Wolves/76ers- Home exhibition opener

[worldK]

Impressed by bennet and lavine tonight. I know its a pre season game vs the lowly sixers but both showed a glimpse of what they could become.

Bennet is a pf, no more of the silly tweener or sf label. He has a huge wingspan and wide shoulders and body that is textbook pf. He may lack height but his body and build is terrific for a pf. An above average athlete for a pf as well. His rebounding is encouraging. I like flip making him shoot mid range shots and not 3pts shots. It seems to be more of his range now and gives him more options of going by his man and finishing at the rim and crashing the offensive glass as well.

Lavine was a lot more comfortable and settled tonight. Looks like a combo guard to me than a natural pg and he and mo is a nice combo off the bench.

Rubio run the offense well and had 9 assists but committed 6 tos. Have to take care of the ball. His shooting is still long ways to go.

Wiggins is 3/3 on threes so far. Showed his athletecism tonight.

I like the 10 man rotation tonight. These 10 along with martin are the players I expect to be the regular rotation guys. Its looking like lavine and bud will battle it out for the backup sg spot.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I agree with almost everything in your post, world. My only disagreement would be with Flip discouraging Bennett's 3-point shooting. I didn't like it tonight when Flip pulled AB out of the game after he tried a 3-pointer. Bennett hit this threes at a respectable rate in college, and has a really nice shooting stroke...both mid-range and beyond the arc. His one three tonight was a good looking shot, and looked like it was going in. I don't think Flip has seen enough of AB to conclude on his 3-point shooting, and I would hate to see another mistake like the Wolves made with Love his first year. I would rather have Flip tell both AB and Thad that he wants them both to focus on their mid-range and inside games, but to take the open three if it's there. That builds their confidence up. If we get 25 games into the season and either of them is hitting less than 30% of their threes, then I would expect Flip to tighten the leash. But until then, let them shoot the open three. Having an effective stretch PF really opens up the passing lanes for Rubio and the cutters, and I think Flip needs to see if either of them can be that stretch 4.

How great was it to see Zach have such a nice game? And not just offensively, as Cam and Cool pointed out. Jim Pete mentioned a couple times how well Zach and Mo worked together in Mankato, and you could really see it tonight.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I also don't agree with Flip's philosophy on Bennett's game. The guy is not going to be successful in the post. His value is facing his man up around the elbow so he can drive around them or fade out to the 3 point line. It makes no sense that a 22 ft 2 point shot is acceptable, but a 24-26 ft shot is worthy of being pulled. There is value in letting Bennett shoot 3's as long as he gets set and doesn't rush the shot or get too jumper happy. Trying to have a 6'7 guy try to score in the post is just a bad plan when the guy has solid handles and goes to the rim strong. Face him up at 15 ft and let him shoot 3's when he is open. Long 2's make no sense and if he can only hit 22 ft shots, then stick him in the corner and run the PnR through the C so he can take the corner 3 that is within his range on the ball rotation.

[Genesis24 [enjin:6602592]]

I was at the game tonight close enough to hear and see Flip. When Flip pulled Bennett he told him not to rush the shot. If you go back and watch the play, Bennet started shooting before he was square to the basket. It was nice to see a floor full of athletes tonight. For a young club I was impressed.

[worldK]

Lst and khans, I support flip's madate of AB not taking 3s. I think flip is trying to keep it simple for AB. He was a mess last year. This year, flip wants him to rebound, shoot the mid range and be opportunistic in scoring around the basket. If he can get those down and be really good at them, then the 3pt shot will be the next step in his next development. Thad is the starter this year and AB is a player with loads of talent but needs development. The role flip gives him is the first step in his development and hopefully gives him the confidence he needs.

Pop and the spurs are the master of this. They usually have player X focus on a certain skill and if he suceeds and have the talent to do more, develop him further by giving him different opportunities. Look at kawhi, he started as a corner 3 specialist and d guy. Now, pop is slowly giving him more touches and expanding his game offensively. Lets be patient with bennet's development.