Game Report - Wolves v. CSKA Moscow

[Lipoli390]

So here it is. My inaugural preseason game report for the 2013-14 season. I just hope I perform better than the Wolves did tonight. At a minimum I hope this report isn't as pathetic as Shved's performance. I wonder if we can swap Shved for Teodosic. :) Obviously, the team we saw tonight -- I mean Minnesota -- is not a playoff caliber team in the West. But it's also obvious that it is way too early to draw a definitive conclusion on how good the Wolves will ultimately be as a team this coming season. Here are some of my take-aways from tonight's game, presented as the good, the bad and the ugly:

THE GOOD

1. Derrick Williams was the one huge bright spot for the Wolves tonight. He kept us in the game and would have won the game for us if he had hit his 4th quarter free throws. His excellent performance tonight is apparent in his numbers -- 21 points on 46.6% shooting, 9 boards, 2 blocks and zero turnovers. But he was also impressive in a number of other areas not reflected directly in his stats. First, he showed great body control along with the ability to finish in traffic, things he rarely showed the past two seasons. Second, he looked incredibly quick and athletic just as we had hoped he would after shedding pounds over the summer. Third, he didn't let the ball die in his hands the way he typically did the past two seasons. Fourth, he consistently attacked the basket rather than settle for jump shots as he often did the past two seasons. Fifth, contrary to Flip's report from practice, he showed great intensity and energy on the court. Sixth, he really attacked the boards. Finally, he made some excellent passes tonight. The guy can pass. He showed he can see the floor and hit guys on the move, even when passing out of traffic. He still didn't move quite as well without the ball as I'd like, but he has definitely improved in that area as well. I'm sort of in shock having watched Derrick play what I'd consider a complete game. He was by far the best player on the court. Teodosic was a close second, and everyone else was well below those two. Now we need to see this from Derrick on a consistent basis. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

2. Kevin Love belongs in the "good" category from tonight's game. His shot wasn't falling and his defense was below average as usual. But I loved his passing and his quickness as well as his toughness. He made the play of the game when he grabbed a rebound and in one motion flung the ball almost the full length of the court, hitting Corey Brewer in full stride. Note that Love had 5 assists tonight. So Kevin has clearly taken Adelman's directive to heart. Love has really slimmed down to the point where he looks like a completely different player from the neck down. And you could definitely see that Love's reshaped body has made him significantly quicker with more lift off the floor. Love also seemed to have a nasty demeanor on the court tonight, which I liked. His shot wasn't falling and his defense remains poor, but I expect great things from Kevin this season.

3. AJ Price also deserves mention as one of the few good take-aways from the Wolves game tonight. I've been assuming that AJ will not get that final roster spot, but I think AJ's play tonight definitely put him at or near the top of the list among the four players vying for that last spot. The guy can handle the ball and score. He's quick and tough. But in the end, I think he's too much like JJ Barea, only not as good. So I still think the guy who sticks will be Hummel, Jeffers or Brown.

THE BAD

1. Everyone else. Some particularly troubling observations. Rubio doesn't appear to have improved his shot at all. It's every bit as flat as it's been in the past. However, he does look stronger and healthier. As a result, he seemed to be better finishing at the hoop. Shabazz plays hard, but has a long, long way to go. He looked tonight the way he looked in summer league. In other words, he looked like a player destined to spend some time (maybe a lot of time) in the D-League this coming season.

2. Team defense. The Wolves looked like a team incapable of stopping any decent team. If what we saw tonight on the defensive end persists throughout the regular season, I don't see this team making the playoffs.

3. Lack of length inside. Moscow was a tall team and the Wolves lack of vertical players inside (other than Williams) was painfully evident tonight on the defensive end.

