Shabazz game recap

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I was able to catch an entire D-league game tonight between the Energy and Mad Ants. It's the first time since Summer League that I really had a chance to watch Shabazz closely. Before I get into some specific strengths and weaknesses, the first thing I will say is that he fits perfectly with the narrative that the Wolves are made up of a bunch of odd bits and parts, with some incredible strengths and incredible weaknesses. Here are some more specific thoughts:

- The numbers: 26 points, 10-20 from the floor, 4-6 from the line, 2-2 from Three, 12 rebounds (10 offensive!), 0 assists, 3 turnovers, 1 steal.

- He is truly an opportunistic scorer, relying almost exclusively on fast breaks, relentless work on the offensive glass (often rebounding his own misses), cuts, and spot-up jumpers for his points.

- On the other hand, he struggles off the dribble. He lacks a good first step and can't go right to save his life. For example if he makes his initial move going right, he ALWAYS spins back to his left. This becomes really predictable for a defense that's scouted him. Also, he only makes the most basic of passes. It's hard to see him ever being real effective as the ball handler in pick and roll, which is a staple of the NBA game for PGs and wings. Coaches will likely set him up in a corner during half court sets where he will have to play off of the other two or three-man action. Which leads me to the next point....

- His outside shot looked good in this game and is ultimately the key to his success in my opinion. I'm not sure if I've ever seen him actually take a pull-up jumper off the bounce. But his catch and shoot form looks very strong and confident. The opportunistic buckets off the break and offensive rebounds are nice, but those will be harder to come by in the NBA. He's got to be able to knock down that outside catch and shoot, something we've seen some of our other wings really struggle to do this year (Shved, Hummel, Brewer). I can't predict if Shabazz will be a consistent outside shooter in the NBA, but I think the potential is there.

- His defense was "meh". He was sometimes caught ball watching and lost his guy as he cut to the hoop. He is fairly slow afoot, so it will be tough for him to stay with quicker wings. His frame and strength is probably best suited to guard SFs and 'tweener SF/PFs. He did put in a decent effort on defense and it looked like he fought to get around screens. You can just tell though that defense isn't something he's naturally wired to do.

Overall, Shabazz demonstrated many of the same strengths and weaknesses we saw at UCLA. The difference was that he imposed his physical will more effectively in this game and was able to knock down a few outside shots.

As for the D-League itself, it is a little too wide open and loose for my tastes. I think it's good that he gets some reps down there, but it won't help him much with his B-ball IQ or defense.

[WildWolf2813]

Is Shabazz Muhammad a finished product? No. No one ever claimed he was, so he's going to have plenty of things to work on. The problem I have with the Wolves's staff (David Adelman namely) is that once they drafted him, they wanted him to change everything about him in one summer league (thus why he struggled). You can't turn Shabazz Muhammad into Paul George overnight. It even took George time to develop the things he used to be bad at. Shabazz is a guinea pig, him and Dieng for that matter. Who is the last player aside from Pek (who was already a professional) that you have seen develop on this team in any fashion? This franchise just does horrible things with players. Instead of improving on what they're good at, they wanna focus on everything you're bad at and try to change who you are as a player, which never works. If Flip wants to prove that this team can remotely care about player development going forward, then Shabazz and Dieng HAVE to pan out. If they don't turn out to be good, no one will trust Flip moving forward whether it's rebuilding or continuing to try to contend.

Shabazz has a nose for the ball. In that sense, he's the anti-Kevin Martin who shies away from opportunities, especially late in games. When players are drawn to the basketball, good things happen. It means you're active, engaged in the game, and whenever he gets the ball, it draws people to him. It's also very contagious. I'd rather Muhammad be around the glass trying to get a board instead of cheating up the other side of the court for an outlet pass (and my biggest issue with Adelman is that his offense is designed primarily for Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer when there's no reason to build your offense to suit them)

I actually thought his defense was pretty bad (aside from a steal that led to an open dunk). To get away with that in the pros, he's gonna have to be an elite scorer. In other words, he really will have to be James Harden to get away with how he plays defense.

