Lynx Day Two and Continuing the Community Draft Board
by Stop-n-Pop on Jun 8, 2009 1:33 AM CDT
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Bigger, longer, more athletic, better coached, harder working, and straight up more talented. These are some words you can use to describe a Minnesota professional basketball organization during last night's game against the Indiana Pacers Fever.
For the second night in a row the Lynx beat the hell out of their opponent. For the second night in a row they scored a ton of points, moved the ball well, scored efficiently, and went 11 deep with the roster. Folks, if you like to see the little orange ball go in the bucket, you need to be watching the Lynx right now. It's only game two, but I think they're on to something this year with a fantastic style of basketball. Last night the Lynx's starting front line went 25-31 from the field. They shot nearly 93% from the field in the 1st quarter and over 63% for the game.
The Lynx have always been kind of a down-on-their luck franchise. This team has a new coach, a new attitude, and is filled to the brim with players from places like UConn, Tennessee, and Stanford. If Renee Montgomery can eventually move into the starting lineup alongside Candace Wiggins in the back court, and if she can live up to her promise she showed as the starting point on probably the best women's team in NCAA history, this team is absolutely onto something.
Plus, you can watch all of the games on WNBA League Pass without having to worry about cable company bulls$#t blacking out the action. Go Lynx, go WNBA.
Finally, if you scroll down the page a bit you will notice that we had a close call for the #6 spot on the Canis Community Draft Board. Here is where we're at:
- Blake Griffin
- Ricky Rubio
- James Harden
- Stephen Curry
- Hasheem Thabeet
- Tyreke Evans
- ???
Who should be the #7 player on the Wolves' draft board? Vote below and let us know if you think we're leaving anyone out at this point.
Also, speaking of draft boards, drafts, and mock drafts, the good folks over at TWolvesBlog are hosting a "guess the top 14 picks" contest with the grand prize being a pair of nice tickets to a Wolves game next season. Click here to check it out.
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I'm starting to get comfortable with the idea of Jonny Flynn
at #7, and ahead of Evans as well. It appears Flynn is the same size as Chris Paul. Flynn’s workout numbers came in very good, including being the only player who had a max vertical over 403.
Player Jonny Flynn, Syracuse
No-Step Vertical Jump 33"
Max. Vertical Jump 40"
No-Step Jump Height 10-8½
Max. Jump Height 11-3½
Bench Press, 185 lbs 10
Lane-Agility Drill 10.86
3/4-Court Sprint 3.23
He played 1400 minutes last year (that’s 17 minutes a night during an 82 game NBA schedule) against arguably the toughest schedule of any team in the country. Like most players in the draft, he can’t shoot the three well (but does it better than Evans). However, look at the numbers he put up against some top competition last year:
11/24 @Florida W 89-83 18 points
11/25 Kansas W 89-81 25 points
12/20 @Memphis W 72-65 24 points
2/7 @Villanova L 102-85 22 points
2/14 G’town W 98-94 25 points, 13 assists
3/7 @Marquette W 86-79 24 points
3/12 @UConn W 127-117 34 points (67 minutes!)
3/27 @Oklahoma L 84-71 22 points
What he lacks in shooting from long-range he makes up for with getting to the hoop, getting fouled, and hitting nearly 80% of FTA.
Finally, check out Chad Ford’s editorial comments:
Once you get over looking down at Flynn, there isn’t a lot to pick apart. He may be short, but his body isn’t frail. He has thick legs and a thick chest. He’s an explosive athlete who, on Thursday, stood underneath the basket and jumped up and dunked the ball flat-footed. He has terrific lateral quickness and can change speeds on a dime. He has a good handle and floor vision. Most importantly, he’s a leader.
Flynn has a natural charisma that you can’t teach. Whether it was leading Syracuse into the tournament or rallying players inside Tim Grover’s ATTACK Athletics gym, Flynn has the personality to play a leading role on a team.
“Guys respect him,” Grover’s lead trainer, Mike Procopio, said. “He’s got a lot of energy and has a positive outlook on life. Guys gravitate to that.”
When Flynn gets into 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 drills, he’s the most vocal player on the floor, calling out plays and screens. No matter what’s going on in the gym, your eyes eventually end up gravitating back to Flynn.
.
I still say the Wolves should take Hardin or Curry if either is available. But the likely no-trade scenario I think is Flynn.
I have to agree that it’s not as crazy as it once sounded. I don’t know a ton about Flynn, but he definitely sounds like a gamer. I like that he apparently loves to play D, because effort with that type of athleticism goes a long way toward overcoming height defensively (see Paul, Chris). It would also be nice to have a Wolf who could actually get to the rim at will.
I went with Jennings, because at this point I think you go with the guy with the highest upside. Jennings was so highly rated out of high school that I think his ceiling is considerable, even if he didn’t get to show it in europe. I wouldn’t mind Flynn either if the Wolves scouts do their homework and decide he’s a better prospect, but 6 seems high for him. If those 6 guys are off the board, DeRozan wouldn’t be a terrible pick either, although I’ve cooled on him a bit after thinking his skillset through.
What I will say
Is why does Brandon Jennings have so many more votes than Jonny Flynn? What is the basis behind this? Is it that Jennings was ranked higher in HS in a much weaker HS Class? It’s certainly not on Jennings productivity in Euro-League. I also tend to doubt that Jennings is any faster than Jonny Flynn or that his handle is any better. Neither of them can really shot I guess. At the same time- Flynn was never called out by his HS coach for not being able to run an offense.
