Minnesota Sports Forum

Damit, my long, drawn out post didn't post!!! Sometimes it does that on my phone. I will put my reasons later, but I vote Belly

I guess if I'm not allowed to say Towns, Wiggins, or LaVine, then I'd say Rubio for sure. He's already an elite defender for his position (despite what Jalen Rose and Tracy McGrady think) and the best defensive coach in basketball is going to utilize him heavily on that end of the floor. We haven't seen the best of Ricky defensively, which is odd to say. I'd bet almost anything that Rubio's named All-Defense next year. Smart fans of the NBA know he's good defensively, but it's hard to be recognized for your work when the team sucks defensively. I expect that to change next year.

I'm also interested to see if the Rubio that posted a .571 TS% (39.6 FG%, 36.9 3P%, 88.5 FT%) post-All-Star break will show up for the whole season in 2016-17. I wouldn't put it past him considering the way in which he was scoring. Finishing better at the rim, making his open threes (at one point had at least one 3PM in 12 straight games), and of course getting to the FT line (career-high FTr last year: .536).

Rubio's the guy that makes this thing go right now. I'm excited to see him finally have a full year to improve upon. He hasn't had that in a while. I expect good things from him.

Camden wrote:I'm a little surprised that I'm going to be the first guy to say Zach LaVine.

I was thinking that about ten minutes after I posted. I think I tend to want to believe he has already arrived and will grow from here. Bjelica is a guy that still could become something.

I like the love for Belly also. I didn't see his season as dissappointing but up and down with the downs being pretty bad. There were so many things that made me feel good about him. His size was legit his shooting was better than I expected and he did show his game could actually translate. I've said for a few months that his game will be better used on a good team and this team with Thibs projects to be a good team. I think it's good news that Thibs has had some euro players and played them plus he isn't adverse or uneducated about the international game since he has been part of the coaching staff of team USA. I think there will be some good things ahead for Bjelica.

My pick is Bazz. What will Thibs do with and get out of this guy? Bazz works hard plays with a certain edge and seemed to make some strides in his mental issues moving the ball and becoming less of a liability as a team defender. He seems like he COULD be a guy that Thibs likes because of his effort level. How well can Thibs coach him up on defense? Idk but I'm really interested to see what Bazz does under a terrific coach especially defensively.

Duke13 wrote:Damit, my long, drawn out post didn't post!!! Sometimes it does that on my phone. I will put my reasons later, but I vote Belly

That happens sometimes on my iPhone. If I just hit the back button on the browser and the post (and the page I had before) is there again and I just have to hit submit again.

I'll say Lavine first because if he can become a good defender, I see a future allstar. If not, then he might eventually get replaced as starter. The other guy is Belly. I see the glass as half full with Belly, choosing to believe he will be more like the Good Belly he was at the beginning and end of the year. Hope he can become consistently good all year.

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Interesting takes.

Bjelica's just a role player, at best, there's no doubt. And Wiggins and Zach will determine much more how much we grow next year. But I feel like we've got an idea of what we can expect from Wiggins and Zach. Even if they play better, we know what that will look like (f'ing, awesome by the way). And Towns is just on another level IMO, and he could even get so much better everybody should actually be answering Towns, so I wanted to take him out of the conversation.

I was sort of hoping to see guys talk about players like Tyus, Bjelica, Rudez--guys who have not really been good for us so far, but could hypothetically become important role players. Or maybe Bazz or Rubio or Dieng to see how they respond to Thibs. Maybe Pek or KG to see if they can still play (which may arguably have an unexpected impact on the team). Heck, maybe somebody even throws Payne's name out there?! *joking* Seriously though, we've talked about the big three forever, and we're all excited for them. But I'm wondering more about who "intrigues" us. The biggest question marks outside the core is I guess what I'm trying to get at.

Drew, I think a guy to watch is Tyus Jones.

One of the stats often cited by Rubio fans like myself is his net On/Off rating, which is nearly double-digits positive. His critics cite that the reason for this is because his backups have been so crappy over the years. Fair enough I counter, then let's focus on getting him a better backup. We'd have the same problem if Mike Conley or Jeff Teague would have been here instead of Rubio these past 5 years.

So that brings us to Tyus Jones. I didn't like the trade that brought him here because Flip gave up thre second rounders for one late first rounder. And I like the odds of hitting a bullseye with three arrows instead of one. But be that as it may, the little guy did show some nice poise and instincts on the court and clearly has a high b-ball IQ. Having a capable and competent backup PG is a big deal these days. Jones could really give our second unit a boost if he can up his game a level.

