SL Game 1 - Pels at Wolves GDT

[FNG]

Seeing a lot of positive reviews on Shannon, but idk if I agree. Im very high on Shannon and maybe I just expected a lot. I didn’t think he looked that great - I honestly expected a bit more for a guy his age who was playing in the conference finals recently. I expected something approaching domination out there… hoping to see more in game 2. IMO he should be the guy to step into the top 8 and replace Naw

Actually, we did see more. We saw something in his game we haven’t seen before - i.e., dialing down, setting up teammates with nice passes to the tune of 9 assists. But here’s the thing. We don’t need to see more from him in Summer League. We’ve already seen him excel against the best team in NBA playoff basketball against the best team in the NBA. Before that, we saw him excel in the regular season during a stretch when Donte and others were out. But again, we DID see even more yesterday in his 9 assists.

Yeah, I agree that we saw a lot from Shannon yesterday...at both ends of the court. The facilitating was a nice revelation...he clearly had his head up looking to find open guys, and we didn't see that much last season. I also thought he looked better on defense, and I thought he was pretty good last season. Ultimately, he proved what most of us expected...he doesn't belong here in summer league. I loved how he didn't back down from Fears when he tried to get chippy with him. He looks like a man playing against boys, and I wouldn't be surprised if his summer league experience is over. He needs to show us he can hit the open jump shot, but that will happen in practice more than SL.

[Wolvesfan21]

Seeing a lot of positive reviews on Shannon, but idk if I agree. Im very high on Shannon and maybe I just expected a lot. I didn’t think he looked that great - I honestly expected a bit more for a guy his age who was playing in the conference finals recently. I expected something approaching domination out there… hoping to see more in game 2. IMO he should be the guy to step into the top 8 and replace Naw

The Pels were playing some NBA players too, the competition was solid for a SL game. I thought he looked as expected and my expectations are very high. He's a dude. The shots will drop, small sample. I will never overreact to short term fluctuations. Let's see shooting clips over a month or a year. That last board he grabbed then went full court for the dunk was crazy! No one is trying to stop him. LOL

[FNG]

I had as much fun as anyone watching Joan swatting balls out of the air last night, but I think we need to pump the breaks on thoughts that he will make any positive contributions this season. Finchy is going to be in win now mode again, and as much as we cringe about Naz's defense at center, I'm pretty sure Naz's offensive punch will make him his first option to back up Rudy. I still think Joan's best chance of seeing meaningful minutes this season would be if either Rudy or Naz missed significant time, and let's hope they don't. Finchy is likely to try to play more players this season, but his first 10 (who all won't play every night) will be the 7 remaining from last year's "starting 8", plus Rob, Shannon and Clark.

I tried to come up with an NBA center who had success as a teenager, and I couldn't come up with anyone. I thought about Jermaine O'Neal, Andrew Bynum, Andris Biedrins, Yaroslav Korolev, and Darko...most of them were lottery picks, but none of them were impressive at all in their teenage years (although some had productive careers). And in addition to being young, Joan is a non lottery pick who has only played basketball for 4 years! To expect him to come in and play better than these guys who had years of basketball experience when they entered the league is a stretch at best. I love his upside based on what I've read from analysts and what I saw last night, but I expect him to be learning the game most of the season in Iowa. Now, I would love to be wrong and have our rookie be the first teenage center in NBA history to be successful...we can dream, right? But history tells me we won't see him much this season. But summer league is going to continue to be fun!

[60WinTim]

I saw someone toss out the “French Tyson Chandler”. That’s a pretty good start at finding a comparison. Averaged 20 MPG in his first season as a 19 year old. Of course, he was the 2nd overall pick…

[FNG]

I saw someone toss out the “French Tyson Chandler”. That’s a pretty good start at finding a comparison. Averaged 20 MPG in his first season as a 19 year old. Of course, he was the 2nd overall pick…

Great call, Tim, on Chandler...forgot about him as a teenager who played significant minutes. The circumstances though were quite different. He was joining a Bulls team that was rebuilding, having won less than 20 games the previous year. And even then, he was playing behind Brad Miller and mostly got minutes when Miller was out hurt...and wasn't very successful. I think Chandler could be a nice comp for Joan, although I hope our guy turns out to be a better shot blocker. But he's yet another example of a teenage center who wasn't very good his rookie season.

[Coolbreeze44]

One day we’ll be talking about how we traded Towns for Joan Beringer, with Randle and DDV being just the salary filler

That's more true than you might think

[Coolbreeze44]

Knee jerk reactions after Game 1:

Clark can play for any team I cheer for any day...he'll get consistent minutes this year. He looks bigger to me, and I love his game. So will TJ...and his distributing was a nice surprise. I just wish I liked both of their shot mechanics better. They both surprised me last season with their shooting success, but I see them both as having a 35% career ceiling. And I'd be okay with that given other things they bring to the table.

Rob was very much what I expected. He's clearly not ready to start, but he doesn't have to. And I think he will be just fine in 15 minutes or so backing up Mike. And I still like his upside. His ability to change direction on a dime is exceptional.

