Q12543 wrote:Wow, impressive numbers. And there isn't a single bad game in the bunch.
What's interesting is how quickly his block numbers have gone down. There are two reasons for this: 1) He's not challenging everything anymore in the interest of staying out of foul trouble, and more importantly, 2) Teams already realize he can block shots and they are starting to put up more floaters or just kick the ball out when they get to the rim. Elite shot blockers help a defense by their mere presence on the floor, without even blocking a shot.
What was disappointing tonight was Kevin Love's effort. You can tell he's checked out after yet another lost season. Still, that's no excuse for not giving full effort.
Love has checked out, but you have to wonder if he was not asked to by the front office...
We obviously need to keep the pick this year, so he could very well have been persuaded to take it a notch down so as to keep us in pace to retain our draft pick. Yes, a "conspiracy theory", but not one that is completely deniable. It is my only way to understand Kevin Love going from dominant to simply very good. Personally, I don't necessarily disagree with the approach.
Lineup of the future? (Shabazz has his question marks, but I could see this)
I know you're convinced about Stauskas, but I am not real impressed. Put a 6'5+ defensive stopper on him and I think he falters. Have you watched many games with him this year? He can shoot, and he can drive, but often when he's met near the hoop he does not finish. I won't even get into his defensive prospects in the NBA.
The Rage Monster wrote:Dieng is my guy, I've defended Flip on a few occasions based on the fact Dieng was the one player I wanted us to draft. I thought going into the season we'd have a rotation of Love, Dieng, and Pek at the 4/5 spots. Unfortunately we have a terrible coach and it took 2 injuries to force him to even play Dieng, hopefully his play has opened Adelman's eyes and we can finally see that rotation (if Pek gets healthy).
I'm with you, the one player I wanted from last year's draft was Dieng. Was extremely happy when we drafted him, and I thought he'd go higher honestly. To me, that is a definite notch in Flip's draft belt.
Actually, Dieng was exhausted and looked it. I was at the game. It got to the point that he wasn't even making it across half court to get back on defense. Not an effort issue. This kid is all effort. He literally couldn't get his legs to move from pure exhaustion.
Otherwise, I agree with all the superlatives in this thread. Yes, he's raw, but he is playing well and could turn out to be special.
Thanks for the in-person insight, lip...yes, he does work hard.
Here's where my mind goes after reading your comment. So a guy in the stands can see that Dieng is so tired he can't move his legs or cross half court, but Adelman can't. Jeez, is he even watching the game? Please, Flip, get that gold watch ready.
Q12543 wrote:Wow, impressive numbers. And there isn't a single bad game in the bunch.
What's interesting is how quickly his block numbers have gone down. There are two reasons for this: 1) He's not challenging everything anymore in the interest of staying out of foul trouble, and more importantly, 2) Teams already realize he can block shots and they are starting to put up more floaters or just kick the ball out when they get to the rim. Elite shot blockers help a defense by their mere presence on the floor, without even blocking a shot.
What was disappointing tonight was Kevin Love's effort. You can tell he's checked out after yet another lost season. Still, that's no excuse for not giving full effort.
Love has checked out, but you have to wonder if he was not asked to by the front office...
We obviously need to keep the pick this year, so he could very well have been persuaded to take it a notch down so as to keep us in pace to retain our draft pick. Yes, a "conspiracy theory", but not one that is completely deniable. It is my only way to understand Kevin Love going from dominant to simply very good. Personally, I don't necessarily disagree with the approach.
The Wolves are in no danger of losing that lottery pick. So, there's little incentive to sit Love or Rubio with mysterious "back spasms" or "inflamed hangnail" and no reason to put Mark Madsen in to launch three pointers.
It's been a long, trying season. A disappointing one. I think you see that with Love a bit the past few weeks. And that's a legitimate knock on the guy.
IF he's checking out now with 13 games left, regardless of what happened in the previous 69 games... Why in the world would anybody expect him to stick around and see this rebuild through to the end.
Love being asked to back off is ridiculous. I'm a believer in some NBA conspiracies but even I am sure Love has not been asked to bring his game down a notch.
I'm convinced that Dieng needs to be our starting center in 2014-5. I don't believe this is a knee jerk reaction. It's an evaluation of where Dieng is now in comparison to where Pek was four years ago at the same age and stage of his career. Like Gorgui now, Pek was quite raw when he first came to the Wolves. He had difficulty holding on to the ball and staying away from fouls, his offensive game was extremely limited, and his defense was suspect. And yet most of us saw potential, and Pek grew into that potential and became an excellent NBA center. Gorgui is raw too, but in my opinion he is much further along that the 2010 Pek. His quickness, both hands and feet, is at a level that Pek can only dream about. He demonstrates a feel for the offensive game...passing to the open man, setting screens at the right time, deft ball fakes, etc...that Pek couldn't approach. And as many have pointed out, his length and athleticism are already a game changer on the defensive side of the ball, and will only improve as he develops. Gorgui appears to be a true student of the game, and it is implicit in the strides he has made this year...while mostly watching the NBA game. Remember Dieng in Las Vegas? Not the same guy we are watching now. That tells me he has the ability to process what he is seeing on the court from the bench, and learn from it to develop his own game. We can expect more improvement, and his upside is exciting.
So how should the Wolves handle this surprising development? They need to use the remaining games this season to learn whether he can coexist on the court as a PF with Pek, creating a big man rotation of Dieng, Pek and Love. I have to admit I am skeptical, but I don't think it is impossible. Defensively, I think Gorgui has the foot quickness and defensive instincts to guard even the quickest PF's. The question is how Pek and Gorgui would coexist offensively. I have a difficult time visualizing it, but that's what Rick has to test after Pek comes back.
Regardless of our big man plan for next year, I want Pek to start at center the rest of the season for two reasons. First, as I discussed in the previous paragraph, we need to see him and Gorgui at the same time to see if it can work. But also, we need Pek to put up big numbers the rest of the year to maintain his trade value. If we learn that Gorgui cannot be a viable option at PF, Pek absolutely has to be traded. Some have talked about how Pek would really improve our second team, but I don't see that as a good use of $12 million. I'm afraid that he becomes a better version of Omer Asik, a double double machine relegated to the bench and poorer numbers. I don't want that, and would rather see Pek's money go to fill a more glaring need and use a journeyman banger like Turiaf at backup center.
Deing needs to be our starter when camp begins in Mankato next fall. And if the front office decides that Pek and Dieng are redundant, Pek needs to be traded before the season starts...that's when his value will be at a peak. Otherwise we end up in an Asik situation where an asset is downgraded in value because of decreasing numbers.
thedoper wrote:I am going to outright blaspheme here and say it. He reminds me of KG.
Whoa, put down that pipe, doper...too early in the day!
But I know what you mean in terms of foot and hand quickness and defensive focus and intensity...really important qualities. Time will tell if he can get anywhere near KG with his mid-range game. If he can, we have a potential PF.
