Since we're definitely going to get it, what should we do with the top pick?
by museum on Feb 25, 2009 12:09 PM CST
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PrintWe're due for some luck, what else can you say? I'm calling it right now, we're going to get the top pick in the 2009 Draft. And that might be a problem. Blake Griffin seems to be the only player worth taking at that spot. What the heck would we do with the guy? With Big Al and Love, how would we fit him in on the court? Start Al at the 5? I don't like the sound of that. And in any case, we'd be damn unbalanced.
So do we take Griffin, shoot first and ask questions later? Take someone else? Hard to imagine, unless Rubio comes out, and I can only imagine the crap we'd take if we took him over Griffin, even though we REALLY, DESPERATELY need a 1 more than a 4. A lot of people are saying Griffin is only about 6'8", so forget about him at 5. This is a really interesting situation for a team that's trying to build a roster, not just a collection of talent. What about trading the pick?
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Trade it to OKC for Jeff Green + Ricky Rubio
by callmeishmael on Feb 25, 2009 4:36 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Trade it to the #2 team for Ricky
I’m not so sure he’s not a better prospect than Blake Griffin anyways
by roundhouse on Feb 25, 2009 5:10 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
I love Ricky
Watching him at 17 or 18 (right?) at the Olympics was pretty amazing. I’d be elated to get him. But he’s getting mixed reviews in the Spanish league this season, though he’s been hurt too. Maybe there’s some youtube clips of him from this season, not that I would know anything about what I was watching.
by museum on Feb 25, 2009 7:14 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Mixed reviews......
for an 18 year old!? I’ll take it. The kid is playing with men in the second best basketball league in the world. He’d be a high school senior right now and some scouts are nit picking gaps in his game. It’s an absolute no-brainer for the Wolves. You either pick Griffin and trade down for Rubio or you take Rubio straight-up.
by Rascal Flatts on Feb 28, 2009 7:42 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Mixed reviews as in...
He might not be improving as much as some people think he should be. But he’s been dealing with wrist problems, so I don’t know if it’s that big of a deal. I would much prefer to get him instead of Griffin, quality PG play is just so crucial, and we already have guys to do what Griffin is going to do. A small part of me worries that we’re not seeing the footage of him launching no-look passes into the third row and that he’ll turn out to be Jason Williams Jr. But I really doubt it. His basketball IQ is getting “Heath Ledger as the Joker” reviews. Unfortunately no one seems to think he’s coming this year. Coby Karl is on that team now and he told his Dad that Rubio’s not in this year.
Also, check this out – this is the best Rubio video I’ve seen yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12FOZsjWxwk
I was going to throw in a couple 0:00’s to look out for while watching it, but I wouldn’t know where to start.
after seein dis here video mayn
i wud tak him numba 1 overall. MAYN HOL UP LESS GIT RUBIOOOO
MAYN HOL UP!
Devils Advocate
How different is that from a Jason Williams mix tape from his first two years in the NBA? I’m not saying… I’m just saying.
1.35
THAT was ridiculous. While I think Ricky Rubio will be better than Williams, don’t forget White Chocolate was a pretty good player too. Those Sacramento teams were good, and he was the third (or fourth, depending on how you look at Antoine Walker) best player of a championship team.
by princelyfrank on Mar 11, 2009 2:41 AM CDT up reply actions
It depends on position. If Rubio declares and we have the first pick we take Griffin but have already a trade in place to trade him for Rubio, cash, and a future 2nd rounder. If we have nr2, 3 or any other number we take Rubio without blinking.
If Rubio doesn’t declare … very though.
Beater of the early Thabeet drum
by Wim (Belgium) on Feb 26, 2009 6:14 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
I think
You take the most talented player you can. I know the NBA draft strategy is perhaps a little different than the NFL’s (fewer players and rounds, and a dramatically smaller talent pool), but I’d rather (to use a football analogy) draft a Randy Moss despite having Jake Reed and Cris Carter than draft for need.
by biggity2bit on Feb 26, 2009 10:15 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
clearly...
we trade de pick. trade down fo Ricky an a 5 or Thabeet and a one if Rubio dunnit declare. there’s no third option mayn.
MAYN HOL UP!
by MAYNHOLUP on Feb 26, 2009 11:41 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
Is this too crazy?
Rubio doesn’t declare, we take him anyway and keep his rights and he can come over in 2010.
Is that even possible? There’s no way we’d do that at the top of the draft (I think?), but what would stop someone taking him a little further down and keeping his rights? I don’t know if it would save them any money, he might not bother coming over if they didn’t pay him like a top 2 or 3 pick, but that would be worth it, I assume. In a draft like this, if you’re sitting at 17 or whatever, that would be a steal.
I read something about players from oversees being automatically eligible at a certain age. I’m already sure Rubio isn’t that ago but I think it was 20 or so? That when they have that age they’re automatically eligble.
Too bad I don’t know the details but it was a draftexpress article.
Beater of the early Thabeet drum
by Wim (Belgium) on Mar 5, 2009 5:23 AM CST up reply actions
It appears you are right...
http://www.nbpa.com/cba_articles/article-X.php#section1
(1) The player is or will be twenty-two (22) years of age during the calendar year of the Draft; or
(2) The player has signed a player contract with a "professional basketball team not in the NBA" (defined below) that is located in the United States, and has rendered services under such contract prior to the Draft; or
(3) The player has expressed his desire to be selected in the Draft in a writing received by the NBA at least sixty (60) days prior to such Draft (an "Early Entry" player).
Earier in the section it noted that if you had finished your 4 years in college you are eligible so the 22 year old thing looks to jive with that.
there ya go
nice diggin
Beater of the early Thabeet drum
by Wim (Belgium) on Mar 5, 2009 8:13 AM CST up reply actions
You take Griffin
and trade him in an ideal world. But unless Griffin is the second coming of LeBron and not just a very good player in a weak draft pool, the leverage you expect to have may not materialise. Perhaps the real answer is you take who you need.
- you really restrict yourself to trading with the team having picks 2 or 3 and the question then is can you get fair value.
- You have just drafted a player who is a third duplication of one position – you HAVE to move him (or Love), so the bargaining position is weakened. If I’m drafting second and I have the draft rights to Ricky Rubio, could I keep him AND extract Blake Griffin from Minnesota by offer players that fit the mould for Minny and future picks. I bet I could.
In the short term you can have all 3
Given that Craig Smith was starting with Love and Jefferson healthy you can combine those guys in the short term if you play Jeff and Love at Center sometimes. That won’t win you a division but you can shake out which guys are All Stars and which guys to trade to build other areas.
We could definitely use a third big guy.
A three-man rotation of Jefferson, Love and Griffin in the front court sounds pretty good to me. Sure, they’re all power forwards, but since we don’t have a center, I’d rather play an extra power forward than an extra small forward.
Jefferson and Love together
They started looking pretty good together before Al went down, as I recall. Always having 2 of our 3 really good 6’9’’ power forwards in the game sounds like a lot better than our current smallball rotation, which consists of one power forward and a random assortment of small forwards and guards.
you can never go wrong..
….with a collection of very good players. i don’t care what position they are at or how tall they are. talent is talent.
The World's Leading Exporter of Small Area Quickness
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A lot of people miss that....
when they talk about a defensive center. The team will not be better if you take off a very good offensive player/mediocre defensive center and replace him with a complete liability on offense/potential +10% defense.
but does it win a championship?
Beater of the early Thabeet drum
by Wim (Belgium) on Mar 13, 2009 3:52 AM CDT up reply actions
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