2012 T-Wolves > 2012 Celtics

[PosImpos]

The 2012 Minnesota Timberwolves, 16-16 right now, are a better team than the 2012 Boston Celtics, 15-15 right now.  They are deeper, and have better talent at the top of their rotation.  They're also much more balanced, with a multi-talented, passing point guard and both inside and outside threats on offense.

Take that in for a moment.  Let it sink in.  Let it steep.  Let it simmer.

Now try to keep in the scream.

[Celts Fan 92]

Well when u get Top 10 lottery picks for bout 8 straight years u should eventually become a quality team. enough wit the bashing yea we're playin horrible but we knew this was coming we couldnt contend forever year 5 of a original 3 year plan

[PosImpos]

Well when u get Top 10 lottery picks for bout 8 straight years u should eventually become a quality team. enough wit the bashing yea we're playin horrible but we knew this was coming we couldnt contend forever year 5 of a original 3 year plan

Agreed.

Hopefully people stop hating on Kahn, though.  Before this season, things seemed totally chaotic and awful over there in Minnesota, but this season it appears his plan has come together beautifully.

T-Wolves should be set for a while now.  Rubio + Love + Pekovic is a nice group, and they've got a really good coach, and plenty of talent in the supporting cast (though they're still at least a couple moves away from being set).

[Inside-Out]

Well, let's think about how they got there.

They assembled a boat-ton of draft picks, usually pretty high ones.  They hit and missed, mostly missed, and looked stupid doing things like overloading at certain positions, PG for a while, SFs for a while.

They use cap space to simply absorb talent from Miami.

They hired a rookie, idiot head coach for a couple of years when they were pretty much hopeless anyway

Their players start to develop, Love becomes allstar material, Rubio comes over, and they hire the best coach out there to bring it all together and make sense of it all.

and then, PRESTO, they're a decent team, still with room to grow.

Danny followed a similar path selling off Toine the first time and getting in on other deals to acquire picks, but then cashed out for Ray and KG.  Will Minny do the same?

[Celts Fan 92]

Well when u get Top 10 lottery picks for bout 8 straight years u should eventually become a quality team. enough wit the bashing yea we're playin horrible but we knew this was coming we couldnt contend forever year 5 of a original 3 year plan

Agreed.

Hopefully people stop hating on Kahn, though.  Before this season, things seemed totally chaotic and awful over there in Minnesota, but this season it appears his plan has come together beautifully.

T-Wolves should be set for a while now.  Rubio + Love + Pekovic is a nice group, and they've got a really good coach, and plenty of talent in the supporting cast (though they're still at least a couple moves away from being set).

Hopefully we can convince em to send one of their young players to us maybe beasley cuz i want a youth infusion nd they have a lot of young talent there

[PosImpos]

Well, let's think about how they got there.

They assembled a boat-ton of draft picks, usually pretty high ones.  They hit and missed, mostly missed, and looked stupid doing things like overloading at certain positions, PG for a while, SFs for a while.

They use cap space to simply absorb talent from Miami.

They hired a rookie, idiot head coach for a couple of years when they were pretty much hopeless anyway

Their players start to develop, Love becomes allstar material, Rubio comes over, and they hire the best coach out there to bring it all together and make sense of it all.

and then, PRESTO, they're a decent team, still with room to grow.

Danny followed a similar path selling off Toine the first time and getting in on other deals to acquire picks, but then cashed out for Ray and KG.  Will Minny do the same?

Well, it shows you that rebuilding through the draft is the way to go . . . even if you're dumb, if you get enough high picks eventually you'll get enough hits that you'll end up with something good.

[KGs Knee]

Well, let's think about how they got there.

They assembled a boat-ton of draft picks, usually pretty high ones.  They hit and missed, mostly missed, and looked stupid doing things like overloading at certain positions, PG for a while, SFs for a while.

They use cap space to simply absorb talent from Miami.

They hired a rookie, idiot head coach for a couple of years when they were pretty much hopeless anyway

Their players start to develop, Love becomes allstar material, Rubio comes over, and they hire the best coach out there to bring it all together and make sense of it all.

and then, PRESTO, they're a decent team, still with room to grow.

