Alright! Wolves Summer League is finally here! We have an afternoon game tomorrow at 2:30 CDT. Looks like it is carried on ESPN2 and ESPN+, and the Fan Duel Network (formerly Bally?) has added it on their secondary channel. I assume they are just carrying the ESPN feed, but we'll see.
Somebody said the Pels could be the toughest team the Wolves play in the first 4 games, but how do you rank Summer League teams?!? ESPN has the Wolves as 4.5 point favorites. The Pels have Fears and Queen playing their first game. Missi is playing as well, so they are pretty big at C. Good thing we have a bunch of bigs to throw at them!
Pels Roster: https://www.nba.com/summer-league/2025/ ... 0/pelicans
Wolves Roster: https://www.nba.com/summer-league/2025/ ... mberwolves
Someone wondered what our starting lineup might be. Do we start all our roster players? Do we stagger them a bit to give the roster guys their turns to shine? It seems obvious that Rob and Shannon will be starting. I would assume Clark starts as well. Does Miller start at PF? Probably. And does Joan get thrown into the fire right away? Or does Jesse's "seniority" push Joan to the bench?
Looking forward to seeing these guys play. Winning is kind of expected, but just seeing the guys play that we are counting on in the regular season is more important.
SL Game 1 - Pels at Wolves GDT
Re: SL Game 1 - Pels at Wolves GDT
Corey Brewer is the head coach of the Pels so that's kinda fun.
Re: SL Game 1 - Pels at Wolves GDT
I don’t think there’s any mystery to our starting lineup. It will be Rob, Clark, Shannon, Miller and Jesse. Those five should totally dominate and I’ll be very disappointed if they don’t. It will be interesting to see how Joan and Rocco perform against Queen. Our two picks are mainly defensive guys right now while Queen is mainly offense. Interesting matchup. If Jesse can’t contain Queen then we should forget about him even becoming an NBA caliber player.60WinTim wrote: ↑Wed Jul 09, 2025 10:40 pm Alright! Wolves Summer League is finally here! We have an afternoon game tomorrow at 2:30 CDT. Looks like it is carried on ESPN2 and ESPN+, and the Fan Duel Network (formerly Bally?) has added it on their secondary channel. I assume they are just carrying the ESPN feed, but we'll see.
Somebody said the Pels could be the toughest team the Wolves play in the first 4 games, but how do you rank Summer League teams?!? ESPN has the Wolves as 4.5 point favorites. The Pels have Fears and Queen playing their first game. Missi is playing as well, so they are pretty big at C. Good thing we have a bunch of bigs to throw at them!
Pels Roster: https://www.nba.com/summer-league/2025/ ... 0/pelicans
Wolves Roster: https://www.nba.com/summer-league/2025/ ... mberwolves
Someone wondered what our starting lineup might be. Do we start all our roster players? Do we stagger them a bit to give the roster guys their turns to shine? It seems obvious that Rob and Shannon will be starting. I would assume Clark starts as well. Does Miller start at PF? Probably. And does Joan get thrown into the fire right away? Or does Jesse's "seniority" push Joan to the bench?
Looking forward to seeing these guys play. Winning is kind of expected, but just seeing the guys play that we are counting on in the regular season is more important.
Re: SL Game 1 - Pels at Wolves GDT
Very interesting questions on lineups and who starts and how many games each of our core guys play.
Here are the main things I'm looking for:
Dillingham - A really important summer league for him. He has to show maturity in decision making and continuing to prove that he can be a true PG and floor leader. Assists to turnover ratio will be a big stat I track with him throughout the course of these games. But a lot of it will just be eye test-y in how he captains the squad.
Shannon - Not sure he should even be playing here...But since he is, I am interested in seeing if they have him run any pick and roll as the ball handler. It feels like a lot of his offense last year came from transition, set plays with him receiving a handoff coming off screens and going downhill, or second side action from the corner. I rarely saw him actually initiate any actions with the ball in his hands. If he's going to be our own version of Jalen Williams, then he has to be able to do some initiating.
Clark - I just want more of the same from what we saw last season. With Dillingham and Shannon around, he really doesn't need to do much on offense other than make smart cuts and hit open shots. But I do want to see him set the tone defensively for this squad. After all, if defense is now part of the team culture, it should permeate at all levels including Summer League. He can help make that happen.
