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calodo2003

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Can’t remember if I asked this before or not, but what will Wembanyama’s best position be?
 

Ladron de redcafe

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Can’t remember if I asked this before or not, but what will Wembanyama’s best position be?
He's 7'5. He'll play center. The question is how good he'll be. The hype has been extraordinary, with some pundits calling him the best prospect since Lebron, and others saying he's even a better prospect than Lebron and Kareem were.

Seems a little crazy to be projecting that degree of success about someone very few have seen, but let's wait and see.
 

Baneofthegame

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He's 7'5. He'll play center. The question is how good he'll be. The hype has been extraordinary, with some pundits calling him the best prospect since Lebron, and others saying he's even a better prospect than Lebron and Kareem were.

Seems a little crazy to be projecting that degree of success about someone very few have seen, but let's wait and see.
Will be interesting to see how his frame holds up in the nba that’s for sure.
 

Ladron de redcafe

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Will be interesting to see how his frame holds up in the nba that’s for sure.
I agree. His center of gravity is high. I suspect that he'll need to bulk up a LOT if he doesn't want to be pushed around. But increased weight isn't helpful for guys that big.
 

Skåre Willoch

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Will be interesting to see how his frame holds up in the nba that’s for sure.
We should've got some pointers with Chet, but now we have two freakishly tall and skinny players entering the league at the same time. Very intereseting indeed. Cosndering their styles are not that of a classic C, I don't really think they need to bulk up as much as they would've previously.
 

cesc's_mullet

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Current centres will absolutely bully Wemby next season. Wemby will have to play as a help defender IMO when other bigs are working in the paint.
 

Baneofthegame

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We should've got some pointers with Chet, but now we have two freakishly tall and skinny players entering the league at the same time. Very intereseting indeed. Cosndering their styles are not that of a classic C, I don't really think they need to bulk up as much as they would've previously.
Just think from an injury standpoint it will certainly help both of them, hopefully they can stay injury free for the benefit of the league.
 

T00lsh3d

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Current centres will absolutely bully Wemby next season. Wemby will have to play as a help defender IMO when other bigs are working in the paint.
I have a morbid curiosity to see Zion charging downhill with Wemby guarding him.
 

JPRouve

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For a moment I was worried about losing him. Now, I'm a lot more behind the idea of running it back, his presence gives a lot more flexibility when it comes to trade KAT or Gobert in the future.
 

MrMarcello

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Had forgot about this guy and when I saw his name I was like "wasn't that the guy Carter dunked over?" Sure was and his story is both sad and amazing. I do wonder if he would have been productive in the NBA. Probably not with the fiasco that has been the Knicks but perhaps in places like Dallas, San Antonio, etc. he may have blossomed.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/37892705/nba-draft-victor-wembanyama-there-was-frederic-weis
Before Wembanyama hit the NBA draft, there was Frédéric Weis
 

JPRouve

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Had forgot about this guy and when I saw his name I was like "wasn't that the guy Carter dunked over?" Sure was and his story is both sad and amazing. I do wonder if he would have been productive in the NBA. Probably not with the fiasco that has been the Knicks but perhaps in places like Dallas, San Antonio, etc. he may have blossomed.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/37892705/nba-draft-victor-wembanyama-there-was-frederic-weis
Before Wembanyama hit the NBA draft, there was Frédéric Weis
He is an excellent pundit.
 

HTG

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Can’t help but feel like Wemby is going to be quite a letdown. Have a tough time imagining this long and slender guy having any lasting success against fitter and stronger players.
 

Sarni

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Current centres will absolutely bully Wemby next season. Wemby will have to play as a help defender IMO when other bigs are working in the paint.
If Scoot was able to play more, I'd probably expect him to have a better rookie season that Wemby even though I expect Wemby to end up a much better player.

Shame Nate Duncan's podcasts are behind paywall now as I'd love to listen to his assessment of this class, he's always been able to deflate my expectations for anybody. :lol: I guess Wemby's expectation will be somewhere between Javale McGee and Spencer Hawes.
 

Sarni

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For a moment I was worried about losing him. Now, I'm a lot more behind the idea of running it back, his presence gives a lot more flexibility when it comes to trade KAT or Gobert in the future.
That’s a very team friendly contract but there is no way both Gobert and Towns on a roster when Edwards’ extension comes up. That would be the most expensive non-competitive roster in the league.
 

DutchSerb

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Can’t help but feel like Wemby is going to be quite a letdown. Have a tough time imagining this long and slender guy having any lasting success against fitter and stronger players.
He will likely be a letdown if we're going off the unrealistic amounts of expectations the media is putting on him. They're acting like he's the next face of the NBA already. There's the physical questionmarks you mention yet he's also on a bad team in an incredibly strong conference and is supposed to be the star of the team as a rookie, he's going to have a hard time.

Hell, even if he becomes a great player in this league they'll find a way to set the narrative that he didn't met expectations just because he didn't have the impact LeBron had as a rookie.
 

