What should the Timberwolves do with the #3 Pick?

[monthh]

But is that what you want him to play? I think he would be better suited to have the ball a lot, but have a true, legit PG to play next to him.

And if you are starting Dorsey or Ibaka at center, then you are going nowhere fast. Dorsey and Jefferson starting would have to mean Jefferson is at center. And if Ibaka is starting this year, then he may be the worst starter in NBA history. He is 4 or maybe even 5 years away from starting.

As for picking Mayo, I think it could certainly happen, but is there a chance they move Foye at some point? McCants seems like he will be on his way out, and no fans seem to like Telfair. I don't think Foye and Mayo will work even though it seems they may being playing together this year.

What I think is funny that the guy that wants them to pick Mayo is FireMcFail. Stocking his team full of guards (which is the opposite of what everyone wants the Bulls to do, which I think is strange) will get that done.

[Blackeagle]

read my posts again, mayo is the perfect complement to foye in the back court

And no, Foye is not going anywhere. He's nearly as solid a piece of the front office's future plans as jefferson is. And he can definitely play point, he just won't be steve nash. Much more in the mold of chauncey billups. In fact, he's extremely similar to chauncey.. chauncey with a better driving game is foye's ceiling, and he's closer to it than a lot of outsiders realize. He was out for the first few months of the season though, and took a while to get back to full strength or close to it.

As for where we'd ideally want Foye to play? He's better with the ball in his hands, at least to initiate the offense. So I see no reason to have him next to a 'true' point guard, whose skills are largely wasted by playing foye off the ball. But having him play next to a shooting guard who has some legitimate playmaking skills would certainly help... in other words, Mayo.

as for mccants... he's a fantastic offensive player. he sometimes gets into foul trouble, and he doesn't play great defense, but the kid can flat out score.

He is very strong, capable of posting up just about anyone he is matched up against, despite his size. I've seen guys significantly bigger try to back him down and not move him more than a foot. He's very good at finishing those post jumpers.

he's a fantastic 3 point shooter (I think over 41% from 3 this past season, with quite a few attempts as our best outside scorer)

And he can throw down hard. His rookie season, he got ejected twice for jawing after filthy dunks on defenders. One of them was Camby, I forget who the other was. He's controlling himself more now, and I don't think he got any ejections the last 2 seasons, but the ability to throw down is still there.

But, the wolves coaching staff just refuses to give him a fair shake, as seen by substitution patterns and some stuff that has leaked out over his career. I honestly think that wittman just has a personal issue with the kid. Anyway, long story short, the wolves want to replace mccants, but if mccants goes to the right situation, he could seriously blow up. I've said for a while now that if mccants went to phoenix, he'd be a borderline all-star. I'm not sure if that's still the case with no more d'antoni, but he has that kind of offensive ability.

[disco]

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/...nnesota--2898/

According to this McHale likes Kevin Love.

[wally_world]

i posted a thread in the main forums about my draft and off-season analysis... this is extracted from there

Minnesota - Trade Away The Pick!!! lots of mock drafts are saying they'll pick Brook Lopez or OJ Mayo but i beg to differ... what they really need is a PG, a floor general... someone to make Al Jefferson dominant... the 3rd pick value is high so trade it away! TJ Ford will probably be leaving Toronto... Minny should try to get him... Bassy and the pick for TJ and Bargnani/Nesterovic sounds decent... TJ, Foye, Brewer, Gomes/Bargs, Jefferson looks good... McCants is a 6MOY candidate being the scorer off the bench... Raptors can then go on to pick Brook Lopez/Kevin Love... either one of them down low with CB4 will be sick! win-win situation...

Foye cant play the point... Bassy just isnt good enough and dont get me started on Jaric... so how about this trade?

