Minnesota Sports Forum

Knew we were living on borrowed time with Portland missing everything from 3-point land. It really sucks we don't take them...

Bjelica's been playing with no confidence lately. We saw that he can be a helpful player when he's playing with confidence. It also doesn't help that when he was playing well, he didn't continue getting consistent minutes off the bench. He's been yanked around this season by the coaching staff and the officials too. Think he'll be better in the second half of the season.

I wish we were nastier on the defensive end.

TeamRicky wrote:

Hicks123 wrote:Belly is an absolute horrible, horrible basketball player. My sons 10 year old team is terrible...and they have several Belly's on their team. Guys that have fumble-itis, and simple can't dribble or shoot. This guy has no business in the NBA. Was a feel-good story at beginning of the year, but I have seen enough. Not NBA caliber....and it really isn't even close. He is almost a guarenteed turnover when he touches the ball.

Its his first year in the league... and the guy was Euroleague MVP. Lets give him at least 2 years before we know what we got. We've given much worse players longer looks.

I get the notion of giving guys a chance. I have watched this team since year 1, so I have lived (almost solely) on optimism that guys will improve. But Belly's issues aren't understanding nuances of the NBA game....or learning the speed, defense, etc. He simply drops balls, and can't dribble, and can't shoot. He is fundamentally brutal. The reality is that we are stuck with him good or bad....so "giving him a chance" isn't in question.

Bjelica can't shoot... but yet he's above average from three-point range and percentage-wise is better than LaVine and Muhammad. Think you're being way too hard on the guy.

2014-15 average: 35.0%
2015-16 average: 35.2%
Nemanja Bjelica: 35.4%

Hicks123 wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:

Hicks123 wrote:Belly is an absolute horrible, horrible basketball player. My sons 10 year old team is terrible...and they have several Belly's on their team. Guys that have fumble-itis, and simple can't dribble or shoot. This guy has no business in the NBA. Was a feel-good story at beginning of the year, but I have seen enough. Not NBA caliber....and it really isn't even close. He is almost a guarenteed turnover when he touches the ball.

Its his first year in the league... and the guy was Euroleague MVP. Lets give him at least 2 years before we know what we got. We've given much worse players longer looks.

I get the notion of giving guys a chance. I have watched this team since year 1, so I have lived (almost solely) on optimism that guys will improve. But Belly's issues aren't understanding nuances of the NBA game....or learning the speed, defense, etc. He simply drops balls, and can't dribble, and can't shoot. He is fundamentally brutal. The reality is that we are stuck with him good or bad....so "giving him a chance" isn't in question.

Only KAT (and possibly Dieng) has played well all year. I think every other player has played terribly in stretches and someone could rip into that player like you have with Belly. I actually like Belly's tools when he plays with confidence as he did in the Euroleague season, 7 preseason games and the beginning of the year and think its a confidence issue right now. When we have a new coaching staff we can better gauge how useful or not he'll be. His contract is cheap and if a new coaching staff can get him to play with confidence, then he'll deserve a spot on the roster.

Watching KAT develop is making these games watchable for me.

Towns and Dieng are playing well together.

Zach playing some good one on one D on Crabbe.

McCollum just got a friendly tour to the rim from Dieng. Hate when Gorgui does that shit.