Former Utah big man Jakob Poeltl worked out for the Timberwolves earlier this week, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link), who notes that the club has done its homework on every possible top-five prospect. Poeltl currently ranks eighth on DraftExpress.com’s big board and 12th on Chad Ford’s at ESPN.com.
Here’s more from around the NBA’s Northwest division:
- With the NBA increasing its salary cap projection for 2016/17 to $94MM, Erik Horne of The Oklahoman explores what that would mean for the Thunder and Kevin Durant.
- The Nuggets and Jazz are both holding pre-draft workouts on Saturday, according to announcements issued by the teams. Denver will be hosting Furkan Korkmaz (Turkey) and Tanner Samson (Elon Phoenix), while the Jazz (Twitter link) are taking a look at Ante Zizic (Croatia), Jordan Tolbert (SMU), and Gracin Bakumanya (Democratic Republic of Congo).
- Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune examines why it has been a challenge for the Jazz to attract top-level prospects for pre-draft workouts over the last couple years.
- Timberwolves CEO Rob Moor has stepped down from his position, the team announced today. Kent Youngblood of The Star Tribune discusses the move, which shouldn’t have a real impact on Minnesota’s basketball operations.
I opined very early on that Jakob Poeltl seems SUPER undervalued in this draft class… I think he could immediately help almost every team in the league. Him suited up with the TWolves with Karl Anthony-Towns and Andrew Wiggins is a pretty awesome thought.
His only problem is that he has almost no offensive game. His offensive game consisted of wide open layup/dunks and putbacks. He can contribute (somewhat) right away because of his defensive presence, but he’s not helping on that big of a level this year…his currently restricted offensive game is the difference between him being a lottery pick and him being a surefire top 5 pick.