Kekgeek grades preseason G1 vs lakers

[kekgeek]

Conley: B
DDV: A
Mcdaniels: B
Naz: B
Rudy: B
Dilly: B
Ingles: C+
Minott: A+
Shannon: C+
Garza: B+
Dozier: C
Miller: C-
Clark: D
Jesse Edwards: F
Nix: C

Overall: A

[60WinTim]

I concur!

[Leado01]

Why not Minott?

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Great to watch some basketball again. A few observations. It's only a preseason game and the Lakers were sitting a bunch of regulars, but still. Basketball is back! Let me overreact!

• I liked the lob from Naz to Rudy in Q1. He kind of blew another pass later, but if Naz can throw the lob to Rudy well, that will be a nice thing to have.
  
  NAW didn't play much but had a nice layup in which he used his body to shield the shot. Clever play.
  
  Donte looked really good. He pulled up quick from deep, took it to the rack, and made some solid defensive plays. What a nice addition.
  
  Minott looked totally awesome. His handle is still fairly loose, but man, hitting threes, getting to the rack, and maybe most impressively, that really good defense. On a couple of those steals he looked like Robert Covington getting his gloves on those balls. He's so freakin' long. If he can play like that, damn. He's still a beanpole and plays just a touch out of control, but if he can play more like that on a regular basis, I think it'd be tough to keep him out of a 10-man rotation.
  
  I didn't notice Dillingham much on defense (which might be a good thing, because if I had it probably would have been because he was getting abused on that end), but I did like his aggressiveness on offense. He tried to bite off a bit more than he could chew on a couple of those drives, which I kinda liked, though he's probably going to have to get used to bigger, quicker NBA defenders. Still, the dude is crafty. I especially liked those floaters. I would definitely like to see him keep working on throwing good lobs to Rudy. We shouldn't force Rudy the ball, but a well-thrown lob to Rudy at the right time should be automatic, and that play just hasn't been there enough for us in the last couple of years. Some of that is on Rudy's hands, but some of that is on our lack of lob passers. Dillingham's floater game definitely suggests the potential is there. And of course, great to see him knock down those 3s.
  
  Garza looks like he lost some weight, but he was still getting pretty good position down low to receive passes from drivers and he cleaned up a lot of missed shots and and turning them into shots and free throws. If Naz or Rudy are ever out with an injury, that will likely be useful, though I don't like the idea of relying on him in the playoffs at any point.
  
  Shannon took a while to get settled out there, but looked solid when he did. He seems to need to have the ball in his hands to be effective to some degree, which might make it harder for him to get playing time when what we probably need more is a role player. Still, he is definitely a skilled player, and that dunk off the Euro step was really impressive. He got up surprisingly high off that big change-of-direction step.
  
  Miller looked pretty bad. There was one play on the break in the second half where his spacing was so bad it probably cost us a layup. And he's still got that ridiculous kick in his feet on his shot. Just, what?! It's about the ugliest looking lower body movement I've ever seen on a shot. How has nobody gotten him to fix that yet? I know he was good in the G League, but this game didn't impress me.
  
  Clark looked about as expected. Great D, but nothing on O. He contested a DLO shot really well (of course DLO hit it), and cleanly ripped the ball out of an opponent's hands later. Great plays. But nothing on offense. I think I remember he airballed a 3 pointer.
  
  Nothing much else to report.
  
  It's just one preseason game, but if we're making way-too-early predictions, it looks like we can probably expect Donte, Naz, NAW, Dillingham, and Minott(?) off the bench at this point.

[FNG]

After several frustrating hours talking with a series of Xfinity customer service people from various Asian countries trying to purchase the NBA League package I have had for several seasons, I finally gave up. They kept providing ideas that didn't work. When I finally worked up the ladder to get to the supervisor, perhaps a Sri Lankan and likely not a big Wolves fan, he explained that Xfinity has changed its system, and that several users have not been able to order the package. He said they're working on it, and to keep trying. SMH...

So my comments are based on merely a box score review plus reading this thread. Could we have gotten much more out of a first preseason game than this (other than we would have liked to see Randle and Ant)? Many of us are excited about DiVo, and he didn't disappoint. The early reports of an improved Minott just might be valid. Garza seems to be the same bucket getter he has been at every stage of his career. And Rob showed some of the promise that convinced TC to move up in the draft to get him.

