A Few Thoughts: On Zach LaVine

[Coolbreeze44]

Zach LaVine in March: 19.8 PPG (51.6 FG%, 48.3 3P% on 5.5 3PA, 73.5 FT%) over 12 games.

Holy shit.

Fun, isn't it?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Zach LaVine in March: 19.8 PPG (51.6 FG%, 48.3 3P% on 5.5 3PA, 73.5 FT%) over 12 games.

Holy shit.

Fun, isn't it?

Extremely. Dude has the biggest balls on the team too, no jab at Towns or Dieng either. Those two threes to tie the first overtime were cold-blooded, in-your-face, I'm-better-than-you, taste-this-J-it's real-sweet, BANGERS.

It just pisses me off that we were robbed of seeing this for 82 games. That's on Sam.

[TAFKASP]

It just pisses me off that we were robbed of seeing this for 82 games. That's on Sam.

It sucks, but now that it's almost over and the Wolves could be in position to add yet another young, inexpensive cog to their wheel I'm not sweating it. If Milt does his job with this pick and free agency the Wolves should end their playoff drought next year!

[Monster]

It just pisses me off that we were robbed of seeing this for 82 games. That's on Sam.

It sucks, but now that it's almost over and the Wolves could be in position to add yet another young, inexpensive cog to their wheel I'm not sweating it. If Milt does his job with this pick and free agency the Wolves should end their playoff drought next year!

The reality is that however the hell Zach got to this point damn it's freaking awesome just utilize and keep developing him from here on out and I am happy. It's amazing where he is at right now.

[Shumway]

It just pisses me off that we were robbed of seeing this for 82 games. That's on Sam.

It sucks, but now that it's almost over and the Wolves could be in position to add yet another young, inexpensive cog to their wheel I'm not sweating it. If Milt does his job with this pick and free agency the Wolves should end their playoff drought next year!

The reality is that however the hell Zach got to this point damn it's freaking awesome just utilize and keep developing him from here on out and I am happy. It's amazing where he is at right now.

Serious question here. Does Sam's 'tough love' approach with Zach deserve any credit? Did Sam's approach break Zach down and demand a level of fundamentals that provided a foundation for Zach to develop from?

I alluded to it in another thread, but I'd love to know Zach's impression of Sam now that he's getting the minutes and he's succeeding. Does he have some level of respect Sam's approach, or does he feel that he's made the progress he has in spite of Sam?

[Monster]

It just pisses me off that we were robbed of seeing this for 82 games. That's on Sam.

It sucks, but now that it's almost over and the Wolves could be in position to add yet another young, inexpensive cog to their wheel I'm not sweating it. If Milt does his job with this pick and free agency the Wolves should end their playoff drought next year!

The reality is that however the hell Zach got to this point damn it's freaking awesome just utilize and keep developing him from here on out and I am happy. It's amazing where he is at right now.

Serious question here. Does Sam's 'tough love' approach with Zach deserve any credit? Did Sam's approach break Zach down and demand a level of fundamentals that provided a foundation for Zach to develop from?

I alluded to it in another thread, but I'd love to know Zach's impression of Sam now that he's getting the minutes and he's succeeding. Does he have some level of respect Sam's approach, or does he feel that he's made the progress he has in spite of Sam?

It would be interesting to hear from Zach how he feels about Sam. He would probably be the most interesting player to have that conversation with for the reasons you mention.* Personally I am open to the concept that despite all that's gone on this season that Sam and his staff have had some positive impact on the development of these young players. It feels like Sam and his staff basically gets zero credit for anything going well. I get why (I am not a believer in Sam as a championship level coach either).

*If I was going to sit down one on one with just one player from this team and make judgements going forward about Milt and Sam I think I would want to talk to Prince. He is a vet that's played for this team all season so he doesn't have anything to complain about in that regard. He is a smart guy and other than Arnie has no real ties to the current organization. Like I have said in a couple other threads I would love to bring him back next year as a vet security blanket off the bench and a vet leader to keep helping these young guys in a number of ways.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

It just pisses me off that we were robbed of seeing this for 82 games. That's on Sam.