4. Lack of speed and athleticism. Other than Williams, the Wolves are not a very athletic bunch by NBA standards.

5. Jeffers was a disappointment. He doesn't look bad in the box score, but if defense is truly his calling card, then I hope we use our last roster spot on someone else. He had a hard time staying in front of anyone tonight. I liked his effort, but there's a reason he's 28 years old without an NBA resume. He's simply not very good.

6. For a team predicated on movement, there was a lot of standing around on the offensive end, particularly on the first unit. That has to change dramatically. At times, Adelman looked like he was going to lose it. He was clearly unhappy with what he saw from the Wolves starters tonight.

THE UGLY

Among the bad (everyone other than Derrick, Love and Price), there were a few notables who earned mention in the ugly category.

1. Alexy Shved. He was embarrassingly horrible in every phase of the game. He continued his regression from the last two-thirds of last season. He looks like a guy who did absolutely nothing to improve his game over the summer. Watching him tonight was painful and disgusting.

2. Corey Brewer. He looked like the Brewer I remember running around in a Wolves uniform a few years ago. He's a mediocre athlete with short arms and great energy who runs frantically all over the court making a nice play one time and then missing two layups and a couple three pointers. He'll get a nice steal on one possession, then lose his man on the next two defensive possessions. He has no business starting in the NBA. At best he's an energy guy off the bench.

3. Pekovic's effort. Pekovic had a huge physical advantage on every possession, but failed to do much with it. He displayed a disturbing lack of effort -- looking like a guy who is pretty fat and happy with his guaranteed $50 million contract. He looked like he must have spent the summer with Shved vacationing rather than working on their games. We had better see a big change in his attitude the rest of the preseason and beyond.

SOME OTHER OBSERVATIONS.

1. Cunningham, Dieng, Brown and Chris Johnson did not get on the floor. I'm not entirely surprised that Cunningham or Johnson didn't get in, but I am surprised we didn't see Dieng or Brown. Maybe we'll see those guys against Toronto later this week.

2. Shabazz will be interesting to watch. He showed great effort when he was in the game. But while on the bench he was stoic and appeared disinterested, never cheering for his teammates. During time-out huddles, he would repeatedly gaze into the crowed or just stare down at his shirt. He looks like a loner whose only interested when playing. But I'm not going to get down on him so long as I see the effort I saw from him on the court tonight. He doesn't have great skills, but I believe his hard work could ultimately make him into a decent NBA player.

3. Turiaf is clearly the most vocal and emotional player on the team. He's just not very good. But I liked how hard he played and the hyper-competitive attitude he showed on the court.

[thedoper]

Good read Lip. I loved hearing your take on Williams. As long as we have those extra pieces to score it will be a bonus this year. Anything from Shabazz will be gravy, but ultimately it is great that he will have to work for his place on this team. I think even though he wasn't dominant and took some dumb fouls, Martin is going to be a total pro on this team. He just looks in position and ready to hit shots. Adelman may have to try some creative lineups for defensive purposes, but I think the wing players can be disruptive as long as they stay out of foul trouble.

[Eitan]

Thanks Lip, Great report.

Welcome back.

Very good news about Derrick Williams - As you said we will have to see if he will perform like that on a consistent basis.

It`s just the first preseason game and everybody has to find his right place on the team, so I`m not taking this lost so hard (Actually, I prefer to lose on preseason game and then try to make some changes on the team than to win a preseason game with so many bads and uglies).

[bleedspeed]

I watched the end of the game. I'm not ready to jump on the DWill bandwagon. He was the only one left on the court playing at the end of the game that should see many minutes. I am wondering if making him play at the end of the game in garbage time was a way of sending a message.

I'm not going to get to wrapped up in this game. Rick Adelman's comments about the game before hand didn't really make the game seem important and likely showed with the players.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

It's really helpful to have the in-person report, Lipoli. I watched the entire game on a bad feed on my computer screen, and obviously missed a lot. One thing I didn't miss was Williams. I agree that he was the best player on the court, and even though it was a meaningless game, it was the best all around game I have ever seen him play. Very encouraging to see him eschew the long jumpers and instead demonstrate superb body control on his drives to the basket.