Danny followed a similar path selling off Toine the first time and getting in on other deals to acquire picks, but then cashed out for Ray and KG.  Will Minny do the same?

Well, it shows you that rebuilding through the draft is the way to go . . . even if you're dumb, if you get enough high picks eventually you'll get enough hits that you'll end up with something good.

Eh, for every OKC, maybe Minny, Portland for a minute (before injuries robbed them) ther are just as many Milwaukee's, Charlotte's, Clippers (until now-after what, 30+ years?).

Rebuilding through the draft is not any more surefire than through proper use of cap space (whether that means trades or outright FA signings).

[PosImpos]

Well, let's think about how they got there.

They assembled a boat-ton of draft picks, usually pretty high ones.  They hit and missed, mostly missed, and looked stupid doing things like overloading at certain positions, PG for a while, SFs for a while.

They use cap space to simply absorb talent from Miami.

They hired a rookie, idiot head coach for a couple of years when they were pretty much hopeless anyway

Their players start to develop, Love becomes allstar material, Rubio comes over, and they hire the best coach out there to bring it all together and make sense of it all.

and then, PRESTO, they're a decent team, still with room to grow.

Danny followed a similar path selling off Toine the first time and getting in on other deals to acquire picks, but then cashed out for Ray and KG.  Will Minny do the same?

Well, it shows you that rebuilding through the draft is the way to go . . . even if you're dumb, if you get enough high picks eventually you'll get enough hits that you'll end up with something good.

Eh, for every OKC, maybe Minny, Portland for a minute (before injuries robbed them) ther are just as many Milwaukee's, Charlotte's, Clippers (until now-after what, 30+ years?).

Rebuilding through the draft is not any more surefire than through proper use of cap space (whether that means trades or outright FA signings).

Show me a team that has built a title contender without using high draft picks to get there.


Look, it's not all about drafting.  Most contenders have to make some smart trades, get some good free agents, and hire the right coach to really become elite.  But it's necessary to get at least one major piece through the draft, or trading a high draft pick.

[Roy H.]

Hopefully people stop hating on Kahn, though.  Before this season, things seemed totally chaotic and awful over there in Minnesota, but this season it appears his plan has come together beautifully.

Eh, don't give Kahn too much credit.  He drafted Rubio (who fell in the draft) and Pekovic (who was projected by everyone at #31).  Otherwise, what has he done that has been special?  Maybe the Michael Beasley trade, when Miami absolutely gave him away? 

He drafted Johnny Flynn over the obvious choice in Stephen Curry; how good would a core of Rubio/Curry/Love/Pekovic look?  He drafted Wesley Johnson over DeMarcus Cousins and Greg Monroe, among others.  That's two absolute busts with top-six picks, when there were multiple high-caliber players left.

Credit Kahn with hiring Rick Adelman, who is a tremendous coach.  Otherwise, I think he deserves most of the criticism that he gets.  Just by taking the obvious picks at his available draft slots (Curry and Cousins) he could have built the most talented young team in the league.

[KCattheStripe]

The 2012 Minnesota Timberwolves, 16-16 right now, are a better team than the 2012 Boston Celtics, 15-15 right now.  They are deeper, and have better talent at the top of their rotation.  They're also much more balanced, with a multi-talented, passing point guard and both inside and outside threats on offense.

Take that in for a moment.  Let it sink in.  Let it steep.  Let it simmer.

Now try to keep in the scream.

A team that has been mired in lottery mediocrity finally hit gold twice and are now good while our older team finally has gone over the side of the hill. I'm not exactly outraged.

[KGs Knee]

Well, let's think about how they got there.

They assembled a boat-ton of draft picks, usually pretty high ones.  They hit and missed, mostly missed, and looked stupid doing things like overloading at certain positions, PG for a while, SFs for a while.

They use cap space to simply absorb talent from Miami.