JPRouve

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That’s a very team friendly contract but there is no way both Gobert and Towns on a roster when Edwards’ extension comes up. That would be the most expensive non-competitive roster in the league.
Edwards and McDaniels. Yeah, I think that at most Gobert and KAT are on the roster next season and one of them or both are traded within 14 months. Especially when there is also Garza that needs minutes.
 

JPRouve

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What do you guys think about the outrage created by Gobert playing for France at the World Cup? I have seen people claim that he was unprofessional and it was a terrible decision.
 

Sarni

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Edwards and McDaniels. Yeah, I think that at most Gobert and KAT are on the roster next season and one of them or both are traded within 14 months. Especially when there is also Garza that needs minutes.
Garza will not amount to much. I think Reid is a perfectly serviceable rotation center and you need only one of Gobert and Towns but I don’t see teams offering much for Gobert.
 

JPRouve

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Garza will not amount to much. I think Reid is a perfectly serviceable rotation center and you need only one of Gobert and Towns but I don’t see teams offering much for Gobert.
Garza has been good with the Wolves in the limited minutes that he had and very good for the Iowa Wolves as a starter, I really want to see if he can do what Reid did with added minutes. Personally I prefer to keep Gobert I think that he is more useful than KAT for the Wolves, people that don't watch the Wolves probably dont' realize it but the team actually found his rhythm without KAT at the end of December which put them back on track, it's injuries to Ant and Gobert that slowed them down at the end of the season.

To me last season showed that this Wolves roster went beyond KAT, he is a high floor player, someone that is steady but won't really elevate the level of the team during crunch-time, it was in theory useful when the Wolves were very bad but now I don't think that he is a good fit, this group of player can reach the playoffs with KAT missing 52 games and starting the season poorly. The key would be replace the one thing that KAT brings without fault which is shooting efficiently, especially when it comes to the second unit. If the Wolves can find a good PG and an above average starting PF, the roster will be more balanced than with KAT.
 

massi83

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What do you guys think about the outrage created by Gobert playing for France at the World Cup? I have seen people claim that he was unprofessional and it was a terrible decision.
Why do you care so much what some people write on social media? Dozens of NBA players will play. Why would there be anything wrong with that? Aren't every other team full-strength apart from US. Just shrug and move on.
 

JPRouve

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Why do you care so much what some people write on social media? Dozens of NBA players will play. Why would there be anything wrong with that? Aren't every other team full-strength apart from US. Just shrug and move on.
I care about the take of people in this thread but apparently I shouldn't care about yours since you consistently give strange answers.
 

Sarni

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What do you guys think about the outrage created by Gobert playing for France at the World Cup? I have seen people claim that he was unprofessional and it was a terrible decision.
What is the deal here though? That he originally committed to staying with Wolves and working out a plan to get better before next season? Must admit I haven’t seen much background on this. I don’t really have an issue with NBA players playing in the World Cup, it’s a big tournament and very important for foreign players.
 

Sarni

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Jazz got a lovely deal for Collins IMO. Funny that Hawks apparently wanted multiple first rounders at just last deadline and are now treating him as a negative asset and just wanted to get off his contract.
 

JPRouve

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What is the deal here though? That he originally committed to staying with Wolves and working out a plan to get better before next season? Must admit I haven’t seen much background on this. I don’t really have an issue with NBA players playing in the World Cup, it’s a big tournament and very important for foreign players.
I don't think that he agreed on anything, Connelly mentioned last week when asked that he didn't know if Gobert would go and that the team would support any decision. The main thing here seems to be some fans and reporters who think that he shouldn't, that the Wolves are the ones paying him and that he should stay fresh and avoid injuries.

I just wonder if it's a common idea that players shouldn't play for their national teams or that they have a higher risk of injuries if they do. To some extent a similar idea exists in the NHL and I'm kind of perplexed by it.
 

Sarni

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I don't think that he agreed on anything, Connelly mentioned last week when asked that he didn't know if Gobert would go and that the team would support any decision. The main thing here seems to be some fans and reporters who think that he shouldn't, that the Wolves are the ones paying him and that he should stay fresh and avoid injuries.

I just wonder if it's a common idea that players shouldn't play for their national teams or that they have a higher risk of injuries if they do. To some extent a similar idea exists in the NHL and I'm kind of perplexed by it.
Nah it’s nonsense. I’m pretty sure vast majority of recognized international players are going to go, like Giannis, Jokic and Doncic. It’s a big deal for all of them to possibly lead their nation to glory. US players don’t care as much but some big names still go, the roster for this year is quite strong. I hope Canada has a strong team this time as they can potentially push for medals.
 

massi83

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I don't think that he agreed on anything, Connelly mentioned last week when asked that he didn't know if Gobert would go and that the team would support any decision. The main thing here seems to be some fans and reporters who think that he shouldn't, that the Wolves are the ones paying him and that he should stay fresh and avoid injuries.

I just wonder if it's a common idea that players shouldn't play for their national teams or that they have a higher risk of injuries if they do. To some extent a similar idea exists in the NHL and I'm kind of perplexed by it.
Think that's more of an american way of thinking. Only olympics count for them, in basketball, and in many other sports. European players generally don't say no to Euros, so less likely to say no to WC. Would imagine it is same for south americans and aussies. Celtics fans were annoyed at Gallinari for going to Euros and missing out on the season, but few who understand European basketball culture would agree to that view.
 