Flynn has a couple of red flags: he’s a horrible rebounder and despite a rep for being a good pressure defender, he doesn’t generate many steals. All this despite playing an absurd number of minutes. And per John Hollinger a couple years back, these are two areas with a strong correlation to pro success.
(I understand Flynn’s a 6’ PG and isn’t expected to rebound, but you still need to show some aptitude compared to others your size).
I think at the next level he’ll have a chance to be a scoring dervish off the bench as a PG, but I think he maybe has a few too many holes (of course, who doesn’t?).
The list is starting to get ugly. (Damn you, Al Farouq Aminu and Evan Turner! We needed you guys in this draft!) Part of me wants to believe in DeRozan, that with his strong mid-range game, he’ll be sort of a Corey Maggette type, but realistically, I’m not betting on it. I just can’t get a strong feeling on any of these cats.
Flynn
My Point isn’t that Flynn is great. He’s got holes in his game- Defense (So Does Brandon Jennings) and Rebounding to a degree (It’s not like Jennings is Rajon Rondo).
by Jose Cordoba on Jun 8, 2009 11:31 PM CDT up reply actions
Oh, I know. I wasn’t responding to your Jennings comments; I was trying to splash a little cold water onto that Chad Ford snippet.
I think there’s a lot to like about Flynn, personally, but like any other guy, he has concerns. I’m not quite sure why he’s ascended into the top-10 prospect discussion when all season long he was considered more of a mid-first-to-20s-range type of player; of course, seemingly last week Jrue Holiday was this-week’s Jonny Flynn, and now he seems to have cooled off (or at least, the Holiday-at-#4 speculation has died down). So all this could just be a function of the murkiness of this whole draft.
I think it also has something to do with
how many players decided to stay in college over the past few months. Flynn’s one of those guys who has moved up by standing still.
Maybe if the Wolves draft him, they can then trade him even-up for Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge.
But Portland would never do that unless...
… we threw in #18 pick…
Right on
about missing players. I’m still not sure why anyone familiar with Chase Budinger would rather hang around for next year’s draft, rather than entering against the Weak Cheese of 2009.
Even from an empirical standpoint, I would be interested in the holes we’d be poking in the games of Turner and Aldrich and Jordan, etc.
It is curious why so many players decided to return to college this year.
If I were a star college player like Even Turner, I’d be looking at this draft’s crappiness as a great opportunity to get picked high, on year before the Craziness of 2010 rearranges the whole league. Maybe you get drafted by the crappy Knicks and then next year you’re tossing alley-oops to Lerbron!
by princelyfrank on Jun 9, 2009 12:09 PM CDT up reply actions
I'm Starting to believe
That the top 5 are going to be the top 5 on our draft board, and we are going to be stuck with a major decision at 6, as shown by the close voting on the Canis board.
The latest from DX in regards to curry
Jordan Hill potentially slipping into the bottom of the top-10 or even possibly slightly beyond. The talk is that the Washington Wizards’ 5th pick could very well end up being claimed by Stephen Curry (whether for them or another team trading up), and that since Minnesota, Golden State, New York and maybe even Toronto appear to be looking at other positional needs, Hill could be on the short end of the stick come draft night.
That's a drag
but I also think this site’s top five aren’t everybody’s top five, for better or worse. Some GM will either pick somebody outside of GrifRubHardThabCurry, or will trade up to pick one outside of those. I’m not sure I want the Wolves to move up to get a particular player, unless it’s Rubio.
Agreed.
Every year, some idiot GM will try to outsmart everybody and take somebody way too high (see Williams, Sheldon). Hopefully, this year, that idiot will pick before us. Hopefully that idiot will not be Kahn.
by princelyfrank on Jun 8, 2009 1:35 PM CDT up reply actions
I voted Jennings
Why not?
Also, thanks for linking to our contest over at TWB. ALL are welcome to join! Check it out, it should be fun:
http://www.twolvesblog.com/200906082182/minnesota-timberwolves/articles/2009-mock-draft-contest.html
If you don’t want to pick this early (understandable) there is a module on the right hand side of TWolvesblog that links to the contest so that you can do it at a later date. Thanks
I voted for Henderson
Since I figured he was on their on account of my whining. Although I must admit I voted for Derozan and Flynn in the two previous day polls. I guess this is the defintion of swing voter.
I do tend to think he’s being undervalued in relation to Derozan and Evans considering: He tested more athletic than either of them, is a better defender, a good creator, and gets to the line along with a very nice wing span for a 2. He kind of is like Iggy in that he can’t really shot that well but then neither can Derozan or Evans.
However....
DeRozan and Evans are freshman, Henderson a Junior. For each additional year of college experience a player has, the bar gets higher as to what’s considered acceptable production to be drafted at a certain level. DeRozan and Evans had very solid seasons as freshmen, and both put up numbers better than Henderson in his freshman year.
by Rascal Flatts on Jun 8, 2009 8:30 PM CDT up reply actions
I feel like Henderson is a natural-born role player.
He’ll make it in the NBA, just not as a star. But he’s a guy who can contribute 12-14 points a game, and defend and rebound well for his position. If we were picking, like, twelth, I would be beating the Henderson drum all day long.
by princelyfrank on Jun 9, 2009 12:11 PM CDT up reply actions
Perhaps
Both Derozan and Evans had quite a bit higher Usage rates though thier freshman years.. I realize the draft is an experience in Upside (Brandon Jennings). Which perhaps Derozan and Evans have to bring to the table. I’m just wondering why an athlete like Gerald Henderson that seems to have more NBA ready skills is being considered lesser than these two as now for the reasons I listed above.
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