[disco]

i posted a thread in the main forums about my draft and off-season analysis... this is extracted from there

Minnesota - Trade Away The Pick!!! lots of mock drafts are saying they'll pick Brook Lopez or OJ Mayo but i beg to differ... what they really need is a PG, a floor general... someone to make Al Jefferson dominant... the 3rd pick value is high so trade it away! TJ Ford will probably be leaving Toronto... Minny should try to get him... Bassy and the pick for TJ and Bargnani/Nesterovic sounds decent... TJ, Foye, Brewer, Gomes/Bargs, Jefferson looks good... McCants is a 6MOY candidate being the scorer off the bench... Raptors can then go on to pick Brook Lopez/Kevin Love... either one of them down low with CB4 will be sick! win-win situation...

Foye cant play the point... Bassy just isnt good enough and dont get me started on Jaric... so how about this trade?

I think your post makes lots of sense, and if they get a good value for the pick, trading is a good choice. However, because in this draft there are two players who are clearly above anyone else, and from 3 to almost end of the lottery there isn't much between the prospects, I'm not sure if the third pick is really that valuable. If they keep the pick, I think they should go with whoever they think is the best player available (Mayo or Bayless, perhaps).

[monthh]

I pretty much agree with you Wally. I could also see them trading McCants to bring in even more, since it has been pointed out that they really don't want him. I also think the Clippers may be willing to trade picks to get Mayo, but they can't give you a good PG like Ford.

Blackeagle, I am just looking at the needs of this team. I don't think Mayo will be all that much better than McCants (which may not matter because as you said, they don't like him). You can find a guy like Mayo if you want to. It makes me laugh that half way through the year people were talking about how he sucks and should go 10th and all this other stuff. I told people to give him another look because he is much, much better than they were giving him credit for. Go back a few months and you will find posts with this stuff in it. But now I am the one bashing Mayo because people seem to be really overrating him. I understand that Mayo would be a nice fit with the Wolves, I just really think Lopez, at a more important position, will basically be as good as Mayo.

It does make me laugh, however, that Mayo who basically couldn't figure out how to play within the offense for much of the season should be leading the offense at PG. I don't think Mayo is close to a PG. He can handle the ball and he can find open players, but that doesn't make him a PG. For years Ray Allen was like that, but he wouldn't play PG. I think Mayo is actually a lot like Allen. Career numbers of 21pts, 4.5rebs, and 4ast sounds about right for Mayo to me. I don't think that qualifies me as a hater of Mayo.

I have said that I think Lopez will be on the same level as recent picks like Aldridge, Kaman, and Bogut. I think that puts him at about 14-18ppg, 8-10rebs, and close to 2blks.

I guess for me it comes down to which you would rather have. Some people would take the guy with better stats in Mayo, but I think getting Jefferson is more important and a center who can put up those numbers makes him close to the top 10 at center. I'm not going to look up the numbers, but I think Mayo at those numbers would only put him in the top half of SG in the NBA.

[FireMcFailPlease]

Mayo and Al is a nice foundation to build around.

True low post scorers are rarity as is.

Mayo with his shooting would be awesome.

[veilside23]

Trading the pick this high would be worthless. if you will only get tj ford. correct me if i am wrong but this has been the highest pick for minny since they drafted christian laettner right? Get Mayo. Wolves can get alot of worthy centers in the 2nd round for sure.

[Blackeagle]

It does make me laugh, however, that Mayo who basically couldn't figure out how to play within the offense for much of the season should be leading the offense at PG. I don't think Mayo is close to a PG. He can handle the ball and he can find open players, but that doesn't make him a PG. For years Ray Allen was like that, but he wouldn't play PG. I think Mayo is actually a lot like Allen. Career numbers of 21pts, 4.5rebs, and 4ast sounds about right for Mayo to me. I don't think that qualifies me as a hater of Mayo.

I have said that I think Lopez will be on the same level as recent picks like Aldridge, Kaman, and Bogut. I think that puts him at about 14-18ppg, 8-10rebs, and close to 2blks.

I strongly agree with your take on mayo, and have been saying a lot of the same things about him. He's not a point guard, but he does have some playmaking skills, and the comparison to ray allen is one that I've made myself, but haven't seen anyone else make, so high-5 on that one.

