Minnesota Sports Forum

CoolBreeze44 wrote:If this season is clearly about development, wouldn't Tyus be getting some run at the backup point? Hard to develop your first round point guard while he's in civi's every night. This is why the direction to me is far from clear.

Not necessarily. I don't think there is an urgent need to get Tyus playing time this season given his age and draft position. The key guys are really Towns, Wiggins, LaVine, and Bazz, plus making sure Bjelica gets over the initial hump of adjusting to the NBA game (he's clearly got advanced skills and is physically matured, but he's getting hazed by the officials right now).

I do think that eventually Tyus needs to get some regular reps, probably in the D-League.

Yes but we all know they are forcing the square peg that is Zach into the round hole that is the PG position. If we truly are in a developmental phase I'd like to see Ricky get his 36 and Tyus pick up the other 12. The additional minutes for Ricky means we have a better chance to win, and Tyus at least gets his feet wet. Seems like win / win to me.

Thanks for the 2+1, cool...looks like I picked a good game to miss. Box score looks really ugly.

My optimism level has waned a little after 2 home losses against 2 average teams...that's not what I would have expected. I'm only going by the box score, but it looks like you can pin this loss almost solely on shooting...35%, and only 2 players (Bazz and Payne) made half their shots. Especially disappointing was the shooting of our 4 1st and 2nd year players (KAT, Wig, Belly and Zach...11 for 43, ouch! I think all four of them are decent shooters, so I have to believe that last night was an aberration.

Wig only had two free throws after averaging 8 per night in the first three games. What happened? Was he intimidated by Whiteside's presence inside? Zach's zero free throws and 1-5 shooting makes me assume he wasn't attacking the basket either. One of the strengths of his team is its ability to draw fouls, and last night we actually committed 8 more fouls than Miami. Zach and Wig need to use their athleticism and attack every night.

Not too many positives, but I guess I would point to these:

1) Perhaps for the first time this season, we outrebounded our opponent...44-42. Our three PF's were especially effective with 17 rebounds in 38 minutes.

2) KAT obviously had a tough shooting game (3-13), but Whiteside will do that to an opponent. I like that he had another 3 blocks. That's 11 in his last three games...really impressive for a rookie. He's not going to have many shooting nights like this.

3) He's not going to be part of the regular rotation, but Payne's 9 and 6 in 13 minutes was good to see. He plays with a lot of energy, and it would be nice to know he can produce on the nights we turn to him. I didn't like the 5 fouls though.

4) Bazz looks like he was clearly the offensive star of the night...14 and 6 in 23 minutes. I read something in one of the threads about some post-game comments from Shabazz that indicated he was confused about his lack of minutes, but isn't 23 minutes a good allocation for a guy who is still figuring out the defensive side of the ball...it's about what I am looking from him every night until he shows he consistently gets it on defense. Can anyone provide some details about his comments?

Disappointing night, and it doesn't get any easier with road games in Chicago and Atlanta coming up.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Yes but we all know they are forcing the square peg that is Zach into the round hole that is the PG position. If we truly are in a developmental phase I'd like to see Ricky get his 36 and Tyus pick up the other 12. The additional minutes for Ricky means we have a better chance to win, and Tyus at least gets his feet wet. Seems like win / win to me.

Well, that certainly makes more sense than the current arrangement. But I guess I'm prioritizing the development of all the other guys over and above Tyus. To me, having a veteran hand at the point (whether it be Rubio or Miller) helps everyone else develop their game.

Long, On Bazz, he played only 7 minutes in the first half despite a really nice stint. It was only in the second half that Mitchell left him out there and a lot of that was during garbage time.

Bazz is a flawed player, like most of our other guys, but he brings an element of physicality and toughness that no one else can bring. Plus he scores efficiently, which is really important on a practical level.

I'd love to see Sam bring Bazz and Bjelica off the bench first for KG and Prince, then bring Martin in for Wiggins a little later.

The bigger problem is that Zach at PG with Bazz and Martin on the wings is just a disaster in ball movement and spacing. It's all isolation and one-on-one B.S.

Q12543 wrote:Long, On Bazz, he played only 7 minutes in the first half despite a really nice stint. It was only in the second half that Mitchell left him out there and a lot of that was during garbage time.

