Minnesota (#7) - Timberwolves select Jeff Green

Welcome back to week 2 of the first ever WTFDetroit.com User NBA Mock Draft.

First up this week is Minnesota with the #7 pick in the draft.

Feel free to discuss potential players to be selected, team needs or any other topics related to this pick in this thread.

Once you know who you think they should pick, post your selection in this thread in bold red type. Only vote once per thread.

At 11:30 am, whichever player has the most votes will be Minnesota's pick in our mock draft.

Current players under contract for 2007-08
Kevin Garnett
Mark Blount
Juwan Howard
Ricky Davis
Marko Jaric
Troy Hudson
Trenton Hassell
Randy Foye
Mark Madsen
Rashad McCants
Craig Smith

NOTE: Eddie Griffin was released on 3/13/07, but his $2.9m salary still counts against Minny's cap for 07/08.

Free agents
Bracey Wright (RFA)

Picks in this draft
#7
#41

Another team in bad, bad shape.

I was looking at their salaries and they've got some really bad contracts on the books, which really underscores that they need to move KG ASAP and keep these bad contracts tied to him in any deal.

They really need to start over.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nbadraft.net

The Bad: A trio of horrible, long-term contracts has really hurt the Wolves’ salary cap outlook. The main offender is Marko Jaric, without question. His game is in a freefall, evidenced by his 5.3 points and 2.1 assists per game, both career lows. Jaric’s confidence and minutes have been slashed. None of that will stop him from collecting $27.3 million over the next four years.

The next culprit is the perpetually injured, rarely effective Troy Hudson. He’ll get $18.9 million over three years. T-Hud has played in 70 games combined the last two seasons and didn’t shoot higher than 38% in either one of them. The Wolves might want to buy-out the rest of Hudson’s contract and potentially save a little money in the long run, because they won’t be getting much out of him anyway.

The last member of the trio is center Mark Blount. Playing alongside KG actually coaxed a decent year out of Blount. He averaged 12.3 points and 6.2 rebounds on 50.9% shooting. So what’s the problem? Blount is owed $22 million over the next three seasons and the 12.3 points and 6.2 rebounds were high for what he normally produces. Unless Garnett’s enthusiasm can inspire a little more production from Blount, his contract simply is not worth it.

I'm sooo glad we stayed away from Jaric. One bright spot from the last season at least.

Tough call between Noah and the two wings (Wright and Green). Do they find scoring help for KG, or someone to help on the boards?

what do you do with two young guards in Foye and McCants?

Add a third: Mike Conley Jr.

I just can't see this cat slipping any further

Agree. Neither of Foye and McCants are PG's, and Conley should be able to get Garnett more easy looks off of help.

Wolves select - Mike Conley Jr.

I'm having a hard time with this one.

If we knew for sure that KG was or was not going to be traded, that would make it easier.

The few times I saw Foye play PG, he looked pretty good to me, so I'm struggling with Conley going here.

Tough call here. I see the team needing some energy on a nightly basis. I think that there are questions about Conley and he will slip a bit. With that the T-Wolves select:

Joakim Noah

I cannot go with Conley. They already have two small guards (Foye and McCants). They need size or a wing IMO. I'm still torn on Wright or Noah. Since they already have the rebounding hustle players that can't score up front (like Blount), I'm going with Ford's (most versitile player in the draft):

Minnesota selects Julian Wright

KG does the little things. He needs help scoring IMO.

It seems to me that the TWolves need an immediate contributor. No projects or role players.

The starting lineup is respectible at PG (Foye), SG (Davis), PF (Garnett) and C (Blount).

The glaring hole seems to be SF where Trenton Hassell is probably the starter right now.

So I'll go with SF Jeff Green here, and think they'll go big with their 2nd round pick, since Blount in the next weakest link.

Julian Wright would have been the other SF option, but he seems too raw for the situation that they are in.

Conley - 2
Noah, J. Wright and Green - 1 each

One hour to go.

Can I change my vote to Green? I checked their profiles and you are right. Green was a Junior and a lot more polished. They need help for KG now and he'd fit better.

wow, this one is pretty spread out. I looked at both WTC's and Glenn's guys and they both made sense. I just like true point guards.... swingmen are a dime a dozen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WTFchris

Can I change my vote to Green? I checked their profiles and you are right. Green was a Junior and a lot more polished. They need help for KG now and he'd fit better.

I don't see why not. I think that changing votes is fine here (not just because you are changing to my guy, lol). That's part of the reason that not doing a regular poll made more sense with this. The more discussion that we get going about these picks, the more I think people will be changing their votes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glenn

Conley - 2
Green - 2
Noah - 1

I updated Chris' vote from Wright to Green.

Roughly 20 minutes to go.

If we're still tied, we'll do a poll from 11:30 to noon to decide between the players that are tied.

If we're still tied, we'll have a mass suicide.

Looks like a tie.

Time for a poll between Conley and Green.

Poll ends at noon.

http://wtfdetroit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9579

TIEBREAKER: Conley or Green, who does Minnesota select at #7? (voting closes at noon)

Mike Conley Jr.

or

Jeff Green

Discuss and then vote by noon.

Previous discussion: http://wtfdetroit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9574

Green it is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Syndicate

Green it is.

i can't hear it too well......but does Green call himself "the most intelligent player in the country" in the interview??