Yes. only a "meaningless" pre-season game, but still I can't ignore some encouraging signs. Now Finchie has a week to work on the new-look Wolves before the next game against Philly and our first look at Randle. Can't wait!

[Q-is-here]

Great to watch some basketball again. A few observations. It's only a preseason game and the Lakers were sitting a bunch of regulars, but still. Basketball is back! Let me overreact!

• I liked the lob from Naz to Rudy in Q1. He kind of blew another pass later, but if Naz can throw the lob to Rudy well, that will be a nice thing to have.
  
  NAW didn't play much but had a nice layup in which he used his body to shield the shot. Clever play.
  
  Donte looked really good. He pulled up quick from deep, took it to the rack, and made some solid defensive plays. What a nice addition.
  
  Minott looked totally awesome. His handle is still fairly loose, but man, hitting threes, getting to the rack, and maybe most impressively, that really good defense. On a couple of those steals he looked like Robert Covington getting his gloves on those balls. He's so freakin' long. If he can play like that, damn. He's still a beanpole and plays just a touch out of control, but if he can play more like that on a regular basis, I think it'd be tough to keep him out of a 10-man rotation.
  
  I didn't notice Dillingham much on defense (which might be a good thing, because if I had it probably would have been because he was getting abused on that end), but I did like his aggressiveness on offense. He tried to bite off a bit more than he could chew on a couple of those drives, which I kinda liked, though he's probably going to have to get used to bigger, quicker NBA defenders. Still, the dude is crafty. I especially liked those floaters. I would definitely like to see him keep working on throwing good lobs to Rudy. We shouldn't force Rudy the ball, but a well-thrown lob to Rudy at the right time should be automatic, and that play just hasn't been there enough for us in the last couple of years. Some of that is on Rudy's hands, but some of that is on our lack of lob passers. Dillingham's floater game definitely suggests the potential is there. And of course, great to see him knock down those 3s.
  
  Garza looks like he lost some weight, but he was still getting pretty good position down low to receive passes from drivers and he cleaned up a lot of missed shots and and turning them into shots and free throws. If Naz or Rudy are ever out with an injury, that will likely be useful, though I don't like the idea of relying on him in the playoffs at any point.
  
  Shannon took a while to get settled out there, but looked solid when he did. He seems to need to have the ball in his hands to be effective to some degree, which might make it harder for him to get playing time when what we probably need more is a role player. Still, he is definitely a skilled player, and that dunk off the Euro step was really impressive. He got up surprisingly high off that big change-of-direction step.
  
  Miller looked pretty bad. There was one play on the break in the second half where his spacing was so bad it probably cost us a layup. And he's still got that ridiculous kick in his feet on his shot. Just, what?! It's about the ugliest looking lower body movement I've ever seen on a shot. How has nobody gotten him to fix that yet? I know he was good in the G League, but this game didn't impress me.
  
  Clark looked about as expected. Great D, but nothing on O. He contested a DLO shot really well (of course DLO hit it), and cleanly ripped the ball out of an opponent's hands later. Great plays. But nothing on offense. I think I remember he airballed a 3 pointer.
  
  Nothing much else to report.
  
  It's just one preseason game, but if we're making way-too-early predictions, it looks like we can probably expect Donte, Naz, NAW, Dillingham, and Minott(?) off the bench at this point.

Good stuff Drew.

On the Naz-Rudy connection, that pair had a Net Rating of +9.2 last year (for comparison KAT and Rudy were a +8.6, which was also good), so we have ample evidence from last year that these two work well together. It's why Randle may find himself on the bench at times during crunch time.

Clark and Edwards definitely belong in Iowa. They looked absolutely awful on offense. Leonard simply never got into the flow of the game and was a bit erratic.

[Q-is-here]

After several frustrating hours talking with a series of Xfinity customer service people from various Asian countries trying to purchase the NBA League package I have had for several seasons, I finally gave up. They kept providing ideas that didn't work. When I finally worked up the ladder to get to the supervisor, perhaps a Sri Lankan and likely not a big Wolves fan, he explained that Xfinity has changed its system, and that several users have not been able to order the package. He said they're working on it, and to keep trying. SMH...

So my comments are based on merely a box score review plus reading this thread. Could we have gotten much more out of a first preseason game than this (other than we would have liked to see Randle and Ant)? Many of us are excited about DiVo, and he didn't disappoint. The early reports of an improved Minott just might be valid. Garza seems to be the same bucket getter he has been at every stage of his career. And Rob showed some of the promise that convinced TC to move up in the draft to get him.

