Wolves vs. Suns GDT: The showcasing of Payne continues

[Lipoli390]

I can't see the Wolves beating the Bulls. But getting to the finals is a great accomplishment for this Wolves Summer League team. Credit to all the guys on this squad for their hustle and competitiveness. And credit especially to Tyus Jones and Ryan Saunders. Credit to Tyus for putting this team on his shoulders and credit to Saunders for getting these guys to play hard and play well as a unit in a short period of time.

Tyus is a scorer but he is also an excellent floor general who makes smart decisions and makes his teammates better. He's a lot quicker with the ball than I thought he'd be coming into the League and he's also very crafty. He actually moves better laterally than I thought and played hard defensively. I get that this is just Summer League, but I'm still impressed by what I've seen from Tyus. I'm not sold on his as someone who can eventually be a starting PG. But I'm convinced that he can be a very good backup. And that makes us 3-deep at the PG position with one of the three, Dunn, capable of playing quality minutes at the SG spot. Perhaps the biggest positive coming from Tyus as a quality backup PG is the ability to have another ball-handling SG behind Zach. That's huge. Otherwise, we have backup SGs with relatively poor handles by NBA standards in Wiggins and Bazz. I love the idea of Tyus and Dunn paired as our second-unit backcourt duo.

I'm not surprised by the success Ryan is having as head coach. I've loved watching him coach up players as an assistant on the bench. He's always struck me as highly intelligent and passionate basketball guy. So while our roster has improved from inside and outside, it's also worth noting that we'll have a really solid coaching staff supporting Thibs.

I'm not predicting a title yet. :). I'm not even predicting a playoff birth, although the I think it's a definite possibility. But I see a much better team this upcoming season -- a team that will have to be reckoned with in the tough Western Conference.

[60WinTim]

Well, I see the summer league team setting the bar for the regular season team... Finals or bust! :-D