Belly time?

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

http://www.startribune.com/nemanja-bjelica-hopes-his-game-translates-better-in-second-year-with-wolves/397038071/

Good article. I'm excited to see what this guy can do. He's in great shape, in his prime at age 28, has had a year to acclimate to Minneapolis, and most important, (hopefully) finally has a coach who knows how to use him.

I didn't like Mitchell for many reasons last year, but one of the most glaring was his use of Belly. First Belly looked good in pre-season--I actually thought he might start. But instead he came off the bench and ended up getting most of his minutes in what I like to call the "lineup of death,": Zach, Bazz, K-Mart, Belly, and whoever. Playing along those 3 guys basically made him invisible on the court. Then he lost his confidence, had an injury I think, and Mitchell buried him on the end of the bench for about half the season. Meanwhile we were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league. It made no sense.

To Mitchell's credit he got Belly involved towards the end of the season and he showed signs of at least being a serviceable role player. Now lets hope Thibs can get the most out of him. The early pre-season results look promising. Despite the rough rookie year his ceiling still might be high. I definitely didn't feel that way about Alexey "change your face" Shved.

It's time for the return of "Professor Big Shots!"

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Belly is my pick for a breakout year too, misty. His play in March and April was remindful of the way he played when he was a star in Europe, and he looks like he is ready to improve on that this year. I was astonished with how he transformed his body when I saw the Denver game...he says he lost almost 20 pounds while getting stronger and it's quite evident. He looks at least a couple steps quicker on defense, and I think that will allow Thibs at times to play him at SF...a luxury Mitchell didn't have last year with a slower Belly.

Where I disagree with you is I have no issue with how Mitchell used Belly last year. He was clearly not ready for the NBA early in the season, and even though I was a huge Belly fan coming into the season, I might have used him less than Mitchell did. He certainly didn't deserve to start ahead of KG, who was our best defensive player at the start of the year. I went to the first open scrimmage last October and got there 45 minutes early. The only player on the court was Belly, practicing his 3-point shot. He was only making about 1/3 of them (a terrible rate for an uncontested shot), and you could see the frustration and lack of confidence in his face and body language...and that carried through to his reticent play once the game started. Then there were his defensive struggles. He didn't seem quick enough to stay with his man, was constantly out of position, and although I thought was unfairly targeted by the refs, was called for fouls at an absurdly high rate. He just didn't look like a guy who deserved regular minutes.

I think Belly getting hurt halfway through the year was the best thing that could have happened to him. Rather than having his confidence continue to plummet, he was able to observe the NBA game for several weeks from the bench while continuing to work on his shot in practices. He also improved his English as the season progressed and didn't seem as isolated from his teammates as he was early in the season. When he was finally healthy enough to play (although you could see his foot was still bothering him), he looked like a different player, and Sam felt comfortable playing him more. He looked great while averaging 25 MPG the last 10 games of the year.

I look for Belly to average over 25 MPG this season. I think he will be the first player off the bench in most games, and might even play well enough to force Thibs to start him at PF. I love seeing him paired with Bazz, because his preference for playing out beyond the 3-point line leaves Bazz free to work his magic inside. I also think he and Cole might become a lethal 4-5 pick and roll combo. I think he is poised for a big season.

[Monster]

Belly is my pick for a breakout year too, misty. His play in March and April was remindful of the way he played when he was a star in Europe, and he looks like he is ready to improve on that this year. I was astonished with how he transformed his body when I saw the Denver game...he says he lost almost 20 pounds while getting stronger and it's quite evident. He looks at least a couple steps quicker on defense, and I think that will allow Thibs at times to play him at SF...a luxury Mitchell didn't have last year with a slower Belly.

Where I disagree with you is I have no issue with how Mitchell used Belly last year. He was clearly not ready for the NBA early in the season, and even though I was a huge Belly fan coming into the season, I might have used him less than Mitchell did. He certainly didn't deserve to start ahead of KG, who was our best defensive player at the start of the year. I went to the first open scrimmage last October and got there 45 minutes early. The only player on the court was Belly, practicing his 3-point shot. He was only making about 1/3 of them (a terrible rate for an uncontested shot), and you could see the frustration and lack of confidence in his face and body language...and that carried through to his reticent play once the game started. Then there were his defensive struggles. He didn't seem quick enough to stay with his man, was constantly out of position, and although I thought was unfairly targeted by the refs, was called for fouls at an absurdly high rate. He just didn't look like a guy who deserved regular minutes.

I think Belly getting hurt halfway through the year was the best thing that could have happened to him. Rather than having his confidence continue to plummet, he was able to observe the NBA game for several weeks from the bench while continuing to work on his shot in practices. He also improved his English as the season progressed and didn't seem as isolated from his teammates as he was early in the season. When he was finally healthy enough to play (although you could see his foot was still bothering him), he looked like a different player, and Sam felt comfortable playing him more. He looked great while averaging 25 MPG the last 10 games of the year.

