A lot of pundits don't like the "fit". And then in the same breath will praise the Thunder and Pacers for building a team team of ball handlers. Hell OKC doesn't even have a true center.

Hartenstein is a true center.

Yeah both teams in Finals were position less on the perimeter. But it'd never work for SA to do the same.

They should put all their eggs in one basket like Boston to where when a guy goes down they're cooked.

Just dumb takes.

Guitarsoup said:

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Hartenstein is a true center.

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He's serviceable at the position. But many PFs are in this day and age.

Ag Natural said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Hartenstein is a true center.

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He's serviceable at the position. But many PFs are in this day and age.

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He's legit. Really good defender, rebounder, and passer. He's not a primary scorer, but I don't think many teams have a center that is. Wemby, Joker, Embiid if he had knees, and that's about it. Maybe Sengun and Sabonis.

https://craftednba.com/players/isaiah-hartenstein

The Minnesota Timberwolves are trading the first pick in tonight’s NBA draft -- No. 31 -- to the Phoenix Suns for No. 36 and two future second-round picks, sources tell ESPN. Suns continue rebuild by moving up to 31 and 41 in draft -- send out 36, 52, 59 and two future seconds.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 26, 2025

Suns traded 4 seconds to get #31

Going after my guy Rasheer. We will see how good he is because he's the only forward on that team

The Suns' war room right now is eyeing St. Joseph's big man Rasheer Fleming at No. 31, finalizing their research and scouting before making their selection at 8 pm ET on ESPN. https://t.co/LCaxxAvN5i

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 26, 2025

How are you just now finalizing your research?

I just imagine them watching youtube highlights over there in Phoenix at this point.

FTAG 2000 said:

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How are you just now finalizing your research?

I just imagine them watching youtube highlights over there in Phoenix at this point.

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Ishbia only watches Michigan State and Jase Richardson is already off the board.

• C: Wemby
• PF: Sochan
• SF: Bryant
• SG: Castle
• PG: Harper

Utah drafted Walter Clayton 18th overall. Clayton is older than everyone of those guys.

Gonna be annoyed when Reynaud gets drafted by the Fakers.

He will got to Boston or Charlotte. Boston is losing Kornet and maybe Hortford and Charlotte traded away Williams.

15 picks until the Lakers. Raynaud and Kalkbrenner are probably in the first 5.

Yeah Kalkbrenner is the other guy I'd like us to trade into the early second and grab.

Phoenix just spent 4 firsts to get the 31st pick. I don't want either of those guys enough to do that. And Boston really needs the cheap contributor, so doubt they are trading 32 without a haul.

From BW's comments last night, it sounded like he had a plan in place. I bet we already have discussions behind the scenes with some agents.

Plus - guys wanna come here. And if you are a backup center... wouldn't you want to play with the Alien that doesn't want to play center all the time? Seems like a good spot to win.

Orlando just traded 4 seconds to go to 32.

Boston wanted Fleming and traded out once he wasn't there

The Hornets ended up with Kon Knueppel, Liam McNeeley, and Ryan Kalkbrenner. That was pretty much my dream draft for our three picks in December. Funny how things change.

FTAG 2000 said:

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Gonna be annoyed when Reynaud gets drafted by the Pacers with our pick .

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Fifm

Seems like someone in their front office realized how bad the BBIQ for their whole team was and said, "hey guys let's draft nothing but white kids to fix this issue" as if skin color is the determining factor in BBIQ.

Either that or they employed a "who would Utah draft" strategy.

I'm fully annoyed now that Raynaud is there at 38.

This could have easily accomplished 2 goals.

1- Center depth
2 - Keeping Wemby happy

AggieEP said:

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Seems like someone in their front office realized how bad the BBIQ for their whole team was and said, "hey guys let's draft nothing but white kids to fix this issue" as if skin color is the determining factor in BBIQ.

Either that or they employed a "who would Utah draft" strategy.

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Meanwhile Utah drafts Ace Bailey.

AggieEP said:

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I'm fully annoyed now that Raynaud is there at 38.

This could have easily accomplished 2 goals.

1- Center depth
2 - Keeping Wemby happy

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Do you think Wemby isn't happy because we didn't draft Reynaud?

Someone would be willing to take Malaki for a 2nd, wouldn't they?

No, obviously not, but it couldn't hurt either.

Perhaps I'm still a bit burned by the Kawhi Leonard situation and see value in the franchise making symbolic moves at times to remind the player how important they are.

In this case, there is also a team fit with grabbing a backup big so not much of a downside.

The longer this goes on and he's not selected I'll be more annoyed if we don't hop back in and grab him.

I'm sure we could get any pick from 40 on by trading the Pelicans or Jazz 2nd from next year if Wemby wants us to take Raynaud. I am pretty sure that they talk with him.

Also, the 2nd round is a negotiation. It is possible that once Raynaud dropped from the first round, The Spurs gave him a promise to sign him and he just tells other teams not to draft him. That is what happened with Reaves and the Lakers in 2021.

I'm fairly confident we have a plan, though.

Our pick went on Kam Jones, a guy I liked and think will be solid for Indiana next year when they dont have Hali.

This is possible, perhaps that's why we traded 38 as well because we knew we had a deal in place for Raynaud as a UFA.

Raynaud was a 20 and 10 guy in a major conference, so it's not like he's a nobody either. Took 5 threes a game this last year as well as he obviously was trying to show that he could be a stretch 5.

Pretty sure if Wemby wanted that dude the Spurs would draft him

Or maybe he's not good

Or maybe Wemby doesn't care and doesn't have to have his friends be teammates

If he makes it past Bucks and Bulls it's possible his agent did the whole don't draft us he won't sign thing.

And he's gone.

Kings demand all the white foreign centers on their team. Sabonis, Jonas, and Raynaud.

Y'all will love this: That pick of Raynaud... was one we got for the DeRozan S&T that was flipped to Sacramento for Fox.

Guitarsoup said:

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Y'all will love this: That pick of Raynaud... was one we got for the DeRozan S&T that was flipped to Sacramento for Fox.

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#toosoon

In addition to Luke Kornet, we can trade any center making 14.1M or less into our MLE and any center making 5.1M or less into our BAE without sending another player out.

• Goga Bitadze
• Nick Richards
• Rob Williams
• Mitchell Robinson
• Jay Huff
• Duop Reath
• Clint Capela (FA)
• Brook Lopez (FA)
• Jaylin Williams
• Kevon Looney (FA)
• Basically anyone on a rookie deal of any sort

I'm sure there are others.

Wolves drafted Berginer and then followed it up by taking Rocco. Anytime you can draft two 5p/5r projects you have to do it.

Boo

Seems like a missed opportunity of sorts, but obviously not the biggest of deals.

Time to see what we do to address the center position in free agency