I think the team can really use him because he's someone capable of blacking out scoring the ball. We simply don't have enough guys that can do that. Every team has at least 2 or 3 guys who can light it up on any given night off the bench. All we have is Barea. No one can sit there and be confident that on any given night Cunningham can give you 20, Mbah a Moute can't, Hummel can't, Shved can't (he's capable but he hasn't done it here). Muhammad might. For every night a bench scorer can pick up the slack, that's one less game we can worry about Love or Pek or Martin NEEDING to score big time points and I'm sure that wears on them. We're built kinda like a college team where if you're really good, you don't rely on your bench at all. That doesn't work in the NBA no matter how stacked your roster is.

Lastly, when Shabazz comes back up, Flip needs to bring Othyus Jeffers with him. He can help us too. The team needs more offensive threats. Too many specialists on this team that won't be necessary once Adelman's gone.

[mjs34]

Is Shabazz Muhammad a finished product? No. No one ever claimed he was, so he's going to have plenty of things to work on. The problem I have with the Wolves's staff (David Adelman namely) is that once they drafted him, they wanted him to change everything about him in one summer league (thus why he struggled). You can't turn Shabazz Muhammad into Paul George overnight. It even took George time to develop the things he used to be bad at. Shabazz is a guinea pig, him and Dieng for that matter. Who is the last player aside from Pek (who was already a professional) that you have seen develop on this team in any fashion? This franchise just does horrible things with players. Instead of improving on what they're good at, they wanna focus on everything you're bad at and try to change who you are as a player, which never works. If Flip wants to prove that this team can remotely care about player development going forward, then Shabazz and Dieng HAVE to pan out. If they don't turn out to be good, no one will trust Flip moving forward whether it's rebuilding or continuing to try to contend.

Shabazz has a nose for the ball. In that sense, he's the anti-Kevin Martin who shies away from opportunities, especially late in games. When players are drawn to the basketball, good things happen. It means you're active, engaged in the game, and whenever he gets the ball, it draws people to him. It's also very contagious. I'd rather Muhammad be around the glass trying to get a board instead of cheating up the other side of the court for an outlet pass (and my biggest issue with Adelman is that his offense is designed primarily for Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer when there's no reason to build your offense to suit them)

I actually thought his defense was pretty bad (aside from a steal that led to an open dunk). To get away with that in the pros, he's gonna have to be an elite scorer. In other words, he really will have to be James Harden to get away with how he plays defense.

I think the team can really use him because he's someone capable of blacking out scoring the ball. We simply don't have enough guys that can do that. Every team has at least 2 or 3 guys who can light it up on any given night off the bench. All we have is Barea. No one can sit there and be confident that on any given night Cunningham can give you 20, Mbah a Moute can't, Hummel can't, Shved can't (he's capable but he hasn't done it here). Muhammad might. For every night a bench scorer can pick up the slack, that's one less game we can worry about Love or Pek or Martin NEEDING to score big time points and I'm sure that wears on them. We're built kinda like a college team where if you're really good, you don't rely on your bench at all. That doesn't work in the NBA no matter how stacked your roster is.

Lastly, when Shabazz comes back up, Flip needs to bring Othyus Jeffers with him. He can help us too. The team needs more offensive threats. Too many specialists on this team that won't be necessary once Adelman's gone.

I agree with WW in that we could use Shabazz's scoring off the bench. Adelman needs to open his eyes and realize that even though some of these younger players will make mistakes, they still bring just as much to the team as these severely limited vets that he loves to play. The problem I see is that our current lineup has no room for improvement.

I am still scratching my head how Hummel made the team over Othyus. Watching him in preseason and now the D league, he seems to be a perfect bench guy. He brings both, offense and defense. I am certainly not saying that he will be better than a nine or ten guy off the bench, but he is capable of creating some offense, and is also a guy that plays very hard. The unfortunate thing for the wolves is that almost their entire bench shouldn't be more than a ten or eleven man off the bench.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