I was actually surprised that the game was so close, because the teams looked so different in ball movement and team defense. The Russkies consistently moved the ball around to find a ridiculously open shot, while the Wolves were content to play isolation basketball. The only reason we were able to stay in the game was that Williams was able to consistently beat whomever tried to guard him. I don't know who to blame for our defensive lapses, but I don't know that I have ever seen an opposing team have so many wide open shots. Kudos to CSKA Moscow for playing the game the right way, but shame on the Wolves for their horrible team play.

You mentioned Adelman's disappointment, Lip. The couple times they showed him on the bench, I don't know that I have ever seen him so unhappy or angry. I'm sure he loved Derrick last night as we did, but I thought he was going to have a stroke the two times Williams tried to showboat easy dunks and ended up with nothing. And he had to hate the lack of ball movement and slow rotation on defense. I would not like to be the Wolves at practice today.

The two performances I saw differently than you were Turiaf and Brewer. I enjoyed Brewer's energy and leaking out on the fast break, and his stat line looked good, but I will defer to you on his overall defense because I only focused on his highlights. And I may be prejudiced about Turiaf because I have always liked him and seen him as a winner, but I couldn't help thinking how much more comfortable I was with him on the court compared to Stiemsma or Lou. His toughness and solid basketball instincts led to 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal, and his charging turnover on the fast break was Shved's fault. I think he will give us some excellent minutes off the bench until Dieng is ready to contribute.

Excellent observation about Shabazz's demeanor off the court...it's exactly what I observed at Pauley last year. He is so uninvolved when he is not playing, I sometimes wonder if he suffers from mild autism. He doesn't seem to be able to connect with people on a human level. But when he gets on the court, he is able to flip the switch. Unfortunately the results were not there last night.

I look for an ass kicking from Rick today and a more inspired performance against Toronto.

[Beowulf [enjin:7415365]]

So i really hope that this is more of a ok its Pre-season by alot of the guys...only time will tell

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Ah yes, the Lip game report is back! Where one guy is suddenly a hall-of-famer and another shouldn't even be in the league anymore! Don't get me wrong, I love the real-time emotion that plays itself out in your write-ups. It's authentic and reflects the fact that you attend games in the living flesh, unlike most of us who view it from a distance on fuzzy computer monitors or impersonal box score feeds.

Does anyone still think Shabazz will leap frog Williams on the depth chart!? I view Williams as our version of Al Harrington/Antawn Jameson off the bench - a combo forward that mostly plays PF and can score some points for us, provide decent rebounding, but doesn't do much else. And that's fine. The key is getting that efficiency up from the mediocrity its been the past two seasons. If he can score efficiently like he did last night, he will help give us the offensive punch we need off the bench.

[bleedspeed]

Harrington/Jameson comparison is a good one. I can see that.

I didn't see Shabazz play, but his stat line looked lack luster. I was pulling for Jeffers to be a Trenton Hassell type guard for us on the bench, but it doesn't sound like he can play that roll.

[Phenom]

I like the Jamison comparison, q. That is who I have been seeing in Derrick all along.

As far as the game, I was actually relatively pleased. It was easy to see the team really wasn't up to game speed other than Ricky who has been playing in games recently. There were a lot of missed layups by players other than Brewer. It looked to me like a group of guys who hadn't played a real game in a few months vs a team that is already in regular season mode. That said, the starters were still able to turn it on in the 3rd and erase the deficit. I think this team will be sitting pretty soon.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Yeah I didn't see much to be concerned about or get excited about from this game. D-Will had a nice game, Shved looked like the same player from last season. The starting unit will take time to gel. I'm glad they lost though--a little wake up call early won't hurt.

One observation: they need to consistently establish Pek down low early in games. I don't think he touched the ball until about 6 minutes into the first quarter last night. Too many quick shots.