Keep LaVine. He's gonna be a superstar for sure. His game reminds me of DeRozan's except he's a better shooter already. Wiggins will probably net you more and has the bigger name anyways (for now). I'd move him before this deadline if possible. Maybe a 3 way with Portland and somebody else.
If both are projected to get huge offers from teams we can't even identify yet, I feel like there's a flaw in the logic that they can't be worth that amount. They are both 21. I would keep them as long as possible. They've shown themselves to have a very high NBA potential. I do agree that because they are currently poor defenders, they shouldn't be starting together. I don't agree that neither of them will ever be a good defender. That's on Thibs, it's his responsibility. So is the current team defense btw, which is the number 1 thing he should be delivering. I'm not just piling on Thibs, I'm saying to also keep an eye out for the possibility that Thibs is not performing well in his role either, which obviously connects with how well young guys develop. It sucks to be a high potential young player whose coach is under performing, and the coach is also the GM. Selfish motives can emerge. Also, Thibs, like anyone else, could improve by learning from the situation he put himself in. Out of the two, I have a feeling there's going to be a shocking twist in the story and Lavine will emerge as a good defender next season. Don't underestimate his marked offensive improvement. This is well hidden because LaVine is the classic player whose highlights always look amazing. It's easy to forget that his beautiful jumper and thunderous dunks were amounting to 42% shooting from the field, 34% from the 3 and 2 trips to the line his rookie season. He's now hitting 47% on 2's, 40% on 3's, 3asst/2to, excellent scorer off the ball. This is not a function of him just shooting better or being older. He takes significantly fewer stupid shots and he has worked on his form. That's a mental improvement and a work ethic improvement. I value those things very highly. Many people (including me) thought he was too much of a bonehead to make those kinds of improvements. If he's a high EQ player and can get past Thibs' seemingly atrocious teaching habits, he can surprise people with one more leap. It's not out of the realm of possibility that LaVine could end up a Klay Thompson with slightly better offense and slightly lesser defense. Wiggins I think is a bit lost as to the next step he needs to take. If he were a Jimmy Butler, Thibs would find it easy to coach him. But coaches should be able to coach a variety of personalities. Most coaches can't, it's not just Thibs. I predict that the Wiggins/Thibs dynamic will fail but it's worth a shot. I don't think Wiggins has a lesser ceiling than LaVine, but under Thibs I believe that's the case. I think Wiggins needs a Kerr or a Phil Jackson or a Popovich. The types of coaches who are masters of psychology and motivation. Unfortunately it's not the case that every player can and does get that type of coach. Still, as owner or GM, I would make that case to Thibs that he can't expect everyone to respond well to his old style of coaching. If I can get equal value in trade, I do it quietly. If not then I do everything to ensure that the environment is befitting of a team full of young people.
If you can score 20 ppg for a Thibs offense, you have talent. Gotta keep both talents. They'll be able to pay Towns when they need to. The contractual advantage will go to the team that drafts guys soon.
worst case for Wiggins is to become (Rudy Gay or Iguodela ),which is not bad company. worst case for Zack is to be another Budinger.
As soon as Lavine came back the Wolves lost ..to Dallas. The same problems reappeared. Too much isos, bad shot selections, bad defence..
Iggy and Rudy Gay are different players, Iggy is actually a really good player who will win you games whereas Gay is just a volume shooter who puts up high amount of pts but at a bad percentage and has no defense or rebounding. In a vacuum, I would trade Wiggins right now because he reminds me more of Gay than Iggy. At least Lavine has shown signs of improvement, he came into the league as strictly a dunker but now has a decent 3 pt shot. Wiggins is still the same tease he was in his rookie year, I think he's overrated and just relying 100% on his athletic gifts. But reality isn't that nice, IIRC Wiggins and KaT were teammates back in college/high school so I dunno, they might be real tight. It also depends on how Minny sees themselves, if they already bonded like a band of bros trading one of their "big 3" might do more harm than good. I think rather than rashly trading one guy it might be better to just wait it out and just make a decision when they're up for renewal. Minny is in no hurry to contend and I think collecting more top picks would be great for them. One thing I'd do though is change the coach/GM, you don't want an old school disciplinarian coach to build up your young guys, he will work your kids to death with intense practice sessions just to make himself look good. This in turn makes the young guys jaded, you won't get the mutual respect that is needed between coach and players to succeed. What you want are new age coach/GMs like Kerr or Luke Walton these days.
To me the comparisons right now are more like Wiggins = Demar Derozan jr. Before Derozan improved his handles LaVine = J. Crawford.
Rudy@Mem was a solid player, Iguodela is a versatile player and this an implication of how good Wiggins is even if he fall short from being an elite prospect of a player, he is working on both sides of the court and guarding opponent's best player, too much energy extorted this way (his slippery hands ,bad shot selection) could be caused by that Brandon Rush is a better fit who is a very underrated player & also who compliment his teammates strength and help on D. I agree with you though on the coach He was a flashy athletic player, his# was't bad at all,he took less shots at acceptable percentages
who is? I hope you don't mean Wiggy. Iguodala always was a great defender with good handles and was a good passer who couldn't shoot with high bball iq. Wiggins can't playmake or handle the ball well. Or defend. His bball iq and feel for the game leave a lot to be desired. His shooting is better than Iggy's at that age. He can be a above average 3pnt shooter in the future. (35+). I don't see any similarities. One was everything but a scorer. The other is only a scorer.
not as a 1st option & or a core piece of a franchise. Both are extremely athletic, with a no. of skill set, they can play 2,3. and occasionally handle the ball. If Wiggins want to assemble/model his role after Iggy, I don't see why he can't
Wiggins did what most superstars do. He had a fine rookie campaign and then he jumped his scoring in year 2. Already in the 20 point range. He's somewhat motivated. While he does seem to still disappear at times, the major critique in his game, can't ignore the fact that he's improved quickly. Would like to see him get more FT, but overall he's already a top scorer moving in the right direction. Lavine has jumped and improved, but it also took a minutes jump to do that too. He's #1 in minutes. Nothing wrong with that, but it's fact. I'd favor Wiggins, but both on the rise.
well by this criteria we can say that Andre Roberson is the same as Wiggins too. Wiggins can't play like Iggy because a) he can't handle the ball well. b) he doesn't have the vision or bball iq to be the playmaker that Iggy is c) he doesnt' undertand team defence concepts. d) he doesn't have near the motor that Iggy has. On the other hand he's already the scorer and shooter that Iggy coudn't be. Improving defence is difficult. Improving handles is extremely rare and hard. Improving playmaking is ever rarer. But improving bball iq and feel for the game? Impossible. And you think he can improve all of that? Now let's see the comparison with Derozan. Derozan had suspect handles , loves the midrange has great footwork and post moves and is a bad defender. He doesn't playmake or create for others much but looks more for his own. He is a great scorer that goes to the line. He is very athletic but doesn't use it for defence. Wiggins already has shown good footwork on the post, loves midrange shots, goes to the line. He is like Derozan a bad defender, who doesn't playmake. He is very athletic but doesn't use it for defence. The only difference is that Derozan was a workhorse who always improved every summer by sweating buckets with personal trainers and that's why he managed to improve his handles. So between the two comparisons Wiggins has most in common with Derozan.