Q12543 wrote:

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Interesting takes.

Bjelica's just a role player, at best, there's no doubt. And Wiggins and Zach will determine much more how much we grow next year. But I feel like we've got an idea of what we can expect from Wiggins and Zach. Even if they play better, we know what that will look like (f'ing, awesome by the way). And Towns is just on another level IMO, and he could even get so much better everybody should actually be answering Towns, so I wanted to take him out of the conversation.

I was sort of hoping to see guys talk about players like Tyus, Bjelica, Rudez--guys who have not really been good for us so far, but could hypothetically become important role players. Or maybe Bazz or Rubio or Dieng to see how they respond to Thibs. Maybe Pek or KG to see if they can still play (which may arguably have an unexpected impact on the team). Heck, maybe somebody even throws Payne's name out there?! *joking* Seriously though, we've talked about the big three forever, and we're all excited for them. But I'm wondering more about who "intrigues" us. The biggest question marks outside the core is I guess what I'm trying to get at.

Drew, I think a guy to watch is Tyus Jones.

One of the stats often cited by Rubio fans like myself is his net On/Off rating, which is nearly double-digits positive. His critics cite that the reason for this is because his backups have been so crappy over the years. Fair enough I counter, then let's focus on getting him a better backup. We'd have the same problem if Mike Conley or Jeff Teague would have been here instead of Rubio these past 5 years.

So that brings us to Tyus Jones. I didn't like the trade that brought him here because Flip gave up thre second rounders for one late first rounder. And I like the odds of hitting a bullseye with three arrows instead of one. But be that as it may, the little guy did show some nice poise and instincts on the court and clearly has a high b-ball IQ. Having a capable and competent backup PG is a big deal these days. Jones could really give our second unit a boost if he can up his game a level.

Watching Cory Joseph the last few months makes me feel like Tyus could get there. Joseph is bigger but he doesn't wow you with athletic ability. It took him quite a while to really get to this point but I do see some parallels there. Obviously we can't wait like 5 years for Tyus to become a top backup PG but it did hit me that last Raptors game the comparison although not perfect. Cam's idea of brining in a Ronnie Price for cheap to help supplement Tyus could really help.

Consider this though. Tyus fits a few of Thibs check boxes in that he is a smart player careful with the ball and projects to be able to hit 3's which Thibs has said a few times needs to be improved one way or another. Tyus may not be a worthy one on one defender but you can see he gets some concepts of team defense and he put forth the effort on the defensive end down the stretch. I'm not sure Thibs ever had a terrific passing PG in Chicago and he potentially has 2 with Rubio and Tyus. That's going to be interesting to see how he utilizes that.

monsterpile wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Interesting takes.

Bjelica's just a role player, at best, there's no doubt. And Wiggins and Zach will determine much more how much we grow next year. But I feel like we've got an idea of what we can expect from Wiggins and Zach. Even if they play better, we know what that will look like (f'ing, awesome by the way). And Towns is just on another level IMO, and he could even get so much better everybody should actually be answering Towns, so I wanted to take him out of the conversation.

I was sort of hoping to see guys talk about players like Tyus, Bjelica, Rudez--guys who have not really been good for us so far, but could hypothetically become important role players. Or maybe Bazz or Rubio or Dieng to see how they respond to Thibs. Maybe Pek or KG to see if they can still play (which may arguably have an unexpected impact on the team). Heck, maybe somebody even throws Payne's name out there?! *joking* Seriously though, we've talked about the big three forever, and we're all excited for them. But I'm wondering more about who "intrigues" us. The biggest question marks outside the core is I guess what I'm trying to get at.

Drew, I think a guy to watch is Tyus Jones.

One of the stats often cited by Rubio fans like myself is his net On/Off rating, which is nearly double-digits positive. His critics cite that the reason for this is because his backups have been so crappy over the years. Fair enough I counter, then let's focus on getting him a better backup. We'd have the same problem if Mike Conley or Jeff Teague would have been here instead of Rubio these past 5 years.

So that brings us to Tyus Jones. I didn't like the trade that brought him here because Flip gave up thre second rounders for one late first rounder. And I like the odds of hitting a bullseye with three arrows instead of one. But be that as it may, the little guy did show some nice poise and instincts on the court and clearly has a high b-ball IQ. Having a capable and competent backup PG is a big deal these days. Jones could really give our second unit a boost if he can up his game a level.

