this size class, which is notable — players tell on themselves by how much cushion they give the dribbler. Minott has tremendous hands and long arms and legs; he uses the former to flick the ball from unsuspecting dribblers, and the latter to make up ground if he’s initially beat. Minott goes for the ball a bit too often, a high-risk strategy that can leave an open downhill run if it fails, and because he’s thin and has a high center of gravity, he can pick up fouls when opponents get into his body or spin off him.

kgdabom -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/26/2022 9:19:00 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Elliot Thought this was interesting from John Hollinger: he listed Wolves #40 pick Josh Minott as his #10 top prospect. Jalen Duren and, to a lesser extent, Emoni Bates got a lot of the attention on Memphis this year, while Minott saw his role fluctuate wildly, and he was hardly playing by the end of the year. Minott is also a bad shooter (2 of 14 on 3s in 2021-22) and will be 19 1/2 on draft day, making him a bit old for a freshman. And yet … the analytics on Minott are really impressive, with a sky-high steal rate of a big forward (3.6 per 100 possessions in AAC play), a positive assist-turnover rate and a 14.4 percent rebound rate despite often paying next to a lottery center. History says it would be folly to ignore a player who passes this deftly and gets his hand on this many balls at the defensive end. Even the shooting has some promise — he hit 75.4 percent from the line. It’s not like he was an empty offensive force either, scoring a very respectable 25.3 points per 100 possessions. He didn’t play much, but when he did, he was quite effective. Defensively, Minott can be tight-hipped and slow with his first slide, and a bit over-reliant on using his hands to compensate for it. He also picks up a lot of fouls that way, part of his insane foul rate (6.2 per 100 possessions). That said, Minott probably plays closer to the dribbler of any other player I saw in this size class, which is notable — players tell on themselves by how much cushion they give the dribbler. Minott has tremendous hands and long arms and legs; he uses the former to flick the ball from unsuspecting dribblers, and the latter to make up ground if he’s initially beat. Minott goes for the ball a bit too often, a high-risk strategy that can leave an open downhill run if it fails, and because he’s thin and has a high center of gravity, he can pick up fouls when opponents get into his body or spin off him. Minott was a kind of sexy/trendy pick among the draft nerds. He's a total swing for the fences high ceiling type player. Odds are he never amounts to anything, but just maybe he will .................................

Karl Juhnke -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/27/2022 8:32:53 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Bill Jandro quote: ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke quote: ORIGINAL: Bill Jandro We needed beef and rim protection inside and Kesseler provides that. Looks like a man among boys in this highlight clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTOeQtT15I8 Okay here’s my extensive scouting report, based entirely on a couple of minutes of clips since that’s all I know about him. He looks slow. He looked fleet of foot pretty good in his highlights but the speed of the game in the NBA is a huge jump. Hopefully his defense translates because it would be nice if he could play along side with Towns for stretches when we play teams with a bruiser down low. At worst, I think Kessler will at least be effective on the second unit. As for Towns and Kessler playing together, this is my theory. Kessler was drafted primarily to free up Towns from the low post. Last season showed that the current scheme for Towns might be satisfactory against some lesser regular season opponents but doesn’t work in a playoff setting. A fix was needed. Parking Towns down low just sets him up for double and triple teams on offense, fouls and frustration on defense. Get some other lummox to protect the rim, and free up Towns. Yes he’s seven foot but he’s a premiere 3 point shooter, has decent mobility, is a good passer (when he’s not trying to bull his way through double teams trying to score because he’s the man and he’s mad things aren’t going his way). Untether him and give him some more freedom. All year we were saying wouldn’t a good power forward be nice. We may already have him. Towns. Not in a conventional sense. But in an intriguing, thinking outside the box sense. It probably won’t happen immediately, that’s a lot to ask of a rookie, and it probably wouldn’t work on some nights. But I hope that was the long term plan with this draft choice.