A couples things about Bazz. First off, he got his 26 points on 20 shots. Bench players rarely get 10 shots per game, so his volume shooting that leads to his big time scoring games isn't going to be able to happen as a bench player. JJ is leading bench at 8 shots per game which means Bazz will either be worth it (if he pulls an efficient game out for once) or a waste of time on the court (more likely) given how few shots he would have to score. Second, he can never play with Love and Pek at the same time because then you can forget about any kind of transition defense. When you have three offensive rebounders on the court, the other team just needs to get a defensive rebound and they have the advantage going the other way already. Third, his key to any playing time this year was always to be a 3 and D specialist. Hit open shots and play solid D. Well, right now the D isn't there, so there is no reason he should be playing over the vets you guys talk about because they at least understand the team D concept and will work together. Rookies don't learn that stuff for a few years so they need to be able to be solid one on one defenders when they come into the league because they aren't good within a team concept. At this point, Bazz looks like he will be a career volume scorer on bad teams type of guy. We just have to hope he picks up the defense this offseason if we ever want him to play for this team.

[mjs34]

A couples things about Bazz. First off, he got his 26 points on 20 shots. Bench players rarely get 10 shots per game, so his volume shooting that leads to his big time scoring games isn't going to be able to happen as a bench player. JJ is leading bench at 8 shots per game which means Bazz will either be worth it (if he pulls an efficient game out for once) or a waste of time on the court (more likely) given how few shots he would have to score. Second, he can never play with Love and Pek at the same time because then you can forget about any kind of transition defense. When you have three offensive rebounders on the court, the other team just needs to get a defensive rebound and they have the advantage going the other way already. Third, his key to any playing time this year was always to be a 3 and D specialist. Hit open shots and play solid D. Well, right now the D isn't there, so there is no reason he should be playing over the vets you guys talk about because they at least understand the team D concept and will work together. Rookies don't learn that stuff for a few years so they need to be able to be solid one on one defenders when they come into the league because they aren't good within a team concept. At this point, Bazz looks like he will be a career volume scorer on bad teams type of guy. We just have to hope he picks up the defense this offseason if we ever want him to play for this team.

a couple of things on your couple of things. Nobody is expecting 26 pts per game, and he has been pretty efficient scoring in the D league. 10 pts on 7 or 8 shots would go a long ways to correcting our bench. The D hasn't been anything to write home about, or we wouldn't have to be subbing back in starters after handing over a huge lead to the bench in fourth quarters.

How many bench guys are playing with Love and Pek at the same time. Further more, I don't see too many times when both Pek and Love are on the glass simultaneously. One other aspect is that if 3 guys were hitting the glass we would likely be pulling down a high percentage of those rebs.

We have no idea how quickly Shabazz will pickup team D. Our current bench players still haven't grasped it, or they wouldn't be sagging into the paint and leaving their opponent open for 3. See DC in the Clippers game, leaving Dudley wide open for the only shot that could keep LA in the game. Hummel is a horrendous defender, and yet he is seeing minutes. It doesn't matter if you understand the team concept if you can't physically execute the plan. I don't see how we can get much worse in that respect.

[m4gor [enjin:6667447]]

biggest question for me is why we are drafting such players when we know that bench is full of ... and Adelman stated multiple times that he want to coach vets. Well and ofc on top of that we are in win now mode.

Don't tell me that in offseason we could not trade no.9 pick for some vet presence and with no. 26 stash somebody like Rudy Gobert or something. If we wanted to pick player as a development project we should pick Greek Freak anyway, Shabazz just dont make any sense.

To me it looks obvious, Flip had not consulted draft night with Adelman picked two players Adelman dont want to play at all (at least this season), further failed to get rid of DW and Barea so we had 9 mil guaranteed in those two guys meanwhile other teams signed guys like Darren Collison at 2mil/y, Nate Robinson 2mil/y, Kosta Koufos at 3mil/y and many other reasonable contracts firmly corresponding to the new CBA, it is going to be long ride to the hell under the reign of Flip Saunders :-D

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

The bench gives up leads because they can't score. It has nothing to do with their D giving up leads. Bud will patch that hole somewhat. Nobody builds a lineup based on it's offensive rebounding potential. You're just asking to get burned in transition. There are no
SF's that focus on offensive rebounding because it is a selfish play that gives up buckets on other end because you're asking a big to get back in your place for a low percentage chance at getting a second shot. Bazz shot 25% in garbage time in the NBA. What makes you think these stats he's putting up in the D League filled with garbage time players is going to translate against NBA caliber backups? Players earn playing time for Adelman in practice. They don't earn it just by being a 1st round pick. We now have 3 SF's in the rotation, so it makes no sense to bring Bazz back just to not play. Let's see what we can do with Bud for a month before we proclaim Bazz's couple of good games in the D League as a sign that he is a better option to play in the pro's than our other players.