I look for Belly to average over 25 MPG this season. I think he will be the first player off the bench in most games, and might even play well enough to force Thibs to start him at PF. I love seeing him paired with Bazz, because his preference for playing out beyond the 3-point line leaves Bazz free to work his magic inside. I also think he and Cole might become a lethal 4-5 pick and roll combo. I think he is poised for a big season.

I tend to agree with LST that I don't really think Sam was the problem. Heck Sam kept playing the guy at times when it was brutal. He just couldn't get going. Between being frustrated with getting called for fouls for touching guys and being called for travels and other tough things that players go through in transitioning he was really struggling after a nice start before getting injured. Really his whole season essentially mirrored the team. Played good then struggled for a pretty big chunk of games then finished strong down the stretch. Wait maybe it's Belly that was the real unsung MVP of the team last year. :)

I am very very happy with how he looks physically. He looks like he is in great shape. He was clearly fat last year this year he looks like he is the weight that is natural for him. That just has to translate into him being able to play at least someone better. These NBA players and other athletes doing all they can to get healthy inspire me to do the same. I am pretty excited to see what we get out of Belly this year.

[Brooklyn_Wolves [enjin:14608167]]

Sam might have been playing Belly but he didn't understand that Belly is a playmaking forward who likes to handle the ball and make plays. Sam thought that he got Ryan Anderson.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Gonna have to agree to disagree on Mitchell's use of Belly last season. Playing Zach at point guard was bad enough, yet on some level I could understand it. He was young, maybe he could develop into a point guard. Didn't seem likely from what was seen in college and his rookie year, but not out of the question. If anything, learning the position could have some value.

But playing Zach/Bazz/K-Mart/Belly together was just plain dumb. Belly was rapidly losing confidence, so what do you do? Throw him on the court with three guys who played no defense and were hunting shots more vigorously than Donald Trump grabs pussy. Not only was Belly a reluctant shooter, but now he was forced to play with three shoot first players. And this isn't just hindsight--I commented on this lineup every time in the game threads, thinking no way would Mitchell return to it, yet he did again and again. That square peg never did fit into the round hole, which in my opinion sums up Mitchell's M.O. as a head coach perfectly.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

I think thibs will audition belly for a starter position. I like gorgui a lot but I wouldn't mind them getting equal minutes to start the season

[bleedspeed]

I think thibs will audition belly for a starter position. I like gorgui a lot but I wouldn't mind them getting equal minutes to start the season

I would love to see that.

[KiwiMatt]

Good points LST. Belly and Bazz make a nice inside / outside scoring pairing. The one thing that hampered Bellys rookie season the most was the biased officiating against him. In fact I think it's the worse I've ever seen a player being picked on. I just about threw the remote through the TV more than once after Belly was getting called for constant ghost fouls and travels.

[Carlos Danger]

Gonna have to agree to disagree on Mitchell's use of Belly last season. Playing Zach at point guard was bad enough, yet on some level I could understand it. He was young, maybe he could develop into a point guard. Didn't seem likely from what was seen in college and his rookie year, but not out of the question. If anything, learning the position could have some value.

But playing Zach/Bazz/K-Mart/Belly together was just plain dumb. Belly was rapidly losing confidence, so what do you do? Throw him on the court with three guys who played no defense and were hunting shots more vigorously than Donald Trump grabs pussy. Not only was Belly a reluctant shooter, but now he was forced to play with three shoot first players. And this isn't just hindsight--I commented on this lineup every time in the game threads, thinking no way would Mitchell return to it, yet he did again and again. That square peg never did fit into the round hole, which in my opinion sums up Mitchell's M.O. as a head coach perfectly.

LOL - well done Sir. Excellent integration of Donald Trump reference. And I think you are spot on with part of the problem with last year's 2nd unit. I will say in Sam's defense that they didn't have a ton of depth last year carrying KG, Pek and Payne along with plenty of other dead weight. But yeah, I didn't like those guys as a group either.

[Carlos Danger]

I think thibs will audition belly for a starter position. I like gorgui a lot but I wouldn't mind them getting equal minutes to start the season

Ick. I normally agree with you Lloyd Braun, but you pulled a Newman on this one. Don't fix something that's not broken. The starting five finished the year strong and have looked good in pre-season. Belly has to earn his way and shouldn't be handed anything. He was nothing special last year. I'm willing to give him the benefit of a one year adjustment to the league. But at his age, he needs to show something this year or he'll be playing overseas in 2017 IMO. If he can become the player we thought he'd be, he'll force his way into a greater role. But nothing wrong with making a guy earn it.