Minnesota Sports Forum

lipoli390 wrote:Do you think he'll end up playing with the big Wolves anytime this season?

If Bjelly gets back and our other front line guys stay healthy, he's not going to see any regular minutes with us. However, I could see them eventually calling him up to practice with the main squad and then try to find opportunities to get him some garbage minutes so he gets his feet wet. For now, I would like to see him keep getting reps with Iowa. This is exactly how the Spurs develop their rookies, giving them a ton of minutes with their G-league affiliate and then gradually folding them into their rotation over a period a couple years. Their roster is currently littered with guys that have spent significant time in the G-league.

I watched the whole game. I agree he looked rusty early on. This game featured a lot of size and length. Fellow 1st round pick Bradley did some good things until the 2nd half where he was fouling seemingly every 25 seconds. Lol Patton like Q said needs to get stronger and his awareness as a rebounder at times could have been better but he also made some nice hustle plays and kept the ball alive well. As a shot blocker he absolutely swallowed up guys on a couple of those blocks. He looks big and long. He took some maybe I'll advised jumpers but his shot looks pretty good. On the perimeter he gets down in a stance ready to keep the guy in front of him and with his length he can probably give up some ground and still contest. It wasn't a wow performance (except a couple blocks) but after starting out looking rusty he performed pretty well in the first game off not playing in a real game for months.

Other thoughts:

The Wolves have a group of versatile bigs a lot of them able to take and make 3's. It's a welcome sight. Jefferson is the one that isn't looking to do that but he continues to impress doing a lot of good things out there.

Innthe 2nd half Anthony Brown was pretty good. He made some nice passes and had a block on his man who was taking a corner 3 to basically seal the game. His shot looks so good it would be interning to see him playing a more complimentary role.

This team looks a lot better on both ends than when I watched the first 4 or so games. The defense was light year's better. It would be good to see this team start to look better and make our franchise look like they know what they are doing.

Bryson and Waspun had some athletic defensive plays.

Trimble can really look good for stretches and then have some where he does too much or makes a bad decision. I think he has some legit offensive game espcially if he can hit 3's. He continues to look quicker than I expected.

We need a wing player like Millsap as a bench player on the Timberwolves. The guy plays hard al the time and is just hard to play against. I'm not sure he has enough talent to help much at the NBA level but just getting a guy that gets after it that can at least do something defensively against players at multiple positions would be good. Right now MGH seems like the hope for that.

Q12543 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Do you think he'll end up playing with the big Wolves anytime this season?

If Bjelly gets back and our other front line guys stay healthy, he's not going to see any regular minutes with us. However, I could see them eventually calling him up to practice with the main squad and then try to find opportunities to get him some garbage minutes so he gets his feet wet. For now, I would like to see him keep getting reps with Iowa. This is exactly how the Spurs develop their rookies, giving them a ton of minutes with their G-league affiliate and then gradually folding them into their rotation over a period a couple years. Their roster is currently littered with guys that have spent significant time in the G-league.

If Thibs continues to bury Aldrich on the bench, then we only have two true centers...neither of which is considered a good rim protector. While Patton did look a little awkward on offense last night (although I did kike his aggressiveness in rolling to the rim...something that was a strength of his in college), his 4 blocks were rather impressive. He is clearly an exceptional athlete for someone his size and a guy who could develop into a very good shot blocker. If either KAT or G gets hurt, or if they continue to struggle with interior defense, and Thibs sees some defensive potential in Patton, I wouldn't be surprised to see him getting some playing time after his stint in the G League. I think there is some reason for excitement about this guy after his debut last night.

Long, The blocks were nice, but it's so much different than the NBA that it is really hard to discern his defensive potential from watching these G-league games. He seems to have a similar problem as Dieng and KAT, in that he isn't really strong in the core/trunk muscles, making him a little soft and top heavy. We've seen what a huge deal this is in defending the paint. Often holding your ground and walling up is far better defense than chasing blocks, trying to draw charges, and generally getting toppled out of position easily. Heck, just witness the way Taj stays solid versus KAT. Such a contrast....

