Wolves vs. Grizz (Game 1), GDT

[Lipoli390]

Nowell and Layman were the only bright spots for the Wolves tonight, although I did like the little we saw of McDaniels. I'll say that McDaniels looked better our other draft pick. Obviously, Towns won't shoot t his poorly very often if even again. He still pulled down 8 boards and ended up a a plus 4. Getting back to Nowell, his performance shouldn't have been a surprise. He's been a terrific shooter his entire college career and in the G-League last season. It's just a matter of getting an opportunity and he finally got one tonight. What really impressed me was his ball-handling. He has a nice handle and ended up playing the point much of the time he was on the court.

Edwards tonight was the same Edwards we saw in college - a highly inefficient scorer who just doesn't lock in defensively. I wasn't impressed by RHJ. Beasley was solid. I like that he rebounds his position. So he's not just a shooter.

I haven't looked at the box score yet, but it seems as if we were getting beat way to much on the boards. That's been a big concern of mine going into this season. But maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked.

I only saw one playoff caliber team out there and its wasn't the Wolves. But it's only the first pre-season without a meaningful training camp. So we'll have to see how things develop.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

A few quick thoughts....

- KAT looked engaged and didn't whine much. Good enough for me. The shots will fall eventually.

- Edwards looked completely lost. I agree with Cool. He seemed to lack any feel for what to do out there when it didn't involve a pull-up jumper. Not good.

- Layman was fine, but it is NOT a good sign if he ends up being our best 4 this season. That isn't going to cut it.

- Nowell has to stick around. That kid plays with poise and is pretty damn smooth.He's not a terrible defender either. I'd argue he may have a ceiling higher than Beasley, who continues to look like a gunner and that's it.

- Defense tightened up after the first quarter.

- It's going to be painful seeing Edwards force-fed minutes this season at the expense of Culver/Okogie/Nowell potentially.

- Our G-League team could be pretty damn good! Similar to last season, I may end up watching more of the Iowa squad.

- I'll have to give Vanderbilt a pep talk.

[Monster]

A few quick box score observations:

McDaniels was credited with 2 blocks.

Juancho had 6 rebounds in 17 minutes.

Cook played 3 minutes had 3 rebounds 2 assists and 2 points. That's more like the stat like Vanderbilt is supposed to put up.

Wolves won the rebound battle slightly. Several perimeter guys like Okogie and Beasley chipped in there.

Edwards led the team with 26 minutes.

[kekgeek]

Thoughts on tonight's game:

I'm happy basketball is back. That is all

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

I'm glad DLO can hit free throws but 3 or 4 series in a row he was playing hero ball and forcing bad shots.

[60WinTim]

I'm glad DLO can hit free throws but 3 or 4 series in a row he was playing hero ball and forcing bad shots.

Yeah, I didn't care for DLO's game tonight. I was actually disappointed with our offense -- way too many individual attempts to score rather than attempts to create a shot for someone else. I really need that to improve.

[Monster]

I'm glad DLO can hit free throws but 3 or 4 series in a row he was playing hero ball and forcing bad shots.

Yeah, I didn't care for DLO's game tonight. I was actually disappointed with our offense -- way too many individual attempts to score rather than attempts to create a shot for someone else. I really need that to improve.

Think of tonight as the first Summer league game. There was also a lot of guys cutting to the basket and guys looking to make plays to guys cutting to the hoop. Also Culver tried to get that ref involved in the game. Jarrett did film work on that ref in the off-season he knows he has deep range from the slot.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

Edwards looked terrible. Not like he's adjusting to competition, because he looked the same in college. Not a defender, not a shooter, not a penetrator on offense. Yeah, I'm sure he'll get better, but when a guy has got it, you can tell right away and he doesn't need excuses made for him. And Dlo as a max player? You better be harden on offense if you're that bad on defense. This team depresses me. I already liked culver a lot, and adding all that muscle will only help him. Knowing this organization, we'll probably trade him next week for Jaunchos brother (7 mil... are you freaking kidding me?)... anyone who's optimistic about this team is on some better drugs than me.

[60WinTim]

Edwards looked terrible. Not like he's adjusting to competition, because he looked the same in college. Not a defender, not a shooter, not a penetrator on offense. Yeah, I'm sure he'll get better, but when a guy has got it, you can tell right away and he doesn't need excuses made for him. And Dlo as a max player? You better be harden on offense if you're that bad on defense. This team depresses me. I already liked culver a lot, and adding all that muscle will only help him. Knowing this organization, we'll probably him next week for Jaunchos brother (7 mil... are you freaking kidding me?)... anyone who's optimistic about this team is on some better drugs than me.

I take fish oil...

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

Has anyone checked to make sure jauncho and rosas aren't somehow related? Might as well just burn Taylor's money in a bonfire and save the wood... wow