Mano a Mano

[Monster]

I watched most of this game last night and finished it just now. Some thoughts.

Nick Wiggins had a nice homecoming. He looked more like a legit fringe player than just a token guy. Good for him this has been a fun time for him I bet.

Brown had a better 2nd half and was clearly the best defensive PG for the Wolves by a million miles but he can't hit a jumper and that's not good. He enjoyed going against that rookie.

Tyus can't guard anyone but it feels like the Wolves D leaves both him and Miller out to dry sometimes. Regardless Lowry abused him and Joseph had it easy too. The good news is both guys are good so it's not like he looked bad on that end against some scrubs. Now the offensive end Tyus looks like he is already miles ahead of Brown on aging PG. He plays like he knows what he wants to do each possession he attacks. The defense to set up the team and had no problems using fakes moves etc to get past guys to make a play. His defense was a MASSIVE problem in this game but offensively I was pretty impressed. Typically young guys struggle more on that end so it's possible he can improve. At least he shows on one side of the ball to be something.

Miller defense wasn't great but the dude can play. i was surprised how much he was out there

Bjelica looks good. That 3 point range looks great and he was firing them up. He wasn't quite as good later in the game overall but I had a hard time keeping watching to be honest. Lol

Payne he has some skills but probably the most disappointing player considering he is locked in for a while. he plays with energy and needs to slow down. He will get eaten alive against true centers.

Dieng I am gonna be hard on him but defensively he still struggles too much and at times he gets bodied out on rebounds. Offensively he has some nice skills. He really could end up being the Brewer of centers. We need to see more but some of the problems Q has been bringing up were there to see in this game. He is a worthwhile player just how worthwhile will be there question

Lavine struggled on offense but generally speaking I thought the shots he took were fine they either didn't fall or he wasn't able to finish at the rim. I saw a number of defensive possessions where he did well. He was really aggressive on the boards early and generally was playing very hard etc. I was happy with what he did. Overall it was fun to see all te UCLA guys going against each other. Bazz did his think and Powell continues to look like a nice 2nd round pick.

Towns nothing new looked good in all aspects.

Wiggins unless he only plays like that in Canada I don't think we have anything to worry about.

Rudez solid better at other stuff than he gets credit for. I like him playing PF has no issue throwing his body around a bit. Looks like he knows what he is doing solid passer. I won't be surprised if he gets some minutes over Payne at times at PF.

Bennett looked good considering he is the last guy coming off the bench. It's interesting they are using him as a C. I would take him over Payne at this point easily.

Prince showed some life in this game.

Defense was better when the game started. Guys were really flying around a lot more shots were contested. Toronto still put up some points and there are some concerns but there was some signs that the guys that will be playing higher amounts of minutes might not be so bad.

Offense got up some 3's especially the first half.

Overall this game just felt more like the Wolves were a legit NBA team than the last game. Maybe they were up for the Toronto experience or whatever but it just felt a lot better than against the Bulls no question.

[Monster]

I'm not worried about Zach. He already showed he can play well at the NBA level the last 4-5 weeks of last season. He's looked a bit shaky and tentative so far this preseason, but I'm reminded of Chaucey Billups when he was with the Wolves. Billups wasn't impressive in games. But I remember Flip saying that Billups was impressive in practice and that players who consistently do well in practice eventually transfer what they're doing in pactice to games. I think we'll see that from Zach by the start of the regular season.

Agreed Lip, this nitpicking on Zach right now isn't necessary. You said it well, he's already shown he can play at this level. Perhaps Martin is a better player today (I doubt it), but Sam is smart to show his confidence in Zach, and he has good reason to do so. I know it's preseason and we are looking for things to talk about, but we should at least focus on as much positive as negative at this point. Let's see how we look once Ricky is back running the show.

My big thing with Zach is if he is making the correct decisions a majority of the time on offense. He has the talent. This game the decisions were sound. He looked more of the part of a young solid player doing a lot of the other stuff you want besides scoring. This was an ecouraging game to me.

[Monster]

Yeah, guys like Lowry, Paul, Lillard scare me. I hope a healthy Rubio can at least contain some of the quick scoring drives these guys always seem to put up on us.

It's not how athletic those guys are it's their combination of skills that make them so good. Lowry plays with a chip on his shoulder offensively and is a tough cover.

Edit:

Tyus isn't an explosive athlete etc but he is young enough to give me hope about him defensively. Maybe he can have the instincts to be a factor as a team defender getting his hands in passing lanes digging for balls at the right times. At least he looks like there is something there on one side of the ball.

Q mentioned Brown not finishing plays on defense. I think that comes down to the way he plays and some of that is physical. He is a smooth guy with a lot of finesse to what he does. He isn't strong when he does much of anything except some in translation. He finishes well around the basket but they are not strong finishes. That smooth and finesse game works for him to a certain extent but it's also kind of a drawback.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Should we just keep this thread going for round 2 tonight? Will AB have his revenge game tonight? He was quiet on Monday.

[60WinTim]

I'm game for starting a new thread...