Yes. only a "meaningless" pre-season game, but still I can't ignore some encouraging signs. Now Finchie has a week to work on the new-look Wolves before the next game against Philly and our first look at Randle. Can't wait!

The other thing that was impressive is that the Lakers played their better players longer than we played our better players and our second and third unit guys mostly held their own against them.

[Monster]

After several frustrating hours talking with a series of Xfinity customer service people from various Asian countries trying to purchase the NBA League package I have had for several seasons, I finally gave up. They kept providing ideas that didn't work. When I finally worked up the ladder to get to the supervisor, perhaps a Sri Lankan and likely not a big Wolves fan, he explained that Xfinity has changed its system, and that several users have not been able to order the package. He said they're working on it, and to keep trying. SMH...

So my comments are based on merely a box score review plus reading this thread. Could we have gotten much more out of a first preseason game than this (other than we would have liked to see Randle and Ant)? Many of us are excited about DiVo, and he didn't disappoint. The early reports of an improved Minott just might be valid. Garza seems to be the same bucket getter he has been at every stage of his career. And Rob showed some of the promise that convinced TC to move up in the draft to get him.

Yes. only a "meaningless" pre-season game, but still I can't ignore some encouraging signs. Now Finchie has a week to work on the new-look Wolves before the next game against Philly and our first look at Randle. Can't wait!

The other thing that was impressive is that the Lakers played their better players longer than we played our better players and our second and third unit guys mostly held their own against them.

Yeah I was thinking that also Q partly during when the lead was down to single digits. At oke point I was like... Well we basically have a possible starting 5 for Iowa out there so...

[60WinTim]

FNG - did you ever get a chance to watch this game? If you haven't, I highly recommend checking it out!

DDV looked very competent. Why wouldn't you play him 30+ minutes a game? I expect Finch to experiment with an ANT/DDV backcourt at times this preseason to see how well it might work.

Minott followed up all the praise from Finch this summer with a dominant game on both sides of the court. We have the entire pre-season to go, but chalk one up in Minott's column for backing up Jaden instead of Ingles. On paper, it could make a lot of sense. Minott backs up Jaden, but Ingles is there to sub in when Minott hits some bumps in the road.

Rob looked really good as well. We were promised he will get minutes right away. If he continues with a strong preseason, why wouldn't they give him minutes? And if Rob is getting minutes behind Conley, along with ANT and DDV getting big minutes, where does that leave NAW? It seems like he could wind up with the same role as Ingles: ready to step in when Rob hits some bumps in the road.

Anyway, this all early speculation, subject to the what we observe in the next few preseason games. But it sure seems like a real possibility. And others looked competent as well, including TSJ and Garza. Watch the game and tell me what you think.

[FNG]

FNG - did you ever get a chance to watch this game? If you haven't, I highly recommend checking it out!

DDV looked very competent. Why wouldn't you play him 30+ minutes a game? I expect Finch to experiment with an ANT/DDV backcourt at times this preseason to see how well it might work.

Minott followed up all the praise from Finch this summer with a dominant game on both sides of the court. We have the entire pre-season to go, but chalk one up in Minott's column for backing up Jaden instead of Ingles. On paper, it could make a lot of sense. Minott backs up Jaden, but Ingles is there to sub in when Minott hits some bumps in the road.

Rob looked really good as well. We were promised he will get minutes right away. If he continues with a strong preseason, why wouldn't they give him minutes? And if Rob is getting minutes behind Conley, along with ANT and DDV getting big minutes, where does that leave NAW? It seems like he could wind up with the same role as Ingles: ready to step in when Rob hits some bumps in the road.

Anyway, this all early speculation, subject to the what we observe in the next few preseason games. But it sure seems like a real possibility. And others looked competent as well, including TSJ and Garza. Watch the game and tell me what you think.

Tim, I saw some detailed highlights of the game, so I have a good feel for what happened (still trying to add NBA League Pass through Xfinity, but they're having some issues). So many guys played well, I had the same thought as you...how are they going to find minutes for everyone that deserves them! My guess is that Finchie will give guys the night off more often than he has in the past and also have a 10-man rotation. I really liked what I saw from Rob and Minott, but I still suspect they will be behind NAW and Ingles, respectively, in the early weeks of the season. If Minott can prove to be more effective than Ingles though, this team is going to be really good! I think we are so deep, we are going to be able to withstand injuries better than just about any other team.