Miller - He needs to start showing mature decision making otherwise he's the next Minott. I'm not worried about his ability to score and rebound. It's the nuances of the game on both ends that hasn't clicked with him yet and has so far put him on the same trajectory as Minott, which is just stuck in the mud as a fringe rotation player. Making the right rotations on defense, taking smart shots, not over-dribbling into turnovers, etc.
Beringer - I remember the first time watching Jaden McDaniels and being wow'ed by his defense. I couldn't believe a guy that tall could move his feet so well. I just want Joan to validate the hype about his length and agility on defense. If he just simply moves well out there and can defend without fouling a ton, I'll probably be pretty happy. There is a ton of time to develop the rough edges on offense, so not so worried about that facet of the game.
Rocco - I want to see him play with energy and attitude. Sometimes these really tall dudes look like they are playing basketball because that's what they are supposed to do versus something they want to do. He needs to impose his superior size on the game and not get outworked and pushed around out there.
Jesse Edwards - Yet another Center! He is actually pretty good fundamentally, so for him it's mostly about defending without fouling, setting good screens, and making himself a reliable lob threat.
Tristen Newton - Can he make open 3s?
Here are the main things I'm looking for:
Dillingham - A really important summer league for him. He has to show maturity in decision making and continuing to prove that he can be a true PG and floor leader. Assists to turnover ratio will be a big stat I track with him throughout the course of these games. But a lot of it will just be eye test-y in how he captains the squad.
Shannon - Not sure he should even be playing here...But since he is, I am interested in seeing if they have him run any pick and roll as the ball handler. It feels like a lot of his offense last year came from transition, set plays with him receiving a handoff coming off screens and going downhill, or second side action from the corner. I rarely saw him actually initiate any actions with the ball in his hands. If he's going to be our own version of Jalen Williams, then he has to be able to do some initiating.
Clark - I just want more of the same from what we saw last season. With Dillingham and Shannon around, he really doesn't need to do much on offense other than make smart cuts and hit open shots. But I do want to see him set the tone defensively for this squad. After all, if defense is now part of the team culture, it should permeate at all levels including Summer League. He can help make that happen.
Miller - He needs to start showing mature decision making otherwise he's the next Minott. I'm not worried about his ability to score and rebound. It's the nuances of the game on both ends that hasn't clicked with him yet and has so far put him on the same trajectory as Minott, which is just stuck in the mud as a fringe rotation player. Making the right rotations on defense, taking smart shots, not over-dribbling into turnovers, etc.
Beringer - I remember the first time watching Jaden McDaniels and being wow'ed by his defense. I couldn't believe a guy that tall could move his feet so well. I just want Joan to validate the hype about his length and agility on defense. If he just simply moves well out there and can defend without fouling a ton, I'll probably be pretty happy. There is a ton of time to develop the rough edges on offense, so not so worried about that facet of the game.
Rocco - I want to see him play with energy and attitude. Sometimes these really tall dudes look like they are playing basketball because that's what they are supposed to do versus something they want to do. He needs to impose his superior size on the game and not get outworked and pushed around out there.
Jesse Edwards - Yet another Center! He is actually pretty good fundamentally, so for him it's mostly about defending without fouling, setting good screens, and making himself a reliable lob threat.
Tristen Newton - Can he make open 3s?
Re: SL Game 1 - Pels at Wolves GDT
CJ Fulton is another guy I am curious about. I watched some more film of him and I see the TJ McConnell comparisons that have been tossed out there. And Kevin Hanson mentioned CJ by name in his presser following the first practice. Hmm...
Re: SL Game 1 - Pels at Wolves GDT
I only included guys under some sort of 2-way or rookie contract on my list, but yeah, it's possible someone like him shows out. I just wonder how many undersized PGs Connelly and Finch can handle on the roster! I would think they are really going to give Newton every opportunity to potentially earn a contract given his size and pedigree. He's obviously a winner, but just hasn't shown NBA-level guard chops yet even though he has NBA-level size and strength.
Re: SL Game 1 - Pels at Wolves GDT
From Jonny K:
"Wolves say Michael Grady will work a “modified” schedule of team games next season. Details will be announced later. He will also have an expanded digital role with reporting, previews and other content."