Bazz is a flawed player, like most of our other guys, but he brings an element of physicality and toughness that no one else can bring. Plus he scores efficiently, which is really important on a practical level.

I'd love to see Sam bring Bazz and Bjelica off the bench first for KG and Prince, then bring Martin in for Wiggins a little later.

The bigger problem is that Zach at PG with Bazz and Martin on the wings is just a disaster in ball movement and spacing. It's all isolation and one-on-one B.S.

Ah, thanks for the additional info, q...makes more sense to me now. Sam needs to play Bazz more than 7 minutes in the first half. I wonder what he saw, and what his thinking was. Was Bazz getting lit up on the other side of the court, or was it just a bad decision by Sam?

longstrangetrip wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Long, On Bazz, he played only 7 minutes in the first half despite a really nice stint. It was only in the second half that Mitchell left him out there and a lot of that was during garbage time.

Bazz is a flawed player, like most of our other guys, but he brings an element of physicality and toughness that no one else can bring. Plus he scores efficiently, which is really important on a practical level.

I'd love to see Sam bring Bazz and Bjelica off the bench first for KG and Prince, then bring Martin in for Wiggins a little later.

The bigger problem is that Zach at PG with Bazz and Martin on the wings is just a disaster in ball movement and spacing. It's all isolation and one-on-one B.S.

Ah, thanks for the additional info, q...makes more sense to me now. Sam needs to play Bazz more than 7 minutes in the first half. I wonder what he saw, and what his thinking was. Was Bazz getting lit up on the other side of the court, or was it just a bad decision by Sam?

Well, it gets back to his rotation. He subs Martin in for Prince early and slides Wiggins to SF. Then eventually Bazz comes in for Wiggins. Once Wiggins is ready to come back, he usually comes in for Bazz, not Martin. The result is that Bazz's minutes get squeezed on both ends....

Again, I don't have a problem with 'Bazz coming off the bench, but he should be getting more minutes and he should be playing with a real PG.

Q12543 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Long, On Bazz, he played only 7 minutes in the first half despite a really nice stint. It was only in the second half that Mitchell left him out there and a lot of that was during garbage time.

Bazz is a flawed player, like most of our other guys, but he brings an element of physicality and toughness that no one else can bring. Plus he scores efficiently, which is really important on a practical level.

I'd love to see Sam bring Bazz and Bjelica off the bench first for KG and Prince, then bring Martin in for Wiggins a little later.

The bigger problem is that Zach at PG with Bazz and Martin on the wings is just a disaster in ball movement and spacing. It's all isolation and one-on-one B.S.

Ah, thanks for the additional info, q...makes more sense to me now. Sam needs to play Bazz more than 7 minutes in the first half. I wonder what he saw, and what his thinking was. Was Bazz getting lit up on the other side of the court, or was it just a bad decision by Sam?

Well, it gets back to his rotation. He subs Martin in for Prince early and slides Wiggins to SF. Then eventually Bazz comes in for Wiggins. Once Wiggins is ready to come back, he usually comes in for Bazz, not Martin. The result is that Bazz's minutes get squeezed on both ends....

Again, I don't have a problem with 'Bazz coming off the bench, but he should be getting more minutes and he should be playing with a real PG.

Yep, I agree. Belly for KG is always going to be the first substitution, but Bazz for Prince should be second to allow him some time with Rubio and Wig. Bazz is one guy who plays hard every night and has always been a terrific points per minute guy...he needs 12 minutes in the first half.

http://thebiglead.com/2015/11/06/the-minnesota-timberwolves-have-two-of-the-worst-starters-in-the-nba-in-kevin-garnett-tayshaun-prince/

Hicks123 wrote:http://thebiglead.com/2015/11/06/the-minnesota-timberwolves-have-two-of-the-worst-starters-in-the-nba-in-kevin-garnett-tayshaun-prince/

The problem with this Hicks is it completely ignores the impact they have on the other end of the floor. Defense isn't reflected in per 36 stats.

Mitchell's goal with this squad was to get off on the right foot defensively in halves and so far they are doing that. No more 40 point blitzkreigs in the 1st quarter!

I'm not sure how sustainable this starting lineup is over the rest of the season and it's probably not how I would have done it, but like I've said before, I get the logic and can get behind Mitchell on this one.