GRIII to Timberwolves
It isn't the first round, but he'll get his opportunities. Wolves traded with Brooklyn to get into the draft and pick him. Originally Brooklyn didn't have any selections, so they must see the big up side potential for GRIII.
EDIT: Another poster correctly pointed out that Minnesota's pick at 40 already existed and they did not trade up for this. My mistake. The ESPN Radio broadcast was talking about Minnesota's pick at 44, which was apparently done on behalf of Brookkyn (who did NOT have a pick in the draft at the start of the night). Apologies for the confusion.
This. If those guys are his competition, he has a chance to get a good minutes. He is in a ideal situation if works hard.
The only problem is Chase Budinger is under contract at $5 million a year through 2016. Corey Brewer makes a little under $5 million and is under contract through 2016. They both have guaranteed contracts. GRIII does not. They aren't going to just cut one of those guys and take a huge cap hit.
they have to see the floor either. Wouldn't be unheard of for a team to carry three SFs.
Good for him. Hopefully GRIII has a performance like Trey did when he came to Auburn Hills.
Let's not question a life decision he made. He got drafted. These guys dream of getting their name called on draft day.
Glad to see he was really wanted by Minny as they traded up to get him. Would have been nice to see him go in the first round but this isn't a death blow to his career. 2014 may prove to be the deepest draft in NBA history (2003 was great but top heavy) and I'm sure we'll see more of these 2nd Rounders stick in the league than usual
Really would have helped both himself and Michigan if he had stayed. Oh well. Go Blue and good luck GR3!!
Now I gotta watch the T-Wolves. Congrars to GRIII though.
He cost himself money when didnt go last year. He left this year because had he returned and played as a stretch 4 again (for the good of the team but not his draft stock) and had equal numbers he could have risked not getting drafted at all.
GRIII was a good NOT GREAT player for us. That's why he didn't go in the first round. He played much better at the end of the year, but the reality is, he couldn't beat ANYONE off the dribble, was a mediocre at best rebounder, and was often the worst long-range shooting option on the floor other than Morgan/Horfort.
He wasn't ready to go pro, plain and simple. He still has loads of potential, but he needed to work on pretty much every facet of his game except his alley-oop dunks. which are world class. But, he went, so good luck to him.
"Pathetic" might be a bit strong. "Underwhelming" might be the word I'd use. GRIII rebounded pretty much exactly the same as LeVert, who is the exact same height but 35 pounds lighter than him. That is pretty disappointing in my book.
Anyway you look at it, GRIII is NOT a good rebounder.
Wolves did not trade up to get GR III -- they had pick 40 before tonight.
But I'm glad to be able to see GR III continue his career here in MN!
- 2013 - Grant Jerrett - Arizona PF (Fr.) - D League and OKC Thunder
- 2012 - Will Barton - Memphis SG (So.) - Portland Trailblazers
- 2011 - Jon Leuer - Wisconsin PF (Sr.) - Memphis Grizzlies
- 2010 - Lance Stephenson - SG Cincinnati (Fr.) - Indiana Pacers
- 2009 - Derrick Brown - Xavier SF (Sr.) - Russia
- 2008 - Chris Douglas-Roberts - Memphis SG (Jr.) - Charlotte Hornets
- 2007 - Sun Yue - Beijing Olympians PG - China
- 2006 - Denham Brown - Connecticut SG/SF (Sr.) - Romania
- 2005 - Monta Ellis - Lanier HS SG - Dallas - 10 NBA Seasons
- 2004 - Albert Meralles - Roseto Basket (Italy) C - Spain
- 2003 - Derrick Zimmerman - Mississippi PG (Sr.) - Poland
- 2002 - Juan Carlos Navarro - FC Barcelona PG - Spain
- 2001 - Jamison Brewer - Auburn PG (So.) - Germany
- 2000 - Hanno Möttölä - Utah SF/PF (Sr.) - Finland
- 1999 - Gordan Giriĉek - Croatia G/F - 10 NBA Seasons
- 1998 - Korleone Young - Hargrave Military Academy SF - International
- 1997 - Ed Elisma - Georgia Tech F (Sr.) - International
- 1996 - Marcus Mann - Mississippi Valley State PF (Sr.) - Baptist Minister
- 1995 - Dwayne Whitfield - Jackson State PF (Sr.) - 8 NBA games
- 1994 - Jeff Webster - Oklahoma F (Sr.) - 11 NBA games
- 1993 - Rich Manning - Washington C (Sr.) - 2 NBA seasons
- 1992 - Steve Rogers - Alabama State SG/SF (Sr.) - International
- 1991 - Doug Overton - LaSalle PG - 11 NBA Seasons
- 1990 - Bimbo Coles - Virginia Tech PG - 14 NBA Seasons
Good situation, good luck to him!
