Pj Dozier

[Sundog]

I agree, the roster seems pretty set -- on the other hand, this seems to be the first Wolves' training camp (at least as far as I can remember, which is shorter all the time) where there are 20+ players with NBA experience fighting for jobs. Competition could be fierce at the bottom of the roster, and I hope it will be. If PJ wins a spot, God bless him.

[Q-is-here]

I will say Dane Moore on his podcast said he is sort of expecting Naz or Knight not to be on the wolves roster to open the reason. Don't know if he is just speculating or has inside info

"I've been saying for the past month that I've heard it is over a 50% chance that D'Angelo Russell is traded this offseason.

Conversations with a few non-Timberwolves sources today suggest a Russell trade is now even more likely -- either tonight or the first week of July."

I think Dane Moore does a fine job, but it's been apparent that he's not nearly as clued-in as he would like fans to believe.

It's certainly possible that Naz Reid and/or Nathan Knight lose their current hold on a roster spot, but it's not exactly something I would expect. Those camp signings would actually need to earn a spot over them and that's really difficult to do over the course of a couple weeks.

I'm with you Cam. I could see a scenario of Naz being traded if the Wolves got some sort of value back for him but to be honest even though he might not play much this is a team looking to win games and having depth is something that is key. Meanwhile I don't think it's particularly likely that a team gives up something that makes the Wolves be like yeah we will give up a solid NBA player so we can keep Luka Garza or whatever. I think it's unlikely that the Wolves moved Knight or Naz and didn't add a big back to the roster in one way or another. There will be some decent players cut before the season starts too which is another reason why I don't think Naz will get moved. To me right now the roster is pretty balanced except the Wolbes are lacking in depth at PG but I think Rivers brings more there than some people give credit for espcially his size and defense if he ended up playing at that spot.

Yeah, hard for me to see Naz getting traded away. If KAT or Rudy get hurt, we really need him. Knight can plug some holes too, but just not sure I want to ever see him playing big minutes.

And to your point, I think one of the more intriguing things to watch is the Rivers situation and how much he pushes JMac and potentially even DLO a bit for minutes. If he's truly grown as a defender as much as he and others think he has, then we may really need him in the rotation.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

And to your point, I think one of the more intriguing things to watch is the Rivers situation and how much he pushes JMac and potentially even DLO a bit for minutes. If he's truly grown as a defender as much as he and others think he has, then we may really need him in the rotation.

I would think that if Austin Rivers were to push anyone in the expected rotation for minutes it would be Jaylen Nowell -- not D'Angelo Russell or Jordan McLaughlin. They'll need the latter two on the court far more than either of the other two. If Nowell shows inconsistency in the forms of offensive output and defensive effort, then he would be the potential odd man out.

Luckily, I think Nowell is up to the task this year, but yeah, I think he's the most unsure part of the rotation.

[Lipoli390]

And to your point, I think one of the more intriguing things to watch is the Rivers situation and how much he pushes JMac and potentially even DLO a bit for minutes. If he's truly grown as a defender as much as he and others think he has, then we may really need him in the rotation.

I would think that if Austin Rivers were to push anyone in the expected rotation for minutes it would be Jaylen Nowell -- not D'Angelo Russell or Jordan McLaughlin. They'll need the latter two on the court far more than either of the other two. If Nowell shows inconsistency in the forms of offensive output and defensive effort, then he would be the potential odd man out.

Luckily, I think Nowell is up to the task this year, but yeah, I think he's the most unsure part of the rotation.

I could see Rivers potentially taking minutes from either Nowell or JMac. But I think Rivers path significant minutes would be an injury to one of those two or DLO. If past is prologue, then the most likely scenario would be DLO missing games because of injury. DLO has hasn't played more than 65 games in 5 of his NBA 7 seasons. He played 80 games his first season and 81 in his 4th season. Otherwise, here are DLO's season game totals for his other five seasons: 63, 48, 45, 42, and 65. Against that backdrop, I see Rivers primarily as the veteran backup who can be counted on for substantial minutes at PG when DLO is out.

[Monster]

And to your point, I think one of the more intriguing things to watch is the Rivers situation and how much he pushes JMac and potentially even DLO a bit for minutes. If he's truly grown as a defender as much as he and others think he has, then we may really need him in the rotation.

I would think that if Austin Rivers were to push anyone in the expected rotation for minutes it would be Jaylen Nowell -- not D'Angelo Russell or Jordan McLaughlin. They'll need the latter two on the court far more than either of the other two. If Nowell shows inconsistency in the forms of offensive output and defensive effort, then he would be the potential odd man out.

Luckily, I think Nowell is up to the task this year, but yeah, I think he's the most unsure part of the rotation.

I could see Rivers potentially taking minutes from either Nowell or JMac. But I think Rivers path significant minutes would be an injury to one of those two or DLO. If past is prologue, then the most likely scenario would be DLO missing games because of injury. DLO has hasn't played more than 65 games in 5 of his NBA 7 seasons. He played 80 games his first season and 81 in his 4th season. Otherwise, here are DLO's season game totals for his other five seasons: 63, 48, 45, 42, and 65. Against that backdrop, I see Rivers primarily as the veteran backup who can be counted on for substantial minutes at PG when DLO is out.

I should have mentioned it in my earlier post but Nowell can certainly play some minutes as a PG also especially if Gobert is on the floor. He is another guy that could benefit from playing with Gobert.

