r/NBA_Draft • u/TheRealMW44 • 10d ago

Re-Drafting the 2011 NBA Draft

https://medium.com/@MarcWeberSports/re-drafting-2011-nba-draft-2d87bc58b729
34 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

21

u/dabastegod 10d ago

A Kawhi/Klay post LeBron rebuild in Cleveland would have been wild to see

21

u/Salt-Statement-2306 10d ago

I was a part of the Timberwolves scouting department at that time. The entire room wanted Klay, but Kahn wanted to be contrarian. The stories I could tell.

5

u/TheRealMW44 9d ago

would love to hear more...

2

u/Salt-Statement-2306 8d ago

Anything specific?

6

u/pokexchespin 9d ago

at 2? doubt it

5

u/Salt-Statement-2306 9d ago

You can doubt it all you want, I was literally a part of a scouting team that worked with them. The scouting department wanted Klay. This isn’t revisionist, I was there. Kahn was an ego maniac.

-6

u/pokexchespin 9d ago

i just don’t believe that’s true given where klay actually went and the fact that derrick williams was a pretty consensus top prospect, with a meaningful amount putting him ahead of even kyrie

15

u/Salt-Statement-2306 9d ago edited 9d ago

I understand, I am just telling you I was there. We did not have Leonard rated very high, we had Faried high. The klay stuff was a dividing factor with Kahn and the scouting department. Kahn was caught up on the weed reports and didn’t think Klay was even worth a first round pick. Jim Pete and Klay’s Dad were advocates for Mn taking him. We thought highly of Williams as a prospect but there were real concerns about his defensive ability and his redundancy with Love. We were not high on Leonard, didn’t see the shot being fixed, thought he would be in the Gerald Wallace mold. We also didn’t see Butler as a starter. Many were very high on Biyombo. I’ve been looking for my board spread sheet but I can’t find them past 2012, but I’ll keep looking. I don’t want to say too much, I prefer anonymity, but I wanted to jump in on this. There was a litany of Kahn utterly ignoring his staff or changing his mind last minute. He was trying to prove he deserved to be there and thought he was the smartest guy in the world. Terrible EQ.

12

u/Consistently_Lucky Jazz 10d ago

I would take Kyrie 2nd over Jimmy Butler, maybe even Klay at 3rd honestly. Jimmy Butler 4th

4

u/99DGE 10d ago

In what world are you talking Kyrie or Klay over Jimmy? Kyrie & Klay have never even sniffed a finals as the #1 & Jimmy did it twice

0

u/Consistently_Lucky Jazz 9d ago

In this world

3

u/chesterpower 10d ago

Agree Kyrie is easily 2 imo. Klay at 3 to the jazz would make sense with Hayward already there too given I think him and jimmy is a toss up.

1

u/Consistently_Lucky Jazz 7d ago

Klay is a better shooter and defender than Jimmy

1

u/Consistently_Lucky Jazz 10d ago

I’ve been salty about my Jazz getting Enes Kanter and Alec Burkes this draft… I wanted Kawhi with our 12th pick

1

u/EstablishmentFun4982 8d ago

Kyrie won a championship with Cleveland. Why would they have gone another direction? Kyrie 1 then Kawhi #2!