Which was a comment on this tweet:
"Amazon Prime has announced its NBA broadcast roster:
Play-by-play: Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan, Michael Grady and Eric Collins
Analysts: Stan Van Gundy, Brent Barry and Dell Curry.
Sideline reporters: Cassidy Hubbarth, Kristina Pink and Allie Clifton."
"Wolves say Michael Grady will work a “modified” schedule of team games next season. Details will be announced later. He will also have an expanded digital role with reporting, previews and other content."
Which was a comment on this tweet:
"Amazon Prime has announced its NBA broadcast roster:
Play-by-play: Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan, Michael Grady and Eric Collins
Analysts: Stan Van Gundy, Brent Barry and Dell Curry.
Sideline reporters: Cassidy Hubbarth, Kristina Pink and Allie Clifton."
Re: SL Game 1 - Pels at Wolves GDT
It's interesting how Dillingham was a departure from the big guards they had looked to acquire. Conley was too I suppose but that was adding a Vet plus some other stuff for Russell that they were moving on from. Newton is in the mold of the bigger PG type and so was Nix. I think Newton had the Rep in college as a good defender but I obviously didn't watch him in the G-league to see what his D looked like there. If he can't defend I'm not sure how good the rest of his game is and that would kinda negate his size as an advantage. I recently read some fan article from someone that had watched him in the G-league and he sounded like a guy who filled the Stat sheet kinda like Nix did but more in the vein of playing as a smart player not the chaos that Nix was. Last year SL Nix seemed to take his game to another level. Nix is still only 23. Newton turned 24 in April.Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Jul 10, 2025 9:20 amI only included guys under some sort of 2-way or rookie contract on my list, but yeah, it's possible someone like him shows out. I just wonder how many undersized PGs Connelly and Finch can handle on the roster! I would think they are really going to give Newton every opportunity to potentially earn a contract given his size and pedigree. He's obviously a winner, but just hasn't shown NBA-level guard chops yet even though he has NBA-level size and strength.
Re: SL Game 1 - Pels at Wolves GDT
Yeah, by the time Newton joined the Iowa squad I wasn't watching them as much because Clark had been moved up to the big club and I felt I had a good feel for Miller's strengths and weaknesses. So I really don't know all that much about him.Monster wrote: ↑Thu Jul 10, 2025 11:40 amIt's interesting how Dillingham was a departure from the big guards they had looked to acquire. Conley was too I suppose but that was adding a Vet plus some other stuff for Russell that they were moving on from. Newton is in the mold of the bigger PG type and so was Nix. I think Newton had the Rep in college as a good defender but I obviously didn't watch him in the G-league to see what his D looked like there. If he can't defend I'm not sure how good the rest of his game is and that would kinda negate his size as an advantage. I recently read some fan article from someone that had watched him in the G-league and he sounded like a guy who filled the Stat sheet kinda like Nix did but more in the vein of playing as a smart player not the chaos that Nix was. Last year SL Nix seemed to take his game to another level. Nix is still only 23. Newton turned 24 in April.Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Jul 10, 2025 9:20 amI only included guys under some sort of 2-way or rookie contract on my list, but yeah, it's possible someone like him shows out. I just wonder how many undersized PGs Connelly and Finch can handle on the roster! I would think they are really going to give Newton every opportunity to potentially earn a contract given his size and pedigree. He's obviously a winner, but just hasn't shown NBA-level guard chops yet even though he has NBA-level size and strength.
As for Nix, I did watch him a lot since he was on that early season Iowa squad as well. The problem with Nix is that he fashions himself as a lead guard when it's a role that he can't translate efficiently against NBA level athleticism and talent. He's strong as hell and super aggressive, which allowed him to put up some big games in the G-League, but then he'd also turn it over a lot and miss a lot of shots. He was also a big time foul merchant in the G-League, which simply wouldn't work for him with NBA refs, who tend to only award FTAs to guys that have already proven they are good players (like SGA, Trae Young, Embiid, etc.).
Anywho, if anyone was wondering why Nix didn't stick, that's why. If he had changed his mindset like Nickeil did as a SG and focused on becoming a 3&D game manager at PG perhaps he would have broken through.