It sucks, but now that it's almost over and the Wolves could be in position to add yet another young, inexpensive cog to their wheel I'm not sweating it. If Milt does his job with this pick and free agency the Wolves should end their playoff drought next year!

The reality is that however the hell Zach got to this point damn it's freaking awesome just utilize and keep developing him from here on out and I am happy. It's amazing where he is at right now.

Serious question here. Does Sam's 'tough love' approach with Zach deserve any credit? Did Sam's approach break Zach down and demand a level of fundamentals that provided a foundation for Zach to develop from?

I alluded to it in another thread, but I'd love to know Zach's impression of Sam now that he's getting the minutes and he's succeeding. Does he have some level of respect Sam's approach, or does he feel that he's made the progress he has in spite of Sam?

My vote is more in spite of than because of simply for the fact that he was playing out of position for a large chunk of the year because of Sam while looking like a decent player most of the time he got spot minutes at the 2. What is Zach doing extremely differently now than early in the season that Sam could be credited coaching him up on? He has confidence now which has always been the scary what if he develops this thing with his physical tools. I don't see how Sam gave him that confidence with the way he jerked him around all year. I think that just came from playing his natural position and getting playing time with the right guys which he could have had all season. I guess if Sam deserves any credit, he finally got out of his own way playing this starting lineup and hasn't been up his own ass with matchup lineups recently. It only took our talent basically forcing his hand being an offensive powerhouse to happen though which is frustrating because we could have been playing like this possibly as early as coming into the all-star break and tried to add a role player at the deadline who could have helped.

[Coolbreeze44]

It just pisses me off that we were robbed of seeing this for 82 games. That's on Sam.

It sucks, but now that it's almost over and the Wolves could be in position to add yet another young, inexpensive cog to their wheel I'm not sweating it. If Milt does his job with this pick and free agency the Wolves should end their playoff drought next year!

The reality is that however the hell Zach got to this point damn it's freaking awesome just utilize and keep developing him from here on out and I am happy. It's amazing where he is at right now.

Serious question here. Does Sam's 'tough love' approach with Zach deserve any credit? Did Sam's approach break Zach down and demand a level of fundamentals that provided a foundation for Zach to develop from?

I alluded to it in another thread, but I'd love to know Zach's impression of Sam now that he's getting the minutes and he's succeeding. Does he have some level of respect Sam's approach, or does he feel that he's made the progress he has in spite of Sam?

My vote is more in spite of than because of simply for the fact that he was playing out of position for a large chunk of the year because of Sam while looking like a decent player most of the time he got spot minutes at the 2. What is Zach doing extremely differently now than early in the season that Sam could be credited coaching him up on? He has confidence now which has always been the scary what if he develops this thing with his physical tools. I don't see how Sam gave him that confidence with the way he jerked him around all year. I think that just came from playing his natural position and getting playing time with the right guys which he could have had all season. I guess if Sam deserves any credit, he finally got out of his own way playing this starting lineup and hasn't been up his own ass with matchup lineups recently. It only took our talent basically forcing his hand being an offensive powerhouse to happen though which is frustrating because we could have been playing like this possibly as early as coming into the all-star break and tried to add a role player at the deadline who could have helped.

Zach had confidence since the day he stepped into the complex. That isn't something new. But mentally the game seems to have slowed down quite a bit for him. He's eliminated a lot of the careless mistakes and he's just balling now.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

It just pisses me off that we were robbed of seeing this for 82 games. That's on Sam.

It sucks, but now that it's almost over and the Wolves could be in position to add yet another young, inexpensive cog to their wheel I'm not sweating it. If Milt does his job with this pick and free agency the Wolves should end their playoff drought next year!

The reality is that however the hell Zach got to this point damn it's freaking awesome just utilize and keep developing him from here on out and I am happy. It's amazing where he is at right now.

Serious question here. Does Sam's 'tough love' approach with Zach deserve any credit? Did Sam's approach break Zach down and demand a level of fundamentals that provided a foundation for Zach to develop from?

I alluded to it in another thread, but I'd love to know Zach's impression of Sam now that he's getting the minutes and he's succeeding. Does he have some level of respect Sam's approach, or does he feel that he's made the progress he has in spite of Sam?