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Jazz got a lovely deal for Collins IMO. Funny that Hawks apparently wanted multiple first rounders at just last deadline and are now treating him as a negative asset and just wanted to get off his contract.
It was a bad contract to begin with and they are now well below the tax threshold and have room to make another deal/take on another high salary player.

Hawks lost out on JC and even before that, with the drafting of Cam Reddish. Reddish was a wasted lottery/top 10 pick and they haven't recovered from that in terms of being a better team. Their identity will continue to change under the new basketball ops guys like Landry Fields and obviously under Quin Snyder and his staff.
 

Sarni

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Seems that Cronin and Dame are playing a game and waiting to see who blinks first. They had a meeting yesterday and I was slightly inclined to think that they’d have come out with a trade request but instead it is still the same blabber about adding the final pieces to help Dame win the championship with Blazers, which doesn’t help alleviate my anxiety over possibility of trading Scoot and Sharpe to bring in an OG Anunoby or whatever. Though the fact we did not do that at the draft maybe indicates it’s not the goal.

I would still expect development of our young guys to be somewhat stunted if we keep on trying to add those mighty vets and give them minutes.

Free agency coming up just over 3 days, not many interesting players available but still curious to see what moves are out there.
 

ZDwyr

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Dame won't go anywhere. This will they/won't they shtick happens every off-season with the same result.
 

Sarni

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Dame won't go anywhere. This will they/won't they shtick happens every off-season with the same result.
I think it's different this year as we actually drafted a point guard that projects to be a star and will need minutes sooner or later. We were not in this position before.

I didn't think there was any realistic chance of him being traded in any of the previous 3 seasons, however if I were to bet my money I'd bet it on him being moved before trade deadline. I think if he doesn't go in the offseason, we will trade some of the young players and assets for 'immediate veteran help' but will still end up below .500 after New Year, and he will ask for a trade. I just hope we still have Scoot and Sharpe when this happens.
 

ZDwyr

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I think it's different this year as we actually drafted a point guard that projects to be a star and will need minutes sooner or later. We were not in this position before.

I didn't think there was any realistic chance of him being traded in any of the previous 3 seasons, however if I were to bet my money I'd bet it on him being moved before trade deadline. I think if he doesn't go in the offseason, we will trade some of the young players and assets for 'immediate veteran help' but will still end up below .500 after New Year, and he will ask for a trade. I just hope we still have Scoot and Sharpe when this happens.
I think the deadline is more likely than the off-season, yeah.

What are your thoughts on the rumour/report that Dame wants Draymond? I can't see him increasing the ceiling of the team that much.
 

Sarni

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I think the deadline is more likely than the off-season, yeah.

What are your thoughts on the rumour/report that Dame wants Draymond? I can't see him increasing the ceiling of the team that much.
It wouldn't do much for the team, I guess we'd move Grant to SF where he's better and have Nurkic and Green in the frontcourt so that could probably be better than Thybulle at 3 and Grant at 4 but it would still not be a great team. You could have a pretty solid defense out there with Thybulle at 2 but offense would not exist.

I also don't see any chance that Draymond signs with anyone other than Warriors.
 

SinNombre

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You guys also can’t sign Draymond without clearing cap space so the only way would be a sign and trade. And why or for what would the Warriors do that?
 

cesc's_mullet

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I have a morbid curiosity to see Zion charging downhill with Wemby guarding him.
Zion would eat him alive.

I'm betting everything Wemby will be used as a help defender, and will come in to try and block/impact shots from the side whilst the primary defender is body to body with the opposition. It will probably be really effective (as it seemed to be in France) as he has an incredible reach and it mitigates his light frame.
 

Sarni

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Zion would eat him alive.

I'm betting everything Wemby will be used as a help defender, and will come in to try and block/impact shots from the side whilst the primary defender is body to body with the opposition. It will probably be really effective (as it seemed to be in France) as he has an incredible reach and it mitigates his light frame.
I think Sochan is actually a good and strong defender (though I haven't seen him nearly enough to assess his effective strength) so that could help.
 

Sarni

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You guys also can’t sign Draymond without clearing cap space so the only way would be a sign and trade. And why or for what would the Warriors do that?
I think we'd make it work. We are at like $125m of guaranteed money with a cap of $136m, we could salary dump Simons' contract quite easily to reduce it by a further $24m and I actually reckon we'd be able to get rid of Nurkic as well.

But that obviously makes it difficult to re-sign Grant who will want $30m a year at least.
 

T00lsh3d

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Zion would eat him alive.

I'm betting everything Wemby will be used as a help defender, and will come in to try and block/impact shots from the side whilst the primary defender is body to body with the opposition. It will probably be really effective (as it seemed to be in France) as he has an incredible reach and it mitigates his light frame.
You got it. He can practically reach the rim without jumping from what I’ve seen, so I’m sure there can be some useful defensive positions for him
 

JPRouve

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I don't know how reliable it is but the Wolves are linked to free agents Bruce Brown and DiVincenzo. The latter sounds like a good fit, if it was possible.