Watching Cory Joseph the last few months makes me feel like Tyus could get there. Joseph is bigger but he doesn't wow you with athletic ability. It took him quite a while to really get to this point but I do see some parallels there. Obviously we can't wait like 5 years for Tyus to become a top backup PG but it did hit me that last Raptors game the comparison although not perfect. Cam's idea of brining in a Ronnie Price for cheap to help supplement Tyus could really help.

Consider this though. Tyus fits a few of Thibs check boxes in that he is a smart player careful with the ball and projects to be able to hit 3's which Thibs has said a few times needs to be improved one way or another. Tyus may not be a worthy one on one defender but you can see he gets some concepts of team defense and he put forth the effort on the defensive end down the stretch. I'm not sure Thibs ever had a terrific passing PG in Chicago and he potentially has 2 with Rubio and Tyus. That's going to be interesting to see how he utilizes that.

Agree. The problem with Tyus versus almost any elite backup or solid starting PG is that physically he's disadvantaged in almost all facets. At least Joseph has size and strength. But Tyus is a little short, a little weak, and a little slow. There is nothing to hang your hat on there physically. But....he's not super short, super slow, or super weak. And he's smart. So it should be interesting if he can conjure up enough craftiness and skill to overcome his below average physical profile.

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Interesting takes.

Bjelica's just a role player, at best, there's no doubt. And Wiggins and Zach will determine much more how much we grow next year. But I feel like we've got an idea of what we can expect from Wiggins and Zach. Even if they play better, we know what that will look like (f'ing, awesome by the way). And Towns is just on another level IMO, and he could even get so much better everybody should actually be answering Towns, so I wanted to take him out of the conversation.

I was sort of hoping to see guys talk about players like Tyus, Bjelica, Rudez--guys who have not really been good for us so far, but could hypothetically become important role players. Or maybe Bazz or Rubio or Dieng to see how they respond to Thibs. Maybe Pek or KG to see if they can still play (which may arguably have an unexpected impact on the team). Heck, maybe somebody even throws Payne's name out there?! *joking* Seriously though, we've talked about the big three forever, and we're all excited for them. But I'm wondering more about who "intrigues" us. The biggest question marks outside the core is I guess what I'm trying to get at.

Drew, I think a guy to watch is Tyus Jones.

One of the stats often cited by Rubio fans like myself is his net On/Off rating, which is nearly double-digits positive. His critics cite that the reason for this is because his backups have been so crappy over the years. Fair enough I counter, then let's focus on getting him a better backup. We'd have the same problem if Mike Conley or Jeff Teague would have been here instead of Rubio these past 5 years.

So that brings us to Tyus Jones. I didn't like the trade that brought him here because Flip gave up thre second rounders for one late first rounder. And I like the odds of hitting a bullseye with three arrows instead of one. But be that as it may, the little guy did show some nice poise and instincts on the court and clearly has a high b-ball IQ. Having a capable and competent backup PG is a big deal these days. Jones could really give our second unit a boost if he can up his game a level.

Watching Cory Joseph the last few months makes me feel like Tyus could get there. Joseph is bigger but he doesn't wow you with athletic ability. It took him quite a while to really get to this point but I do see some parallels there. Obviously we can't wait like 5 years for Tyus to become a top backup PG but it did hit me that last Raptors game the comparison although not perfect. Cam's idea of brining in a Ronnie Price for cheap to help supplement Tyus could really help.

Consider this though. Tyus fits a few of Thibs check boxes in that he is a smart player careful with the ball and projects to be able to hit 3's which Thibs has said a few times needs to be improved one way or another. Tyus may not be a worthy one on one defender but you can see he gets some concepts of team defense and he put forth the effort on the defensive end down the stretch. I'm not sure Thibs ever had a terrific passing PG in Chicago and he potentially has 2 with Rubio and Tyus. That's going to be interesting to see how he utilizes that.

Agree. The problem with Tyus versus almost any elite backup or solid starting PG is that physically he's disadvantaged in almost all facets. At least Joseph has size and strength. But Tyus is a little short, a little weak, and a little slow. There is nothing to hang your hat on there physically. But....he's not super short, super slow, or super weak. And he's smart. So it should be interesting if he can conjure up enough craftiness and skill to overcome his below average physical profile.

Yeah that's what Joseph is now. Keep in mind with this parallel Joseph was 186 lbs when he was drafted and being 2" taller is about all he has over Tyus physically at the same points of them starting their careers. Joseph spent all those key years developing especially on defense in the Spurs system. That's no small thing.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Cory-Joseph-5664/

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Tyus-Jones-46062/