Joan was really fun to watch tonight, but I'm skeptical that Finchy is going to give a lot of minutes to a guy who is only going to be 19 this season is Rudy is healthy. But if Rudy ever had to miss a lot of games, I think Joan will play.

FNG, you can't keep that guy off the court. He has to be in the rotation on day 1, his play will demand it.

[Wolvesfan21]

When Rudy, Naz and Ju miss games and they will, I could see him maybe playing. Finch is super hesitant to play rookies though. So I don't see any PT for him until one of those guys miss a game, even then he might just slide Jaden into some PF/C type minutes.

However I said after just watching his Slovenia tape after the draft, I thought he could play right now. He's that good on defense. His body control, shot challenging/blocking skills are elite.

On the flip side I do wonder still about his overall screening ability and what will his FT rate be? You kind of need both to be OK-ish. We know he can play with energy and finish around the rim, block shots, contest, etc. Even his rebounding looks solid , maybe excellent in the long run, Like I said before he should really be working on screening and his FT.

[Monster]

I had as much fun as anyone watching Joan swatting balls out of the air last night, but I think we need to pump the breaks on thoughts that he will make any positive contributions this season. Finchy is going to be in win now mode again, and as much as we cringe about Naz's defense at center, I'm pretty sure Naz's offensive punch will make him his first option to back up Rudy. I still think Joan's best chance of seeing meaningful minutes this season would be if either Rudy or Naz missed significant time, and let's hope they don't. Finchy is likely to try to play more players this season, but his first 10 (who all won't play every night) will be the 7 remaining from last year's "starting 8", plus Rob, Shannon and Clark.

I tried to come up with an NBA center who had success as a teenager, and I couldn't come up with anyone. I thought about Jermaine O'Neal, Andrew Bynum, Andris Biedrins, Yaroslav Korolev, and Darko...most of them were lottery picks, but none of them were impressive at all in their teenage years (although some had productive careers). And in addition to being young, Joan is a non lottery pick who has only played basketball for 4 years! To expect him to come in and play better than these guys who had years of basketball experience when they entered the league is a stretch at best. I love his upside based on what I've read from analysts and what I saw last night, but I expect him to be learning the game most of the season in Iowa. Now, I would love to be wrong and have our rookie be the first teenage center in NBA history to be successful...we can dream, right? But history tells me we won't see him much this season. But summer league is going to continue to be fun!

Moses Malone was pretty good.
Dwight Howard averaged a double double his rookie year.

Also FWIW Embiid started playing basketball at 15.

I think most people aren't expecting Beringer to get rotation minutes if everyone is healthy but any big goes down based on what we saw last night I don't know how he wouldn't be the next guy up. Let's see how he looks the next couple games. It's not wildly unpresidented for a guy to make a jump to the NBA as a teen. There is a guy that's pretty good that played for the Wolves that did it. I'm not expecting him to do so but woozers what he did yesterday was impressive.

[FNG]

I had as much fun as anyone watching Joan swatting balls out of the air last night, but I think we need to pump the breaks on thoughts that he will make any positive contributions this season. Finchy is going to be in win now mode again, and as much as we cringe about Naz's defense at center, I'm pretty sure Naz's offensive punch will make him his first option to back up Rudy. I still think Joan's best chance of seeing meaningful minutes this season would be if either Rudy or Naz missed significant time, and let's hope they don't. Finchy is likely to try to play more players this season, but his first 10 (who all won't play every night) will be the 7 remaining from last year's "starting 8", plus Rob, Shannon and Clark.

I tried to come up with an NBA center who had success as a teenager, and I couldn't come up with anyone. I thought about Jermaine O'Neal, Andrew Bynum, Andris Biedrins, Yaroslav Korolev, and Darko...most of them were lottery picks, but none of them were impressive at all in their teenage years (although some had productive careers). And in addition to being young, Joan is a non lottery pick who has only played basketball for 4 years! To expect him to come in and play better than these guys who had years of basketball experience when they entered the league is a stretch at best. I love his upside based on what I've read from analysts and what I saw last night, but I expect him to be learning the game most of the season in Iowa. Now, I would love to be wrong and have our rookie be the first teenage center in NBA history to be successful...we can dream, right? But history tells me we won't see him much this season. But summer league is going to continue to be fun!

Moses Malone was pretty good.
Dwight Howard averaged a double double his rookie year.

Also FWIW Embiid started playing basketball at 15.

I think most people aren't expecting Beringer to get rotation minutes if everyone is healthy but any big goes down based on what we saw last night I don't know how he wouldn't be the next guy up. Let's see how he looks the next couple games. It's not wildly unpresidented for a guy to make a jump to the NBA as a teen. There is a guy that's pretty good that played for the Wolves that did it. I'm not expecting him to do so but woozers what he did yesterday was impressive.

Some good calls there, Monster. I will say though that Malone didn't get to the NBA until he was 21, and Embiid started at 22...big difference from 19. Dwight Howard is a better example, because he was indeed effective at 19. I will say though that as a number one draft pick joining a team that only won 21 games the previous year, he was always going to get big minutes as soon as he entered the NBA. But yeah, he was good at 19!

I still think we're way over our skis about Joan though after his impressive debut. So look for the thread I'm about to tee up that may get me banned permanently from this board!