Cleveland looking to acquire top 2 picks
There isn't a lot of info on what the Wolves would give up, but they would end up with the #4 overall and #8 overall if I'm reading the article correctly.

From what I've seen, #2 is all they'd give up. Perhaps there are some spare parts that would make salaries equal if other guys are in there, etc. but I have read:

Cleveland gets...
#2 pick from MIN

Detroit gets...
Rip Hamilton's $14.6M trade exception dumped to CLE

Wolves get...
#4 pick from CLE
#8 pick from DET via CLE

Honestly, if this is the whole deal, I snap-call. I just don't buy the BPA arguement with Williams and while he'd make a fine addition if they needed a guy like him, that's the one spot they are OK at.

This team has so many other needs that I just can't support blindly going BPA with Williams. Reports are if they do this, Wolves would take Kanter at #4 and probably go SG at #8. Both large team needs.

If this trade goes down, I'll either have to give Kahn credit or assume that Ronzone brokered it.

Kanter is very unknown but from what I've heard, also may have higher upside than anyone else. So I don't mind the Wolves taking one last swing at the "fences" even if it's in a crappy "upside" draft like this.

Or they can sit tight with their pick and maybe broker a deal on draft day with a team that desperately needs to get under the cap and is willing to give away some solid talent.

I also don't really think keeping the pick is necessarily the best thing in this draft for the Wolves.

salary caps are so ******ed, you can be an incredibly valuable asset simply by getting paid a lot now but not the following season, and it doesn't matter if you are a WNBA level player

MN should snap take the deal

Sources say, however, that Detroit will not consummate the trade as proposed without receiving players in return.

Give them Flynn & Hayward imo.

I'm having second thoughts about wanting this trade. With a good GM in charge who could be trusted to make solid picks, it'd probably be a good trade in this year's draft. With Kahn in charge, I think it could turn disastrous.

Part of my reasoning for this is I read something that suggested D Williams' upside is Blake Griffin plus an accurate outside shot. Imagine this happening, and Kahn whiffing (as usual) on #4 and #8.



As if this franchise wasn't a train wreck already.

i dont think williams is anywhere near athletic enough to be blake griffin, and he classifies himself as a 3. although this is not right, it makes me wonder about whether or not he wants to get inside with other bigs, which is where blake thrives.

i do think he can be a very good player though(beasley with a brain!)

Rubio & Love at least = watchable imo! Although I have a feeling it will be ugly at times.

Time for a new coach imo!

flynn > rubio

I'm more excited to see Rubio than any player we could get in the draft.

Serious question: if you're runnning the triangle what type of PG are you looking for?

The heat better enjoy this title because I'm not sure when they'll win another one now.

I think just any PG who makes good decisions. Like for most offensive schemes. It doesn't really rely on a certain type imo.

That being said, I don't think it gives enough freedom to certain types of PGs or many modern PGs who are really hybrid guards or more like passing SGs. From what I know about Rubio my guess is that the best half court set the Wolves can run is something with just tons of motion. Just run everyone off of everything and have him find the seams.

Of course, they should be running as much as humanly possible. I think he'll need to do a lot of that in the NBA to get the experience to cut down turnovers and run fast breaks really efficiently like Nash or Kidd. Just play Randolph at the 5 and run, baby, run!

seems like all the famous phil jackson triangle teams featured low-usage PGs who could shoot and weren't necessarily great athletes or playmakers: paxson, fisher, armstrong, kerr, smush parker

This is what I was thinking. The '96-'98 Bulls teams actually started Ron Harper and Jordan as their guards. Didn't Harper start with Kobe on some of the early 2000s Laker teams?

yeah i forgot about harper but he was also an unconventional PG. wasn't he kind of the same player type as jordan/pippen just not nearly as good? in the triangle i think the 1, 2 and 3 are all kind of interchangeable anyway

Yes. I wouldn't even consider Harper a PG. Pippen ran the point the most IIRC.


From the strib

I dont have much to add because I'm not thinking clearly due to taking some percoset, but I'm happy right now. Next up, get rid of Rambis!

Wade and Spoelstra(sp) rip into Mauer and no T's. FFS if that was the Wolves we would have got...oh, say 5 Ts.

I hate that ******* Mauer. The superstars all get breaks, but that guy is ridiculous.

That was a great game last night - the best I've seen in many years.

Yes, amazing game, I'm glad I stayed up and watched the whole thing. Just like the conference finals except in the finals and vs. the supa dupa stars.

I wonder if OKC is watching on their fishing trip and feeling a bit better about their collapse now. I'd like to see them mentally grow from that series as I really like that team but am a bit worried Durant vs. Westbrook develops into some sort of nonsense.

This is a really good, thorough article about how Rubio projects in the NBA:

http://www.canishoopus.com/2011/6/6/...ng-ricky-rubio



When/if Rambis is gone and the lockout ends, this is going to be a lot of fun imo!