Live from Vegas

[FNG]

I'm really glad I came out to SL this year...this roster is fun to watch. There's not much I can add to the GDT because you guys captured it...Miller, Minott and Williams. I agree that Moore is probably not going to make it past this season, but he was tied for 4th best player out there (with Bowen). He played with much more intensity than I saw from him last year, and he is a far above average defender. His offensive game is way too limited though.

We went to three games yesterday, also taking in the Houston/Portland and Spurs/Hornets tilts. The last two were at Thomas and Mack, and the stands were packed due to the draw of Henderson and Wemby. Henderson surprised me with his mature ballhandling and decision-making, and he even made some shots he didn't make in the G League. Unfortunately he hurt his shoulder in the second half, and his absence allowed a Houston team to win on a last second 3-pointer. The arena was electric for the Wemby debut with fans going crazy every time he touched the ball...even in the layup line! He obviously is going to be a special player...incredibly smooth with the ball and an intimidating rim protector (5 blocks in 27 minutes despite facing a team reluctant to try anything inside). But as I expected, he struggled on the offensive end...making only 2 of 13 shots. I don't think he'll be a volume scorer early in his career, but his defense, rebounding and facilitating alone will make him a star, and the scoring will likely come later. Most early summer league games are pick 'ems or small point spreads because nobody really knows who is good, but because of the Wemby hype (I thought) the spurs were a -6 1/2 in this one...so I advised my honey to put down a little on the Hornets. They were terrible...shooting under 30% from the field...but they still almost covered. Almost...just another word for throw that ticket away.

But you guys came here to read some in-person observations about our Wolves, so here we go. No known names in this game, so we were relegated to the smaller and more intimate Cox Pavilion. Lucky us, because it's a great place to watch an NBA game...easy to get close to the court. Of the six teams I watched yesterday, there's no question that the Wolves brought the most energy. We were right behind the bench, and the players were so into it, it could have been an NBA finals game! Summer league coaching is challenging, because you have to balance winning with giving minutes to guys with no chance of ever making it. I honestly don't know who our coach was (Finchie was across the way watching with some of the better known coaches), but he did a great job. Our guys don't shoot well (25% on threes...thank you Wendell), but they played hard and won with hustle. It was fun to watch the bench jump onto the court to greet the players out there at every time out, and the noise on the chatter on the bench was a contrast with the other 5 teams. Miller really brought it on the court, but his energy on the bench is infectious too...he's going to be fun to watch. We don't have the talent that we saw with Portland and Houston (although we're better than the Spurs and the Hornets!), but we still could do well in this tournament. We're really looking forward to the Monday game against Utah at Cox again.

It was heartening that the front row across from us was full of Wolves players, while I don't think there were any Pelicans there at all. Ant, Naz, J'Mac, and surprisingly Rivers, Knight and (maybe) Ryan. I could have predicted Ant, Naz and JMac would be there, but I also thought we might see Jaden. The contrast in the group was palpable. All of them were NBA Guys (as I would call them), but JMac looks like a normal guy on vacation with his wife...doesn't interact with his teammates at all even though they're only a few seats away. I guess if I were sitting next to the lovely Mrs. McLaughlin, I wouldn't be talking with guys either! He and Naz were intently watching every minute of the game though. In contrast, Ant and Rivers sat next to each other and hardly watched a minute of the game...only chatted and shared things on their phones. I remember when Ant said pre-draft that he really didn't love basketball game that much...preferred football. I think it's true...he enjoys his teammates and playing basketball, but he's totally bored watching a game! Not a big deal, because he is who he is and is on the brink of a great career, but he just doesn't seem to love watching the game like all of us here do.

Back to the on-court action- Miller is a delight to watch, but he is very raw. Pre-draft comments about his defense are legitimate...he has terrific potential with his athleticism and length, but he needs to learn the game. He gets lost at times (hard to decipher who is man is) and is almost comical with his closeouts. He's going to get it though, I'm convinced. He surprisingly made 2 out of 4 threes, but it looked like he missed 3/4 of this threes pre-game and at halftime...we'll have to see. Minott also is a mixed bag...his defense is better than Miller's, but he also seems to have a little bit of Jaden's propensity to over-foul. But his basketball instincts are terrific...he always finds the right time to cut to the basket, and to their credit, our guards give his some easy looks. There was nothing last night to tame my enthusiasm about the M&M boys!


More on Tuesday after the Utah game...go Wolves!

