Steven Adams

[KiwiMatt]

His stat line yesterday up against Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe and the Detroit Pistons:17 points (7/10fg, 3/4ft), 10 rebounds (5 offensive), 3 blocks , 3 assists and a steal.

Why did Flip and Co pass on this guy is!

[bleedspeed]

I thought he looked good against us. I think him and Greek Freak will be standouts we wiffed on.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Yeah, I did like Adams a lot pre-draft. People can question Flip taking Shabazz and Dieng over McCollum, Burke or GA, but Adams would be real nice on this team. Just didn't see him going 9 overall and most knew the Thunder would take him at 12 (can't remember, but I think that was their draft spot) so it just didn't really look like the Wolves would go for him.

[Lipoli390]

Matt -- I remember you were sort of a voice in the wilderness on this board predicting that Adams would be really, really good. Some of us liked him, but not nearly as much as you did. Well, so far this season, you are looking pretty smart. :) It doesn't look like a fluke to me. I've watched him play a couple times now -- once at Target Center and once on my League Pass. He is really tough, but he's also surprisingly skilled for such a young player with limited high level experience. Once again, the Thunder organization looks like it will prove to be smarter than most others -- witness Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka and now Adams.

[WildWolf2813]

Would we play him?

[Lipoli390]

Would we play him?

Now that Turiaf is down, the answer is yes. Adelman gave Dieng a chance but having watched him live against the Thunder, I can attest the guy looked lost and overmatched and that he was clearly a liability on the floor. Adelman played Budinger about 26 minutes a game in Chase's rookie season. So Adelman will play rookies, but only if they're presence on enhances the team's chances of winning. If we were still early in our rebuilding period, then I'd want to see a lot more of Dieng, Shabazz, Hummel, etc. But we're trying to get into the playoffs the a really deep conference. There is no margin for error. We're not in a position to give guys a chance unless they show in practice and in limited minutes that they can be net positives. Adelman sees these guys in practice, we don't. But based on the little I've seen so far from Dieng and Shabazz (especially Shabazz) I can understand why they're not getting much PT. Believe me, I'd like to see more of both. But I trust Adelman's decision-making that has limited the minutes of our rookies.

[WildWolf2813]

Would we play him?

Now that Turiaf is down, the answer is yes. Adelman gave Dieng a chance but having watched him live against the Thunder, I can attest the guy looked lost and overmatched and that he was clearly a liability on the floor. Adelman played Budinger about 26 minutes a game in Chase's rookie season. So Adelman will play rookies, but only if they're presence on enhances the team's chances of winning. If we were still early in our rebuilding period, then I'd want to see a lot more of Dieng, Shabazz, Hummel, etc. But we're trying to get into the playoffs the a really deep conference. There is no margin for error. We're not in a position to give guys a chance unless they show in practice and in limited minutes that they can be net positives. Adelman sees these guys in practice, we don't. But based on the little I've seen so far from Dieng and Shabazz (especially Shabazz) I can understand why they're not getting much PT. Believe me, I'd like to see more of both. But I trust Adelman's decision-making that has limited the minutes of our rookies.

Lip- for the record, Steven Adams' first game: 18 minutes, 2 points, 3 fouls. Gorgui Dieng to date has played 23 minutes total in the NBA. If OKC did to him what we're doing to Dieng, Adams would have never seen the floor again unless it was complete mop up duty.

You're missing the point entirely. It's not a choice of developing players vs. winning. We're clearly elite teams able to do both yet this team couldn't be bothered attempting to do so and living with obvious growing pains. Do we have to rebuild to put up with growing pains in NBA rookies as opposed to dealing with existing inconsistencies of our bench? If Adelman doesn't have the faith in these guys to produce (we all know Flip doesn't), why are they here?

Think of it this way: for all of the nonsense Flip said this summer about how useful the D-League can be, there's a reason why Dieng and Muhammad aren't down there right now. It's because it's not just a mark against the player; it's a bigger indictment on the guy who picked them and Flip doesn't wanna deal with that. If they're learning anything while sitting and watching other players do no better than them, we may never see the results of this with them in a Wolves uniform and that's depressing.