I also agree that Nowell is the guy that could lose minutes if he doesn't play well. I think McLaughlin is gonna have to really struggle to lose his spot as the primary backup PG. Nowell is gonna get a pretty legit opportunity as well but Forbes is available too at times if they want shooting somewhat like Beasley provided. I feel like the guard spot has plenty of talent and we haven't even talked about Wendell Moore.

[Q-is-here]

And to your point, I think one of the more intriguing things to watch is the Rivers situation and how much he pushes JMac and potentially even DLO a bit for minutes. If he's truly grown as a defender as much as he and others think he has, then we may really need him in the rotation.

I would think that if Austin Rivers were to push anyone in the expected rotation for minutes it would be Jaylen Nowell -- not D'Angelo Russell or Jordan McLaughlin. They'll need the latter two on the court far more than either of the other two. If Nowell shows inconsistency in the forms of offensive output and defensive effort, then he would be the potential odd man out.

Luckily, I think Nowell is up to the task this year, but yeah, I think he's the most unsure part of the rotation.

I could see Rivers potentially taking minutes from either Nowell or JMac. But I think Rivers path significant minutes would be an injury to one of those two or DLO. If past is prologue, then the most likely scenario would be DLO missing games because of injury. DLO has hasn't played more than 65 games in 5 of his NBA 7 seasons. He played 80 games his first season and 81 in his 4th season. Otherwise, here are DLO's season game totals for his other five seasons: 63, 48, 45, 42, and 65. Against that backdrop, I see Rivers primarily as the veteran backup who can be counted on for substantial minutes at PG when DLO is out.

I should have mentioned it in my earlier post but Nowell can certainly play some minutes as a PG also especially if Gobert is on the floor. He is another guy that could benefit from playing with Gobert.

I also agree that Nowell is the guy that could lose minutes if he doesn't play well. I think McLaughlin is gonna have to really struggle to lose his spot as the primary backup PG. Nowell is gonna get a pretty legit opportunity as well but Forbes is available too at times if they want shooting somewhat like Beasley provided. I feel like the guard spot has plenty of talent and we haven't even talked about Wendell Moore.

Wendell Moore did not look like an NBA player, much less an NBA rotation player, in summer league. Small sample size for sure, but not encouraging. He should be firmly planted in the G-league for most of the year IMO.

Yeah, overall the JMac-Nowell-Rivers-Forbes competition for minutes will be intriguing. I do think JMac and Nowell will get first dibs as we start the season, but that could change if these guys struggle. Love the fact we have a couple of solid vets that deep on the bench.

[Monster]

And to your point, I think one of the more intriguing things to watch is the Rivers situation and how much he pushes JMac and potentially even DLO a bit for minutes. If he's truly grown as a defender as much as he and others think he has, then we may really need him in the rotation.

I would think that if Austin Rivers were to push anyone in the expected rotation for minutes it would be Jaylen Nowell -- not D'Angelo Russell or Jordan McLaughlin. They'll need the latter two on the court far more than either of the other two. If Nowell shows inconsistency in the forms of offensive output and defensive effort, then he would be the potential odd man out.

Luckily, I think Nowell is up to the task this year, but yeah, I think he's the most unsure part of the rotation.

I could see Rivers potentially taking minutes from either Nowell or JMac. But I think Rivers path significant minutes would be an injury to one of those two or DLO. If past is prologue, then the most likely scenario would be DLO missing games because of injury. DLO has hasn't played more than 65 games in 5 of his NBA 7 seasons. He played 80 games his first season and 81 in his 4th season. Otherwise, here are DLO's season game totals for his other five seasons: 63, 48, 45, 42, and 65. Against that backdrop, I see Rivers primarily as the veteran backup who can be counted on for substantial minutes at PG when DLO is out.

I should have mentioned it in my earlier post but Nowell can certainly play some minutes as a PG also especially if Gobert is on the floor. He is another guy that could benefit from playing with Gobert.

I also agree that Nowell is the guy that could lose minutes if he doesn't play well. I think McLaughlin is gonna have to really struggle to lose his spot as the primary backup PG. Nowell is gonna get a pretty legit opportunity as well but Forbes is available too at times if they want shooting somewhat like Beasley provided. I feel like the guard spot has plenty of talent and we haven't even talked about Wendell Moore.

Wendell Moore did not look like an NBA player, much less an NBA rotation player, in summer league. Small sample size for sure, but not encouraging. He should be firmly planted in the G-league for most of the year IMO.

Yeah, overall the JMac-Nowell-Rivers-Forbes competition for minutes will be intriguing. I do think JMac and Nowell will get first dibs as we start the season, but that could change if these guys struggle. Love the fact we have a couple of solid vets that deep on the bench.

If we are going off Summer league...it's a good thing we dumped Bolmaro on the Jazz when we could! :) I get where you are coming from and I'll say that Wendell Moore was a late first round pick and is probably like 4th maybe even lower on the PG depth chart. Not many teams have worthwhile legit NBA roster ready to play PGs that deep into the roster either. Moore theoretically at least physically could play all the perimeter positions if he did have to play. I absolutely don't expect him to play unless there are lots of injuries etc but that's speaking to the depth of the roster.

In a somewhat similar vein I don't expect Minot to play either and that's partly because they have a lot of depth at forward this year and part of that is having a guy like Paschall on the roster as a 2 way player. It will be interesting to see if there are a rash of injuries or Covid etc if Moore would get the first shot at playing wing minutes or if it is Lawson. It makes sense to expect it to be Moore but it wouldn't shock me if Lawson got a chance if he does good things in training camp and in the G-league.