Great draft for Michigan players. But you honestly have to wonder what happened behind closed doors during those team workouts. There was a disconnect in how GMs thought they went with what GR III believed when he left them, per his comments in the media. He slid, and I am very surprised at some of the players taken before him at the end of the first and second rounds. Of course, this was a deep draft. No way of knowing, but I wonder where he would have gotten taken last year in a much, much weaker draft class.
Why should we celebrate him for making an incredibly stupid decision that probably cost himself millions of dollars? He wasn't going to go in the first round this year unless he just lit it up in the pre-draft workouts. It isn't like this is some sort of shock that no one saw coming. He was incredibly inconsistent during the season, didn't show NBA 3-ball range, couldn't get to the hoop on the bounce, and honestly, didn't show anything that would get him drafted in the first round other than outstanding athleticism and potential. He started to play great at the end of the year, and if he had put together an entire season of that kind of play next year, he would probably have been a lock for the 1st round in 2015.
With another year of working on his game, who knows where he could have gone in the draft? There will be no Stauskas to dominate the ball next year. He easily could have been our leading scorer. If he had worked hard and his game had taken a jump he would have been a 1st round lock. Now he has a higher probabiility of bouncing around in Europe than he does of sticking in the NBA. I'm not going to celebrate that.
The idea that we should celebrate a talent like GR III leaving early and getting drafted in the 2nd round is silly IMO. If a talented player leaves early and doesn't go in the 1st round, it is a major MAJOR mistake that has the potential to haunt them for the rest of their lives.
I think Horford transferring and Mitch's ineligibility had to have played a large role. If he had to play PF for another season, his stock would likely have dropped even further. As it was, he had a full NBA season's (76 games at 33 minutes per) worth of tape for GMs to pore over and identify his deficiencies. Adding another 35+ games of ~more of the same~ would have reduced any of the benefit of the doubt that his athleticism brought him.
Rather than him having misgivings about staying for his Jr year, he really should have gone after his Fr year. Regardless, I think he'll turn out fine.
but I don't understand why at PF he wasn't just BLOWING BY guys. He should have been able to take those guys to the rim at will. And since he couldn't, he should have spent his entire off-season figuring out why and fixing it. Yeah he was undersized at the four. MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU. It isn't like the guy is small. Dude is 220. I seem to remember a guy names Charles Barkley that was about Glenn's size who never had a problem playing against guys bigger than himself.
I'm not saying it was a perfect situation, because it wasn't. But it seems like the bigger problem with playing out of position was on defense. On offense, GET TO THE RIM AND SCORE! If he had lit it up on offense next year, his defensive mismatches would not have kept him out of the first round.
Oh well, it is done. Good luck to him.
This was a major mistake that has the potential to haunt him for the rest of his life. Do you have any understanding of how money works?
Calling me a big time hater just makes me think you are young and have no idea how the world works. Hell, I guess you could be old and have no idea how the world works too, but I doubt you'd be calling me a h8ter then.
He had a great shot of coming back to school and going in the 1st round next year. 1st round draft picks are SET FOR F'ING LIFE if they invest their money properly. I'm talking never have to work a day again, instead of slogging through life like the rest of us shchlubs. Life is a cake-walk. And if you actually do WELL as a 1st round pick and you get to that second contract, well then you truly become one of the uber-weathly.
2nd round picks are luckly to make it. What was the earlier post in this thread--about a 25% chance? Not terrible, certaily better than anyone in normal life has, but considering a 1st round pick is set for life, a 25% chance of making it SUCKS compared to that.