They hired a rookie, idiot head coach for a couple of years when they were pretty much hopeless anyway

Their players start to develop, Love becomes allstar material, Rubio comes over, and they hire the best coach out there to bring it all together and make sense of it all.

and then, PRESTO, they're a decent team, still with room to grow.

Danny followed a similar path selling off Toine the first time and getting in on other deals to acquire picks, but then cashed out for Ray and KG.  Will Minny do the same?

Well, it shows you that rebuilding through the draft is the way to go . . . even if you're dumb, if you get enough high picks eventually you'll get enough hits that you'll end up with something good.

Eh, for every OKC, maybe Minny, Portland for a minute (before injuries robbed them) ther are just as many Milwaukee's, Charlotte's, Clippers (until now-after what, 30+ years?).

Rebuilding through the draft is not any more surefire than through proper use of cap space (whether that means trades or outright FA signings).

Show me a team that has built a title contender without using high draft picks to get there.


Look, it's not all about drafting.  Most contenders have to make some smart trades, get some good free agents, and hire the right coach to really become elite.  But it's necessary to get at least one major piece through the draft, or trading a high draft pick.

Detroit, circa 2004.

Edit:  I'd probably throw both the Lakers' most recent runs into this category as well.  Kobe wasn't really their pick.  Everyone else (except Bynum-can't remember what pick he was) of substance was aquired through trade or FA.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

The 2012 Minnesota Timberwolves, 16-16 right now, are a better team than the 2012 Boston Celtics, 15-15 right now.  They are deeper, and have better talent at the top of their rotation.  They're also much more balanced, with a multi-talented, passing point guard and both inside and outside threats on offense.

Take that in for a moment.  Let it sink in.  Let it steep.  Let it simmer.

Now try to keep in the scream.

A team that has been mired in lottery mediocrity finally hit gold twice and are now good while our older team finally has gone over the side of the hill. I'm not exactly outraged.

KC home runs. Other than Jeff Green we were always not in the lottery si there's not a lot of top tier talent we can get. Minny was in the lottery for almost a decade. Heck if KAAAAAAAAAAHN drafted good they could be si much better. Sacramento is headed in the same direction in a few more years, trust me. But this is at the expense of years of MEDIOCRITY. These teams were bad for years.

Add the fact that we are old and our core is starting (if they aren't already) to go on their last legs.  I am not even worried one bit.

[LooseCannon]

Edit:  I'd probably throw both the Lakers' most recent runs into this category as well.  Kobe wasn't really their pick.  Everyone else (except Bynum-can't remember what pick he was) of substance was aquired through trade or FA.

Kobe Bryant wasn't a Lakers pick in the same way that Rajon Rondo wasn't a Celtics pick.  It was probably either a Stepian rule or a salary cap thing, but Charlotte agreed to trade the draft pick that became Kobe before the draft, then took Bryant on the instructions of LA.  Bynum was drafted straight-up by the Lakers as the 10th overall pick in 2005.

[pearljammer10]

Kind of a buzz killington with this one. Man i dont like thinking about this...C's still would beat the Wolves in a playoff series if it could happen though. Coast to the playoffs boys, see if we can turn on the juices then...(I like to be optimistic).

[KGs Knee]

Edit:  I'd probably throw both the Lakers' most recent runs into this category as well.  Kobe wasn't really their pick.  Everyone else (except Bynum-can't remember what pick he was) of substance was aquired through trade or FA.

Kobe Bryant wasn't a Lakers pick in the same way that Rajon Rondo wasn't a Celtics pick.  It was probably either a Stepian rule or a salary cap thing, but Charlotte agreed to trade the draft pick that became Kobe before the draft, then took Bryant on the instructions of LA.  Bynum was drafted straight-up by the Lakers as the 10th overall pick in 2005.

OK, so in that case, Bynum was a high pick that contributed to their success.  He has never been the main cog though.  Shaq came by FA, and Gasol by trade.

As far as Kobe, he wasn't aquired by having a high pick of their own, he was aquired by duping Charlotte into taking Divac in exchange for the pick that became Kobe.

Overall, the Lakers' two recent runs were far more fueled by trades and FA signings than draft picks.