bstinger -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/27/2022 9:05:46 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke quote: ORIGINAL: Bill Jandro quote: ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke quote: ORIGINAL: Bill Jandro We needed beef and rim protection inside and Kesseler provides that. Looks like a man among boys in this highlight clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTOeQtT15I8 Okay here’s my extensive scouting report, based entirely on a couple of minutes of clips since that’s all I know about him. He looks slow. He looked fleet of foot pretty good in his highlights but the speed of the game in the NBA is a huge jump. Hopefully his defense translates because it would be nice if he could play along side with Towns for stretches when we play teams with a bruiser down low. At worst, I think Kessler will at least be effective on the second unit. As for Towns and Kessler playing together, this is my theory. Kessler was drafted primarily to free up Towns from the low post. Last season showed that the current scheme for Towns might be satisfactory against some lesser regular season opponents but doesn’t work in a playoff setting. A fix was needed. Parking Towns down low just sets him up for double and triple teams on offense, fouls and frustration on defense. Get some other lummox to protect the rim, and free up Towns. Yes he’s seven foot but he’s a premiere 3 point shooter, has decent mobility, is a good passer (when he’s not trying to bull his way through double teams trying to score because he’s the man and he’s mad things aren’t going his way). Untether him and give him some more freedom. All year we were saying wouldn’t a good power forward be nice. We may already have him. Towns. Not in a conventional sense. But in an intriguing, thinking outside the box sense. It probably won’t happen immediately, that’s a lot to ask of a rookie, and it probably wouldn’t work on some nights. But I hope that was the long term plan with this draft choice. I agree, especially against the more powerful C's in the league, Towns is a better stretch 4.

Pauldiercks1 -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/28/2022 10:27:00 AM)
Agree but not a Lummox. I love watching a skilled defensive center as much as any position. At the end of the game they surprisingly have 25 points simply off their hard work, rebounding, and put backs. They don't look pretty but highly effective to winning.

Phil Riewer -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/28/2022 1:56:47 PM)
Punch-Drunk Wolves @PDWolves Most enlightening summertime Wolves coach presser omission since Thibs forgot to say Tyus when he was sitting in the front row right before him Dane Moore @DaneMooreNBA · 3h Chris Finch: “We can talk about this draft class, we can talk about free agency, but the one thing we know for sure is that the internal development of Ant and Jaden and Jaylen, those three guys in particular, will be the single biggest driver of how far we can go next year.”

Phil Riewer -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/28/2022 1:57:21 PM)
Punch-Drunk Wolves @PDWolves · 2h My Finch Interpreter app was just saying something about how a D’Lo trade could leave an ostensible void at point guard and they might need to tinker with dual 2 lineups where Ant initiates but Jaylen brings the ball up the floor. Wasn’t super clear though- it’s a free app. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Karl Juhnke -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/28/2022 6:31:31 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Pauldiercks1 Agree but not a Lummox. I love watching a skilled defensive center as much as any position. At the end of the game they surprisingly have 25 points simply off their hard work, rebounding, and put backs. They don't look pretty but highly effective to winning. As a former lummox myself who got most of his points in the manner you described, I know one when I see one. It’s not necessarily derogatory. All I’m saying is, if someone else fills that role, it frees up Towns. Guys like Barkley have it backwards. They think any time a big isn’t camped down low it’s wasting him. In fact a guy with Towns’ skill set is wasted when he’s not allowed to be more mobile and versatile.

David Levine -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/28/2022 7:24:57 PM)
Not bad. It's very tradable. Adrian Wojnarowski@wojespn Minnesota Timberwolves F Taurean Prince has agreed on a two-year, $16 million contract extension, sources tell ESPN. Key Sang@Phantele_ Second year on this is non-guaranteed, so a REALLY good contract. Prince is stability in the wing rotation and an important voice in the locker room. Wolves combine this with Bev's 1yr deal to keep their key vet leaders AND their 2023 cap space

Karl Juhnke -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/29/2022 11:50:13 AM)
Agreed. Prince is a good guy to keep around. But the deal retains flexibility for management in 2023. And the salary isn’t outrageous.

David Levine -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/29/2022 12:05:58 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke Agreed. Prince is a good guy to keep around. But the deal retains flexibility for management in 2023. And the salary isn’t outrageous. It's actually even more flexible than that. Because he signed an extension before July 1st, and because it was for less than he was previously making we didn't need to use his Bird Rights for the signing. Because of that he's immediately eligible to be traded. Otherwise it couldn't happen until January.

Karl Juhnke -> RE: Wolves 2022 Off Season and Draft (6/30/2022 1:15:33 PM)
https://fb.watch/dZEaqojdD6/?fs=e&s=cl Interesting. Wendell Moore and Ant grew up playing together and are good friends. I did not know that. I wonder if that sort of thing plays into draft selection. Obviously, you’re drafting for talent, need, all the normal stuff. But as a tie breaker, if you’re considering 2-3 guys who are toss-ups, maybe take the one who will make your star happy and add to chemistry on and off the court. Edit: looks like my link doesn’t work. It was just a short clip of Moore saying he played against Ant since they were 10 or 11 and named couple of tournaments where they played together.

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