If Wesley Johnson is our top draft pick, I am seriously going to cry. I'm not kidding. I like him, but he'd be good as a second pick, if we trade back up into the lottery or something.


1) Wall
2) Turner
3) Favors
4) Cousins
5) Death to CW

Courtside wrote:


Yeah, I would even take him before Wall.
Howl to you for some great posts lately

This year's draft is blessed with a lot of diversity in positions that we're looking to fill. If the Wolves get the second pick, they get to choose between a more ball-dominant wing in Evan Turner who lacks the shooting aspect of his game, or an athletic, lights-out shooter in Wesley Johnson who is still learning to create his own shot. This is just a rough comparison, but judging by their body types and skillsets, I think Turner is similar to Brandon Roy, and Wesley Johnson makes me think of another Johnson -- Joe. I'm more hesitant on drafting Johnson than Turner because developing playmaking skills like Turner has is much tougher than getting a top-notch jumper. Eventually through hard work, Turner should be a solid jump shooter and separate himself from Johnson.

In the post, there is an exceptional number of players to choose from, and each is unique in his own way. First, you have Hassan Whiteside, the player with the greatest potential of any post in this year's draft. He's long, athletic, and could be a Marcus Camby-type, but nbadraft.net says his ceiling is David Robinson. Check out his stats, he's had three triple doubles of points, rebounds, and blocks this year. High-risk, high-reward type of player. I can actually see him slipping like DeAndre Jordan did. Then you have DeMarcus Cousins, who's probably the #1 prospect currently for bigs. He's strong, rebounds, can score on the block, and block shots. We already have a guy like that in Al Jefferson, however, and in the Triangle I would like to fit a more defensive-oriented, high basketball IQ guy.

Derrick Favors was once rated the #2 prospect in this draft. He's very strong and athletic, can block shots and rebound exceptionally well. He's more of a power forward than a center in my eyes, so fitting him next to Jefferson and Love could be problematic. The next three guys I view as great fits for this team, and Kahn should try and move up to get one of them.

Cole Aldrich of Kansas is a perfect fit for the Wolves. He's got a high basketball IQ, can pass, shoot, rebound, and be a defensive anchor in the paint. Reminds me of Love but a couple inches taller. He doesn't have sky-high potential, but he would be a solid role player and I could see him being the starting center for years to come. Donatas Motiejunas is a player I haven't seen in action, but he's long (7-footer), athletic, quick, can shoot, has good intangibles, but needs to bulk up (all according to nbadraft.net). He's compared to Andrea Bargnani, but his elite quickness makes me think he could be a slightly better prospect. I see Pau Gasol's success in the Triangle, and that makes me think Motiejunas could be a solid investment with our second first round pick.

Finally, we get to Greg Monroe. Monroe made me think of a poor man's version of Kevin Garnett when he signed with Georgetown. Not as long or athletic but still solid in both respects, Monroe is a threat shooting the ball, passing, rebounding, posting up, and defensively. He's got a couple years of experience with a team that stresses high basketball IQ, and I think he could be ready to go right away.

Solomon Alabi is another possibility with Utah's pick. Long, athletic, he could be a shot blocking and rebounding threat like Whiteside.

Rambo wrote:


Great first post, Howl to you!

Also, welcome to the forums and hope to see you around more! Thanks for sharing.

Rambo wrote:


If you've watched the 2009 draft so much times (like me ), then you should know that they said exactly the same things about Tyreke:

"He's got size, he's got amazing length, wingspan of 6'11'' and he's really strong. But he can get into the lane... He's a little bit ball-dominant, he needs to have the ball in his hands and he is not a great shooter..."

I tried to upload it


And howl to you Rambo, welcome to the forums!

Is there a chance Aldrich slips out of the lottery so we can get him with the Charlotte pick? Doubtful, I guess.

czaras wrote:


First off, Charlotte is only top 12 protected. So we could have it in the lottery at #13.

Anyways, I would say there is about a 0.0005% chance Aldrich falls to #13. It's not gonna happen.

64 Games

Games behind (Worst Record): 6.5 (Nets)
Games ahead (Next Record After Us): 3.5 (Warriors)


Warriors, Nets, and TWolves all lose. No change in the "race" to the bottom.

Just saw a graphic on TV... the Wolves have the hardest Strength of Schedule of any team in the league for the remainder of the season (.547) Yikes. Second worst record here we come!!!

College Wolf wrote:


Excellent! So we can actually try our best to win all our remaining games and still lose them, thus not tanking and incurring the wrath of the lottery karma gods! Someone call Mark Madsen and tell him his 3PT attempts won't be required in the final week this season!

Aussie Wolf wrote:


Hahaha my thoughts exactly!

This whole season has been like one long tankfest.

Pavlobrick just played 21 minutes in an actual NBA game.

The lottery gods will not have mercy on us.

roundhouse wrote:


But remember, Stern and Kahn are buddies. It's our last hope for this draft!!!

roundhouse wrote:


It has.

I can't wait for the season to be over so I don't have to feel like I have to watch.

I'm getting sick of lottery watching. Hopefully, this is the last year we have to lottery watch.

9Deuce wrote:


I sure hope so too... because next year the Clippers will probably get our first round pick!