So yeah, if the 75% (more llikely) scenario plays out and GRIII doesn't make it, he will probably regret this forever. Now who knows, maybe if that happens he can make good enough money in Europe or whereever that he still won't have to work like a normal person. Or maybe his dad will give him money and it doesn't matter anyway. But he was SO CLOSE to being set, and he threw it away because he couldn't be patient and work on his game for one more year.
Look at what Tim Hardaway was able to do by coming back. GRIII could have gotten drafted in the 2nd round any time that he wanted to. Getting taken in the 1st round had to be he only goal, and for him to come out early and not have it happen can only be looked at as a massive failure. Getting drafted in the 2nd round is NOT a reason to celebrate. It's basically like going in the 7th round of the NFL draft--it's marginally better than being a free agent because at least you get looked at by the team. But you are still the first one out the door when the cuts come down.
For a major talent like GR III, getting drafted in the 2nd round is not a major accomplishment. It's actually a massive failure. I'm sorry that your understanding of the NBA draft is so unbelievably poor.
As for all of your "basketball will not define him--he will come back and get his degree and be successful yada yada yada crap". It's all crap. The point is, he had all his goals right in front of him for the taking and through a terrible decision, probably (around 75%) just flushed them all away. Why the hell should we celebrate that? It has nothing to do with me being hurt personally. It was a stupid decision. For ANY talented basketball player on ANY team to leave school after 2 years and not go in the first round is a massive failure. I don't care if they play for Michigan or UCLA or Florida or whoever. You leave school to go in the 1st round. If you don't go in the first round, you FUCKED UP. BIG TIME. And it will probably end up being one of the biggest mistakes of your entire life. Unless you really weren't talented enough to ever go in the 1st round. I don't believe that for GR III. He had 1st round talent. But he probably just flushed it away, unless he is one of the 1 in 4 lucky ones who claws their way out of the 2nd round to actually stick in the NBA.
Call me a hater all you want. Being called a hater by an idiot doesn't bother me one bit.
that you seem to be so dense. A basic understanding of the vast, vast difference between being drafted in the 1st and 2nd rounds on fhe NBA draft is NOT really that difficult to understand. For most people. The 2nd round of the NBA draft is a wasteland of broken dreams.
It's just a simple numbers game. Whether your goal is to play in the NBA or just get rich, your ONE big shot in your life that will make or break you is the NBA draft. If you go in the first round, your odds of success go through the roof. If you don't your odds sink like a rock.
Sure, you can claw your way back up from the 2nd round. But by not getting into that 1st round, you basically just hung a 100 pound lead weight around your neck. I hope for GR III's sake he is one of the few that make it work out.
People on this board got all pissy when I said this about Manny Harris (who actually didn't even get drafted). Where is he now? People on this board got all pissy when I said this again about Darius Morris. WHERE IS HE NOW?
Guys that don't go in the 1st round of the draft are usually screwed. It's just the way it is. You don't have to be a fortune teller to know that.
Using guys like Dennis Rodman and Anderson Varejao as examples of second rounders that succeeded just shows how much you don't get about this whole process.
Dennis Rodman played at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, a NAIA school. No one had even HEARD of him. It was a miracle that he was even drafted at all.
Anderson Varejao was a relatively unknown player for FC Barcelona. He was, again, a long shot at best.
Neither of these guys ever sniffed the first round. Yeah, they got a shot and they succeeded. What is your point? Their situations were 100% different than GRIII. They were probably THRILLED to be taken in the 2nd round. They had ZERO chance of ever being 1st round picks.
Of course you can go through history and find second round picks who were successes. We already established a number--it's about 25%.at the slot GR III was picked. That's still a massive drop off from the first round.
I'm done arguing with you. You want to celebrate the fact that a guy just made a really dumb decision and just made his NBA career goals about 5 times harder? Go ahead and celebrate.
As for you ripping on my parenting skills, I don't really worry about my kids making stupid decisions, because they are clearly already far smarter than your stupid ass. If you ever have any important financial decisions to make I pray you get a financial advisor first.