[Lipoli390]

Great report, FNG. Wish I was there with you. Work got in the way this summer. I wish Edwards was more of a basketball junkie. But as you noted, he is what it he is and that’s fine as long as he continues his development towards becoming an NBA star. Keep those reports coming!

[Carlos Danger]

Good stuff. I saw Miller has a 30.9 Personal Efficiency Rating after the one game. Keep it going young fella. TC did a nice job in this draft. Rudy picks be damned. I'm excited about both the guys TC drafted this year. I'm going to trust the process.

Wendell Moore Jr....let's just give it some more time. 15 points and 6 assists is solid. Obviously most people (including myself) are adjusting their expectations. We know he's not Kobe. But I haven't given up getting some productive minutes from that kid to help the team. Can he be better than bottom of the roster guys like: JMac, Rivers, Forbes? I don't see why not (that's not a very high bar). Let's see how he does overall during the summer competition. I'm totally fine churning bottom of the rotation guys as long as they are cheap contracts.

[Lipoli390]

https://youtu.be/UK75PboM5aQ

I couldn’t find a recording of the entire Edwards interview, but this portion is great. Can’t help but love this guy. Edwards said he should be in the discussion as one of the League’s best players “not now, but after next season.” When asked why after next season, Edwards responded: “Because of the season I’m gonna have.”

Edwards mentioned that he didn’t there wasn’t a summer league his rookie year because of Covid. Ant then said, “Good thing because I would killed these guys out there.” Hilarious. All of this stuff said with his wry smile.

[Monster]

https://youtu.be/UK75PboM5aQ

I couldn’t find a recording of the entire Edwards interview, but this portion is great. Can’t help but love this guy. Edwards said he should be in the discussion as one of the League’s best players “not now, but after next season.” When asked why after next season, Edwards responded: “Because of the season I’m gonna have.”

Edwards mentioned that he didn’t there wasn’t a summer league his rookie year because of Covid. Ant then said, “Good thing because I would killed these guys out there.” Hilarious. All of this stuff said with his wry smile.

Note that he said something about having Rivers back. I actually think bringing back Rivers on a non-guaranteed deal wouldn’t be a bad move. Like people said in the last roster spot thread I would be looking at other options. One think Edwards has been fortunate in his career is that every year he has had at least one good vet mentor around him and typically they have been guards.

[Lipoli390]

https://youtu.be/UK75PboM5aQ

I couldn’t find a recording of the entire Edwards interview, but this portion is great. Can’t help but love this guy. Edwards said he should be in the discussion as one of the League’s best players “not now, but after next season.” When asked why after next season, Edwards responded: “Because of the season I’m gonna have.”

Edwards mentioned that he didn’t there wasn’t a summer league his rookie year because of Covid. Ant then said, “Good thing because I would killed these guys out there.” Hilarious. All of this stuff said with his wry smile.

Note that he said something about having Rivers back. I actually think bringing back Rivers on a non-guaranteed deal wouldn’t be a bad move. Like people said in the last roster spot thread I would be looking at other options. One think Edwards has been fortunate in his career is that every year he has had at least one good vet mentor around him and typically they have been guards.

I don’t recall Edwards mentioning anything about having Rivers back. I’ll re-watch. I do recall that the teammates Edwards mentioned in the interview were Naz, Jaden, KAT and “the two rookies from last year” by which I think Moore and Minott. Notably absent from his lips was the name Rudy Gobert. I also found it interesting to hear Steve Smith talk about Edwards. Not surprisingly, he really likes Ant. But what caught my ear was Smith’s comment that Edwards will be much better if the Wolves can give him more spacing for his dribble-penetration game.

There’s no escaping that Ant is not a fan of having Rudy Gobert on the team dating back to early last season when he said, “the smaller we are the better I play.” Again, while we speculate on various KAT trades because of what we could get in return, I continue to favor trading Rudy as an addition by subtraction move. Even if we get very little asset value in return, trading Rudy can avoid the 2nd-apron problem and optimize the production of our best player, Anthony Edwards. After trading Rudy, we’d have significantly better talent around KAT than we had two seasons ago when we won 46 games and took the Grizzlies to 6 games - much better versions of Ant, Jaden and Naz along with Kyle Anderson, NAW and Shake.

[Monster]

https://youtu.be/UK75PboM5aQ

I couldn’t find a recording of the entire Edwards interview, but this portion is great. Can’t help but love this guy. Edwards said he should be in the discussion as one of the League’s best players “not now, but after next season.” When asked why after next season, Edwards responded: “Because of the season I’m gonna have.”