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

The bench gives up leads because they can't score. It has nothing to do with their D giving up leads. Bud will patch that hole somewhat. Nobody builds a lineup based on it's offensive rebounding potential. You're just asking to get burned in transition. There are no
SF's that focus on offensive rebounding because it is a selfish play that gives up buckets on other end because you're asking a big to get back in your place for a low percentage chance at getting a second shot. Bazz shot 25% in garbage time in the NBA. What makes you think these stats he's putting up in the D League filled with garbage time players is going to translate against NBA caliber backups? Players earn playing time for Adelman in practice. They don't earn it just by being a 1st round pick. We now have 3 SF's in the rotation, so it makes no sense to bring Bazz back just to not play. Let's see what we can do with Bud for a month before we proclaim Bazz's couple of good games in the D League as a sign that he is a better option to play in the pro's than our other players.

Implying the bench is a problem right now is absurd. Our bench has been improving since the D-Will trade and since the return Turiaf and Bud, our bench has been one of the better scoring benches in the league (as in top 5 or so).

For those that are looking for reasons to hate someone........you'll have to pick another reason than the bench if you want any credibility.

Now, if anyone wants to compliment Flip for putting together a good bench. Now would be a perfect time to do so.

Bazz is in a great situation right now......let' hope that he keeps it up and shows that he should be playing in the NBA.

[mjs34]

The bench gives up leads because they can't score. It has nothing to do with their D giving up leads. Bud will patch that hole somewhat. Nobody builds a lineup based on it's offensive rebounding potential. You're just asking to get burned in transition. There are no
SF's that focus on offensive rebounding because it is a selfish play that gives up buckets on other end because you're asking a big to get back in your place for a low percentage chance at getting a second shot. Bazz shot 25% in garbage time in the NBA. What makes you think these stats he's putting up in the D League filled with garbage time players is going to translate against NBA caliber backups? Players earn playing time for Adelman in practice. They don't earn it just by being a 1st round pick. We now have 3 SF's in the rotation, so it makes no sense to bring Bazz back just to not play. Let's see what we can do with Bud for a month before we proclaim Bazz's couple of good games in the D League as a sign that he is a better option to play in the pro's than our other players.

Khans, it seems like you are taking a tunnel vision approach in your argument. I am certainly not suggesting that Shabazz get minutes because of his offensive rebounding, and I clearly stated I don't see him on the court with Love and Pek. What bench guys are logging significant minutes in that situation. If anything you may be pointing out something that is lacking with our bench. Shabazz hasn't had any realist opportunity to show us what he can do during real NBA games. I have no idea if he can do what he is currently, at the NBA level, but I do know that people tend to forget that starting players are generally in that position because of their offensive abilities. Do we think our starting lineup is any better defensively as compared to our bench. A lot of teams actually have better defensive players coming off the bench. Watching the D league, they certainly don't seem to play good team D, but individually I see no significant difference compared with most of the NBA players.

I have been pleasantly surprised with what I have seen of Bud so far, and hope he can stay healthy and continue to impress. That being said, I am also anticipating more injuries, and that will certainly open up more time for players deeper on the bench, and I don't want that to be Hummel.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Markkbu- What are you even talking about? Bud has played 2 games this year and the bench dropped several single digit scoring games since the D Will trade. The bench is the sole reason we are .500 and not better. They've given up huge leads in several games and it has forced Adelman to bring the starters back way too early causing them to lose close games because they are gassed. We can look forward to better production now that Bud and Ronny are back, but almost your entire post doesn't even make sense as a response to mine.

SJM- Adelman is not going to run trial by error lineups in real games in hopes Bazz proves he can play. That's why guys earn their time in practice. You're risking games that we can't afford to risk just to play a rookie to see if he can help us win. If we were in a solid playoff standing, we could afford the risk, but right now we are on the outside looking in and aren't in risk taking mode.