I don't see lopez being as good as aldridge or kaman, but bogut is a pretty good parallel

I think mayo should be our pick, but it sounds like we're fairly similar in our views of the players themselves. I'd just rather pick mayo, with a hibbert, robin lopez or jason thompson the 20's (maybe 30's for thompson) than lopez and hope rush drops or pick CDR or bill walker... both of whom I dislike. I love Shan Foster and think he's criminally underrated on most mocks, but I don't have faith that mcchale would pick him if we took lopez, and it's hard to pick a guy projected around 40 and hope he becomes either a starting guard to replace mccants, or one of your first guys off the bench to play the 2 when foye slides over to the 1... because mccants will be traded

[veilside23]

bump bump bump

[monthh]

Blackeagle, I think you are a lot more likely to get a guy who can play SG (Weems, Weaver, Lee, Forbes, Walker, Roby, and Giddens all could be available for the 2 2nd round picks the T-Wolves have) than a center who could be a double digit scorer to take that much pressure off your franchise player (Pekovic, Asik, Plaisted, Erden, Norel, Jawai, and Ajica don't exactly make you feel comfortable with your center position).

I just think even if they trade McCants, they still have some decent young players to help Foye out in Brewer and Telfair as well as Jaric and Buckner who can be okay backups. Then you add Weems and Hudson/Daniels to solidfy your 1-3 positions.

With all that said, I am starting to think Mayo may be my #2 choice for them behind Bayless, who I think the 3rd best player in the draft, and would work well playing the point with a guy like Foye who can also handle the ball.

[Blackeagle]

out of all those guards you listed, lee is the only one I think would give our team what we need if we add another guard/wing; defense+shooting in the same package. We currently do not have a player on our roster who brings both of those. That's why I want mayo... he brings both of them, and at a much higher level than lee

I also disagree on the big-man thing... this draft is loaded with big men who will contribute. Some of them right away, some of them farther down the road. I think we get both more value and more excitement by taking mayo and, say, a jason thompson or roy hibbert or kosta koufos, robin lopez, devon hardin... than we do by picking up brook lopez and courtney lee

I wouldn't mind trading the 3rd pick and in a deal that could net us marreese speights + brandon rush though.

[monthh]

But those big men might not be available in the 2nd round. And you don't have to get that combo-gaurd that can shoot and play D in the draft. I'm sure there will be a few on the FA market. I just think you can add a decent player at Mayo's position than you can at Lopez's position, if of course you are assuming Mayo and Lopez will provide about the same amount of production, which I doubt you do.

To maybe explain myself better if I think Lopez and Mayo will both be 8's out of 10 compared to all SG and C in the NBA, and in the other spot you want to start a 6 out of 10 on the same scale, it is easier to find a 6 at SG than a 6 at center. There are dozens in the NBA, D-League, Europe, and in future draft classes (since I think we both agree the Wolves still going to be building next offseason as well) that can fill their SG position. There are just a handful of true centers that can be effective as their starting center. I guess if you want to have a guy like Darko or Hayward then that is fine, but I would rather look to help my franchise player with a legit scoring center than help out Foye, who I honestly think is just a decent player on a good team, not a guy you build around in hopes of becoming a good team.

[Blackeagle]

using your analogy, I'd much rather have an 8 SG and a 6 C than an 8 C and a 6 SG.

This is a guard's league, and having a very good SG is much more important than having a very good C, unless your C is someone that changes the game like an oden, howard, shaq, etc

brook lopez will be no where even close to any of those guys. And I think that getting a good shooter to stick on the perimeter next to Al would take more defensive pressure off of Al than getting a C who can score on the block

And some of the bigs I mentioned will be gone before the 2nd round, but not all of them. There are just too many bigs, and we have both the 31 and 34 picks. And it should be easy to move up if we set our sights on someone in particular, having the 31, 34 a late 20's next year in boston's 1st, and any number of other assets. We don't have to stay in the second round, should be able to move up to at least the mid 20's without any difficulty at all

[monthh]

I guess that is where we differ. I think for every 5 SG's that you could have help you win championships, there are 1 C's (or Duncan/KG type) that can help you win a championship.