Wolves at Lakers GDT

[Jester1534]

Its is pretty crazy how deep we are. I mean these announcer are talking how something name Christie will get minutes this year for lakers and how Vando is the missing piece for them.

[Lipoli390]

Minott has been so good on both ends tonight

Yes he has! Very encouraging from a depth standpoint. Could he have a chance at some rotation minutes? Or will they only come with an injury or rest?

I said in the pecking order thread I think he is going to play over ingles and TSJ because he is a bigger wing and the wolves are actually a pretty small team off the bench.

I have not been a big Minott guy but from the finch praise on media day and his play tonight, something might of clicked for him and he will be in the legit discussion for minutes

Kek - I think you’re right about Minott playing over Ingles and TSJ. I never doubted the accuracy of Finch’s account of Minott’s performance in camp and last night’s game confirms its accuracy. As Flip once told me, when talented young players start to click in practice you know they’ve finally turned the corner and it almost always translates onto the court in actual games. He pointed to Chauncey Billups when he was with the Wolves as an example.

Of course, I’ve always been a Minott guy since we drafted him so I’m prone to confirmation bias. But based on what I’ve seen and what Larry Brown said about Minott when we drafted him, I think his talent, energy and drive will combine to make him successful. Having said that, we’re incredibly deep and TSJ is also super talented. I think you’re right that MInott’s size will give him the edge over TSJ for minutes, but as much as I like Minott, I wouldn’t sleep on the possibility of TSJ ending up in front of Minott in the rotation.

It’s almost surreal that, in spite of all we gave up in the Gobert deal, we have the following group of talented players 25 years old or younger:

Naz Reid (25)
Luka Garza (25)
Jaden McDaniels (24)
TSJ (24)
Anthony Edwards (23)
Josh Minott (21)
Leonard Miller (20)
Rob Dillingham (19)

Although Garza and TSJ are on the upper end of that 19-25 year old range, they have limited NBA experience which means they have more room for growth than their age might otherwise suggest. Even the vets like Naz and Jaden will likely improve significantly in the next few years as nearly all players do in their mid 20s.

[Monster]

There were points in the 2nd half Dillingham was making guys look silly. His 3 looked easy and the had a floater game. If those things are for real I could almost care less about him being able to finish at the rim. Still he attacked too drawing at least one foul. I don't know how they didn't call that one a shooting foul.

TJ he looks like a guy that can give you okogie Corey Brewer type minutes right away if you call his number. That has value and I think he can pretty much do that wether he is getting minutes or not. Part of whether he sees minutes is how Dillingham plays. If Dillingham is getting minutes it's gonna be harder for TJ to get them too.

Minott was like give me damn minutes after that performance in this game. He was making plays on defense that's what is gonna get him minutes.

Clark you can see the defensive potential. I thought it was interesting to see him running the point. He didn't look terrible.

Speaking of which I though for most of that NAW minutes he looked a lot like a real PG even driving and making plays and even driving to score. He still struggled at the rim but drew guys in and allowed for an offensive rebound. It's nice to have him as a depth guy.

Donte looked fantastic.

Anyone know why KBD didn't play?

Garza will give you something when he is in there and draws fouls because he is sort of a problem. At this point he deserves to get minutes if one of the other big isn't available.

[Monster]

Anyone that wants to watch games later on replay for no cost just google NBA replay and pick the first thing that comes up something like basketball video. It's a pretty straightforward thing. The first link for a game has no ads. There is a similar site for NFL games and they usually post the condensed games hours later if that interests anyone.

[FNG]

There were points in the 2nd half Dillingham was making guys look silly. His 3 looked easy and the had a floater game. If those things are for real I could almost care less about him being able to finish at the rim. Still he attacked too drawing at least one foul. I don't know how they didn't call that one a shooting foul.

TJ he looks like a guy that can give you okogie Corey Brewer type minutes right away if you call his number. That has value and I think he can pretty much do that wether he is getting minutes or not. Part of whether he sees minutes is how Dillingham plays. If Dillingham is getting minutes it's gonna be harder for TJ to get them too.

Minott was like give me damn minutes after that performance in this game. He was making plays on defense that's what is gonna get him minutes.

Clark you can see the defensive potential. I thought it was interesting to see him running the point. He didn't look terrible.

Speaking of which I though for most of that NAW minutes he looked a lot like a real PG even driving and making plays and even driving to score. He still struggled at the rim but drew guys in and allowed for an offensive rebound. It's nice to have him as a depth guy.

Donte looked fantastic.

Anyone know why KBD didn't play?

Garza will give you something when he is in there and draws fouls because he is sort of a problem. At this point he deserves to get minutes if one of the other big isn't available.

Monster, I watched some highlights today, and I noticed the same thing you did about NAW...he looked quite comfortable running the point. NAW is a smart guy, and I think he knows the addition of DiVo means he's no longer the first wing off the bench. So he knows he can maximize his minutes by embracing a backup PG role...he should get a lot of minutes there while Rob is still getting used to the NBA (although he looked damn good last night!) and on Conley's nights off. Just another example of the extraordinary positional flexibility Finchie has with this roster.