From Iowa Wolves coach Scott Roth: "I'm a little shocked to be honest with how well he did. His first four or five minutes, you could see the timing and the rust, and I just figured that was going to continue maybe for another game or two because it's been such a long layoff and with bigger guys it's harder to get back into a flow. To have the line he had -- 16 minutes, 15 points and four blocks and really impressive. I think he's got just a great future. If he continues to work, stay healthy, his size, his athletic ability and his love for the game, I think will shine through. This is just one little baby step for him. He has got a lot of work before he'll go back.
"He's going to be on that pace (16 to 20 minutes a game) for about 10 days or so, and we'll see where he's at. Once he gets re-evaluated and we see how his body's going to react to playing, they'll tell me and we'll ramp it up. They'll tell me to play him X amount of minutes and that's what we'll do."

These are some rather encouraging words from the coach. Apparently Patton was not very good in the first half as he shook off the rust, but had several highlights in the second half. D League play, to be sure, but size and athleticism can translate well to the next level. I don't disagree with Roth's judgement that this guy has a great future. Getting him rather than Markennen could be another true benefit of the Butler deal.

Highlights of Patton from yesterday.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JTcouSkOV1M

Will he play for the Wolves this year? Idk does he look like a no-brainer to be able to go out there and give you some minutes? Then Thibs will play him despite the depth they have. Someone of the bigs will miss some games when he is healthy and ready and it's not like they have some big wing that has to get minutes as a small ball PF. If he gives them something this year that would be a bonus I think we are all more interested in whether he becomes a guy that helps this team long term. I think if the rest of the team finds it's groove Thibs will be more likely to sprinkle in some younger players here and there.

Monster, I still don't see anything very notable from the other G-league guys on the Iowa Wolves. Anthony Brown was a disaster whenever he put the ball on the floor. His shot does look pretty smooth, but who knows if he can hit those 3's consistently at the next level. And defensively? Not sure there is much to like.

Jefferson is the most productive, but he's a 4 without an outside shot. I have a feeling his hustle and knack for the ball won't yield the same results at the next level.

You're right about Trimble. He makes some pretty nice plays out there, but also can be very careless in his decision making.

If Thibs isn't going to give MGH any time with the big league club, why not get him back down to Iowa?

Q12543 wrote:Monster, I still don't see anything very notable from the other G-league guys on the Iowa Wolves. Anthony Brown was a disaster whenever he put the ball on the floor. His shot does look pretty smooth, but who knows if he can hit those 3's consistently at the next level. And defensively? Not sure there is much to like.

Jefferson is the most productive, but he's a 4 without an outside shot. I have a feeling his hustle and knack for the ball won't yield the same results at the next level.

You're right about Trimble. He makes some pretty nice plays out there, but also can be very careless in his decision making.

If Thibs isn't going to give MGH any time with the big league club, why not get him back down to Iowa?

Jefferson is a 4-5 to me because he is gonna be playing off the bench. Not many teams play a real center off the bench. I'm surprised you don't like him a bit more he is a kind of a do a bit of everything guy. Obviously he isn't gonna be putting up 16-14 or whatever at the next level but he seems like a guy that might be able to do enough to help keep things afloat off the bench. The expectation isn't too high and neither would whatever salary he would get.

As for the rest of the guys...I don't really disagree with you. I haven't watched games for a while but I was really underwhelmed with Brown but he really did have some good moments in that 2nd half where he did more than just jack up shots. I thought it was worth mentioning.

If MGH's performance in his one game for Iowa is representative of what he can do at that level (it was just one game but...) I don't see much point in having him down there. Let him practice with guys up here and be ready actually play. Besides with injuries they probably need him around just to run practices. With an empty roster spot Patton not available and Belly hurt that puts them at 12 available guys. They probably need to keep him around for now.

One guy I saw a couple games of I am interested to see where he ends up is Derrick Jones Jr. He is really skinny isn't a great shooter but really athletic and seems intruiging in the block steals rebounds dept. he turns 21 in Feb. he makes more than the min so he probably won't get claimed but I would be a bit surprised if a team didn't sign him to some sort of deal.

Look at that footspeed! Yeah he doesn't have the core strength just like KAT and Dieng but he's much more nimble that than them, like the Tyson Chandlers (in is prime), Ibaka's and Biyambo's of the NBA. It's been only one game but I think it's safe to say he will be 1st team All_NBA defense before long

I'm hoping for a Clint capella type out of Patton.

Amir is probably the only guy in Iowa worth a look.