Edwards mentioned that he didn’t there wasn’t a summer league his rookie year because of Covid. Ant then said, “Good thing because I would killed these guys out there.” Hilarious. All of this stuff said with his wry smile.

Note that he said something about having Rivers back. I actually think bringing back Rivers on a non-guaranteed deal wouldn’t be a bad move. Like people said in the last roster spot thread I would be looking at other options. One think Edwards has been fortunate in his career is that every year he has had at least one good vet mentor around him and typically they have been guards.

I don’t recall Edwards mentioning anything about having Rivers back. I’ll re-watch. I do recall that the teammates Edwards mentioned in the interview were Naz, Jaden, KAT and “the two rookies from last year” by which I think Moore and Minott. Notably absent from his lips was the name Rudy Gobert. I also found it interesting to hear Steve Smith talk about Edwards. Not surprisingly, he really likes Ant. But what caught my ear was Smith’s comment that Edwards will be much better if the Wolves can give him more spacing for his dribble-penetration game.

There’s no escaping that Ant is not a fan of having Rudy Gobert on the team dating back to early last season when he said, “the smaller we are the better I play.” Again, while we speculate on various KAT trades because of what we could get in return, I continue to favor trading Rudy as an addition by subtraction move. Even if we get very little asset value in return, trading Rudy can avoid the 2nd-apron problem and optimize the production of our best player, Anthony Edwards. After trading Rudy, we’d have significantly better talent around KAT than we had two seasons ago when we won 46 games and took the Grizzlies to 6 games - much better versions of Ant, Jaden and Naz along with Kyle Anderson, NAW and Shake.

My bad Lip it was the wrong interview. Check this one out.

https://youtu.be/8VxXkiFc4Gw

[KG4Ever]

Thanks FNG! Enjoyed your observations from up close.

[Lipoli390]

Note that he said something about having Rivers back. I actually think bringing back Rivers on a non-guaranteed deal wouldn’t be a bad move. Like people said in the last roster spot thread I would be looking at other options. One think Edwards has been fortunate in his career is that every year he has had at least one good vet mentor around him and typically they have been guards.

I don’t recall Edwards mentioning anything about having Rivers back. I’ll re-watch. I do recall that the teammates Edwards mentioned in the interview were Naz, Jaden, KAT and “the two rookies from last year” by which I think Moore and Minott. Notably absent from his lips was the name Rudy Gobert. I also found it interesting to hear Steve Smith talk about Edwards. Not surprisingly, he really likes Ant. But what caught my ear was Smith’s comment that Edwards will be much better if the Wolves can give him more spacing for his dribble-penetration game.

There’s no escaping that Ant is not a fan of having Rudy Gobert on the team dating back to early last season when he said, “the smaller we are the better I play.” Again, while we speculate on various KAT trades because of what we could get in return, I continue to favor trading Rudy as an addition by subtraction move. Even if we get very little asset value in return, trading Rudy can avoid the 2nd-apron problem and optimize the production of our best player, Anthony Edwards. After trading Rudy, we’d have significantly better talent around KAT than we had two seasons ago when we won 46 games and took the Grizzlies to 6 games - much better versions of Ant, Jaden and Naz along with Kyle Anderson, NAW and Shake.

My bad Lip it was the wrong interview. Check this one out.

https://youtu.be/8VxXkiFc4Gw

Thanks for posting, Monster. Great interview. Austin is one of the interviewers. You can tell Ant really likes Austin. A few take-aways from this interview that stuck with me. First, when asked what he’s focused on to improve, his response was quick and emphatic, saying he’s focused on being more mature, being in shape and working on his body. It’s obvious he really learned his lesson from last season when he came to camp bloated and out of shape. Imagine what his numbers would have been last season if he hadn’t had to take the first 6-8 weeks of the season getting in shape. Second take-away was his response to what we can expect to see. He didn’t talk about himself, but instead responded by saying things like getting Rudy back to being defensive player of the year, getting Naz and Jaden back healthy, betting KAT to MVP level. He’s clearly team focused. Third, you can tell who he has special affection for among his teammates - Naz, KAT and Austin Rivers. You can tell based on what what he says but more so on how he says it and his facial expressions. I didn’t sense any hostility towards Rudy or anyone else on the team. Nevertheless, you can tell who he really likes. He’s talked a lot about Jaden in other interviews so I’d say Jaden is also one of his guys as well. But Ant’s face lights up whenever he talks about Naz or KAT.

[Q-is-here]

You know, if we need Rivers on the roster just to be Ant's hype man (and truth teller if he needs some tough feedback), then it might be worth it.