David Adleman

[kekgeek]

I know it is just summer league, but why did he continue to play all the guys who are not going to make the roster. I know shabazz was terrible today but why not have him work through it. Dieng barley played, why Solomon Jones played a lot, Mccammy (spelling), played a lot. I know it was just summer league but I would have actually liked to see players that will actually make the team play big minutes. It seemed like the Wolves were the only team to play d-league caliber players more than their actually players

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Might be a couple of reasons kekgeek. For one, guys like Shabazz, Dieng, and CJ are under contract. They aren't going anywhere and the staff is probably looking at their development with a longer runway in mind. They aren't in any hurry to force-feed Dieng or Shabazz 30+ minutes when they are probably doing a ton of work with them in practice.

I also find it interesting how folks are now starting to calibrate expectations with these players, from Glen Taylor on down, by basically saying they are role players this season and will be playing behind most of the other vets. In a sense, the playing time they are getting in Vegas is not all unlike the type of stints they will get in the NBA. I suppose it helps reinforce expectations with the players and the fans that these guys are going to be in the bottom third of the depth chart and they will need to earn their playing time the hard way - through patience and hard work.

The other guys are on the team for a crack at getting noticed by NBA and European league scouts looking to fill out their rosters next season. I think it's only fair they get visibility since their fates might hang in the balance based on how they perform in this setting.

[Coolbreeze44]

To your points Q I found it interesting how Portland approaches summer league. Barton and McCollum put up 47 shots between them today, and I believe they only played 8-9 guys all game. CJ had 26 shots.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I suspect they have to give these guys some kind of minutes commitment to get them to commit to playing. Most of them probably think they have a chance of catching on with an NBA team if they can just get a little playing time. Unfortunately the numbers are not in their favor.

Yeah, Portland really did take another approach, but they have gone 1-4 nonetheless. Man, that CJ McCollum is a chucker! Portland can't be happy with his shooting percentage...must be down around the 35% mark now. Summer League ball has been a big step up for Muhammad, so you can imagine how fast the game must seem to a Patriot League guy like CJ.

[Monster]

Jones sucked. The only reason I would have played him much is he was better against some non center guys than Dieng was. Terrible rebounder got called for so many illegal screens. Why he was in there in the 2nd half of the last game against the d-league instead of CJ I have no clue. Honestly after a couple of games I think the rotations kinda made sense. They seemed to put guys together so you had some guys that were shooters with guys that weren't shooters.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Flip just came on and explained why they aren't playing these guys tons of minutes. He's trying to give them a preview of the kind of experience they will have coming into training camp and manage expectations, which is something I alluded to in my earlier post. The fact is they will not be featured players or get tons of touches. They will have to figure out ways to contribute that goes beyond scoring. I think this is the case with Shabazz especially. Defense, making the extra pass, making smart decisions. He's going to have to be a system player (which frankly he's better suited for anyway; he is NOT a one-on-one player at the NBA level or high-level gunner, no matter what his reputation was as an AAU/High School player).

It's quite a different philosophy than what Portland is doing, but if you think about Portland, they had a horrible second unit. They really will be counting on McCollum to come in and contribute right away with regular minutes.

[WildWolf2813]

Flip just came on and explained why they aren't playing these guys tons of minutes. He's trying to give them a preview of the kind of experience they will have coming into training camp and manage expectations, which is something I alluded to in my earlier post. The fact is they will not be featured players or get tons of touches. They will have to figure out ways to contribute that goes beyond scoring. I think this is the case with Shabazz especially. Defense, making the extra pass, making smart decisions. He's going to have to be a system player (which frankly he's better suited for anyway; he is NOT a one-on-one player at the NBA level or high-level gunner, no matter what his reputation was as an AAU/High School player).

It's quite a different philosophy than what Portland is doing, but if you think about Portland, they had a horrible second unit. They really will be counting on McCollum to come in and contribute right away with regular minutes.

so long story short, Flip basically drafted Shabazz Muhammad to hopefully be Ryan Gomes?

Lord help us.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Wildwolf, I really have no idea why they drafted Muhammad. If they wanted a defensive-oriented role player or pure shooter, there were many other options. But I can tell you this, if it was a scorer they wanted, ironically enough, he might be even worse suited for that role than being a glue guy. There was absolutely nothing I saw from him in Summer League to indicate that he has high level NBA scoring skills.

[mjs34]

So Q, we just drafted a round peg for a square hole again. It is important for Flip to start early on teaching our guys how to be happy sitting on the bench!

[Lipoli390]

I agree with Q. Everything I've seen and heard reinforces my view that Flip blew it taking Shabazz.