FanPost

2012 Wolves and beyond...

This is my first fanpost, so take it easy on me.... but I just thought since everyone else voices their thought on this subject, I'd throw mine out there too.

First off, I see a couple options for draft night. I think we could draft Williams, then flip him for the player we want + additional assets, or we could trade the pick before making a selection. If this is the case, then I want it to be for the 4 and 8... With those 2 picks, I would want to come away with Biyombo and Burks.

Now filling our 2 obvious needs, at center and SG. Obviously, the picks mentioned above fit both of those needs. But I think the Wolves would also look for some veteran help ahead of those guys. So at center, I think a realistic option would be Minnesota-native Joel Przybilla. He would bring us interior defense to compliment Love, and he also brings more rebounding. At the 2, I would look at someone like Arron Afflalo, or maybe bringing Rip Hamilton back in the trade mentioned above.


So in my eyes, our roster should look something like this....

PG - Rubio / Ridnour

SG - (Afflalo or Hamilton) / Burks / Ellington

SF - Beasley / Johnson

PF - Love / Randolph / Tolliver

C - Przybilla / Biyombo

That means Flynn, Webster, Milicic and Pekovic would all need to be shipped out for future picks. Or keep Flynn and/or Pek on the roster (inactive).

A couple notes.....

I am expecting Rubio to simply create offense for others, while playing solid defense. Offensively, I simply want him to be able to drive to hoop and draw some fouls. I'm ok with his lack of shooting ability. Ridnour will hopefully become more of a pass-first PG with better pieces around him.

I like the thought of having a veteran on the perimeter like Afflalo or Hamilton. Both have playoff / finals experience to bring to this young team. I would like Burks to be our #1 scoring options off the bench. Another option I considered was Marshon Brooks at the 20 (if available). Wayne is a shooter playing limited minutes.

Realistically, if this team is going to have a shot at contending, we NEED Beasley to be our star, and go-to guy. He showed some flashes of being able to score in bunches last season. We need some consistency. I think he did get a lot of tough no calls that will hopefully come in the coming years.... I prefer Wes coming off the bench simply because I see that as his role on a winning team. I should provide solid perimeter defense, spot up shooting, and the ability to throw down a few dunks in breakaway situations.

Our interior scoring will come from the PF position, obviously with Love doing his thing, and Randolph off the bench. Could Randolph become a poor mans Lamar Odom? I don't think he'll ever be THAT good, but I think he has a chance to be very good with a guy like Rubio creating for him (some alley-oops). Not to mention he brings good rebounding and can rack up some blocks defensively. Tolliver is an energy guy that would play limited minutes.

Interior defense comes from our centers. Thats about it.... Przybilla to mentor Biyombo.

A couple areas that I see could still use future improvement would be replace Ridnour with a defensive, pass-first PG (I really like Aaron Craft from Ohio St). Aside from that, we would obviously need replacements for Przybilla / Hamilton when they are gone, and adding defense to the team would never hurt.

So, what do you guys think?