My vote is more in spite of than because of simply for the fact that he was playing out of position for a large chunk of the year because of Sam while looking like a decent player most of the time he got spot minutes at the 2. What is Zach doing extremely differently now than early in the season that Sam could be credited coaching him up on? He has confidence now which has always been the scary what if he develops this thing with his physical tools. I don't see how Sam gave him that confidence with the way he jerked him around all year. I think that just came from playing his natural position and getting playing time with the right guys which he could have had all season. I guess if Sam deserves any credit, he finally got out of his own way playing this starting lineup and hasn't been up his own ass with matchup lineups recently. It only took our talent basically forcing his hand being an offensive powerhouse to happen though which is frustrating because we could have been playing like this possibly as early as coming into the all-star break and tried to add a role player at the deadline who could have helped.

Zach had confidence since the day he stepped into the complex. That isn't something new. But mentally the game seems to have slowed down quite a bit for him. He's eliminated a lot of the careless mistakes and he's just balling now.

What confidence was he showing out on the court? He has the physical tools to take on anyone and he was notorious for letting hard hedges shut down his PnR game and he wasn't hitting shots consistently. Those are confidence issues. The pass he made to G in overtime last night off the hard hedge doesn't happen a year ago. Him shooting 48% from 3 in this recent stretch is a confidence thing. He has the same form he always has had and now they're going in a lot more frequently. I don't know how you can say he came in with confidence from day 1 when he definitely didn't play like it. He looked like a lost kid out there a lot and now he looks like a real offensive threat. I haven't seen many people say that guy has a lot of confidence, but he looks lost out there. Being in top mental shape for the game and confidence go hand in hand.

[Coolbreeze44]

It just pisses me off that we were robbed of seeing this for 82 games. That's on Sam.

It sucks, but now that it's almost over and the Wolves could be in position to add yet another young, inexpensive cog to their wheel I'm not sweating it. If Milt does his job with this pick and free agency the Wolves should end their playoff drought next year!

The reality is that however the hell Zach got to this point damn it's freaking awesome just utilize and keep developing him from here on out and I am happy. It's amazing where he is at right now.

Serious question here. Does Sam's 'tough love' approach with Zach deserve any credit? Did Sam's approach break Zach down and demand a level of fundamentals that provided a foundation for Zach to develop from?

I alluded to it in another thread, but I'd love to know Zach's impression of Sam now that he's getting the minutes and he's succeeding. Does he have some level of respect Sam's approach, or does he feel that he's made the progress he has in spite of Sam?

My vote is more in spite of than because of simply for the fact that he was playing out of position for a large chunk of the year because of Sam while looking like a decent player most of the time he got spot minutes at the 2. What is Zach doing extremely differently now than early in the season that Sam could be credited coaching him up on? He has confidence now which has always been the scary what if he develops this thing with his physical tools. I don't see how Sam gave him that confidence with the way he jerked him around all year. I think that just came from playing his natural position and getting playing time with the right guys which he could have had all season. I guess if Sam deserves any credit, he finally got out of his own way playing this starting lineup and hasn't been up his own ass with matchup lineups recently. It only took our talent basically forcing his hand being an offensive powerhouse to happen though which is frustrating because we could have been playing like this possibly as early as coming into the all-star break and tried to add a role player at the deadline who could have helped.

Zach had confidence since the day he stepped into the complex. That isn't something new. But mentally the game seems to have slowed down quite a bit for him. He's eliminated a lot of the careless mistakes and he's just balling now.

What confidence was he showing out on the court? He has the physical tools to take on anyone and he was notorious for letting hard hedges shut down his PnR game and he wasn't hitting shots consistently. Those are confidence issues. The pass he made to G in overtime last night off the hard hedge doesn't happen a year ago. Him shooting 48% from 3 in this recent stretch is a confidence thing. He has the same form he always has had and now they're going in a lot more frequently. I don't know how you can say he came in with confidence from day 1 when he definitely didn't play like it. He looked like a lost kid out there a lot and now he looks like a real offensive threat. I haven't seen many people say that guy has a lot of confidence, but he looks lost out there. Being in top mental shape for the game and confidence go hand in hand.

He played like a rookie playing out of position, not like someone lacking confidence. The media covering the team has talked about his supreme confidence in himself for two years. You know better?