Loong-Lions at Wolves Preseason GDT

[FNG]

Guys, I haven't caught much of the preseason. But I see Q has Joan out of the rotation in his projections. Has he just been too raw? Is he still flashing the promise we saw in summer league? What are his apparent weaknesses?

Cool, I'm sure Q will answer your questions, but I also see Joan out of the rotation this season even though I agree he flashes some promise. Doesn't mean he doesn't see the court or that I don't like his potential, it's more a question of math. Finchy played 8 guys mostly last season, and while there's a chance he goes as high as a 10-man rotation this season, 9 is more likely. Take the 7 returning guys from last year's rotation and add in TJ, Rob and Clark, and it's hard to find room for Joan. Plus he's only 19. And he hasn't shown that he can control the defensive boards (although he's been quite good in offensive rebounding). I think he will het some spot minutes if any of our bigs gets hurt, but I don't see him cracking the top 10.

[Q-is-here]

Guys, I haven't caught much of the preseason. But I see Q has Joan out of the rotation in his projections. Has he just been too raw? Is he still flashing the promise we saw in summer league? What are his apparent weaknesses?

Per 36 minutes in four pre-season games: Pts/Rebs/Assts/TOs/Blocks/FG%

12.9 pts/9 Rebs/.9 Assts/.9 TOs/2.2 blks/62%

As you can see, his numbers are OK-ish. And keep in mind one of those games was against a really bad Chinese team. Against legit NBA competition, he looks a little overwhelmed physically at times and a beat late in getting to rebounds or contesting shots.

That being said, he rarely does anything dumb, plays within himself, and has bothered a lot of shots even though they aren't blocks. I am no less excited about his long-term prospects, but I see him only getting spot duty/garbage time to start the season. He seems like the type of prospect that could progress rapidly. Smart kid.

[Q-is-here]

My updated big board of the rostered non-"eight starters" group based on four pre-season games. Green equals trending up and red equals trending down.

#9 - Jaylen Clark
#10 - Rob Dillingham
#11 - Johnny Juzang
#12 - Joan Beringer
#13 - Bones Hyland
#14 - Rocco Zikarsky

Leonard Miller and Joe Ingles haven't played enough preseason games to qualify!

I just got a text from Leonard Miller.

"Wtf does Q have against me? He says I haven't played enough to qualify, but the guy he has ranked #1 has only played 3 more minutes than me this preseason!"

I'm not going to answer him, but it sounds like he was pretty productive again last night with 15/11 on only 8 shots.

I just finished listening to the locked on Wolves post-game pod, and Beecken was quite high on Joan last night. He doesn't see him in the top 10, but does think he'll see some court time this season. He (and I) want to see him be more productive on the defensive glass. He had 10 rebounds last night, but only 5 defensive. Juzang continues to shoot very well.

Bones and Rob have been excellent in assist to turnover ratio the past two games...16/3 last night, and 8/1 the previous game. They both have their flaws, but that stat is very encouraging.

Clark has a body of work from last regular season against some legit matchups that gives him the benefit of the doubt, whereas all of Lenny's past contributions have been in the summer league, pre-season, and G-League. He could be on the Minott career path based on how things are going in Minnesota! Just not enough room at the inn....

[FNG]

Guys, I haven't caught much of the preseason. But I see Q has Joan out of the rotation in his projections. Has he just been too raw? Is he still flashing the promise we saw in summer league? What are his apparent weaknesses?

Per 36 minutes in four pre-season games: Pts/Rebs/Assts/TOs/Blocks/FG%

12.9 pts/9 Rebs/.9 Assts/.9 TOs/2.2 blks/62%

As you can see, his numbers are OK-ish. And keep in mind one of those games was against a really bad Chinese team. Against legit NBA competition, he looks a little overwhelmed physically at times and a beat late in getting to rebounds or contesting shots.

That being said, he rarely does anything dumb, plays within himself, and has bothered a lot of shots even though they aren't blocks. I am no less excited about his long-term prospects, but I see him only getting spot duty/garbage time to start the season. He seems like the type of prospect that could progress rapidly. Smart kid.

This is very well presented and exactly where I am with respect to Joan. I'm more bullish on him short term now than I was right after the draft...his BBIQ is much higher than I would have thought for a guy with so little experience. But I agree that he's not seasoned enough to crack the Top 10.

[Coolbreeze44]

Thanks FNG, Q

[Lipoli390]

Dillingham dialed in tonight. This will be good for his confidence.

Yes. I think I mentioned in another post that the main issues I was noticing with Dilly this preseason was what looked like a crisis of confidence. He looked tentative. So a game like last night’s was important. It wasn’t much competition last night, but Dilly didn’t just perform well, he was exceptional — 27 points in 28 minutes along with 9 assists, 2 steals and only 1 turnover. He’s actually done a good job throughout Summer League and preseason protecting the ball. And recall he had 9 assists early in the preseason against better competition. I’m still tempering my expectations for him this season. He’s still only 20 years old, played only one year of college ball and barely played last season. But he has tremendous talent. I think he’s a truly gifted passer.

[Lipoli390]

I was at the game last night. It was a fun, low stress game. I love the way our young guys moved the ball last night. We saw the same thing in Summer League. I wish main rotation guys moved the ball like that. It’s frustrating to have two ball-stoppers, Ant and Randle, in our starting lineup. Naz, Rudy and Mike are excellent at moving the ball around. Shannon moves the ball well too.

Rocco’s box score was pretty good in the scoring department, but watching him last night made me think the Rocco era might not last very long. . Beringer had some moments but looks like he has a long way to go. Love the way Juzang plays. So fluid. Always moving without the ball. Excellent shooter with terrific length for a guard/wing.