Minnesota Sports Forum

lipoli390 wrote:I agree that Tyus did not look NBA-ready tonight. His seemingly lazy or nonchalant approach tonight was also apparent at the scrimmage, but it didn't make him look bad then since the other squad wasn't exactly defending with any gusto. It was really disappointing to see him at one point stare at a loose ball and make no effort to retrieve it while others were diving to the floor to get it. He's small, weak and pretty slow by NBA PG standards so he needs to bring it every minute he's on the court. He has very good instincts and should eventually become a decent backup NBA PG, but he has a long way to go. I hope tonight was a wake-up call for him.

Towns' passing skills are tremendous - even better than I thought. He had a nice game overall, but he can do better and I sure he will. I liked his effort.

Payne isn't the brightest bulb on the tree, but I loved his effort tonight. He had a nice 4th quarter and was a key to the Wolves win tonight. He's an effort guy with nice length and athleticism. And he has the ability to score. I might warm up to him over time. He just needs to stop trying to do more than he's capable of on the offensive side of the ball.

LaVine was terrific. He's going to be a very good possibly great player. His play tonight was just a continuation of how he played the last 4 weeks of last season when he averaged nearly 20 points per game. If he continues to play at the level he's been playing since last March/April through tonight then he has to be our starting SG when the regular season begins. Ricky, LaVine, Wiggins, Towns and KG. That's the starting five I want to see in the regular season opener.

Lip, you nailed the starting lineup - has to be. As far as Tyus goes, let's just wait a couple more games before we make any declarations. I'm sure he had some nerves contributing to his tentative play. I think he will be fine.

Love that starting line up - what's the second unit?

Tyus just lacks the speed and athleticism. He can likely make up for that on the offensive end some, but I think he is a big liability defensively.

I thought towns played pretty well considering the LA officiating. He showed versatility, but he is going to struggle defensively this season.

I really liked the highlight play where Russell dribbles up the court and spins to hit Clarkson for the wide open 3. Too bad in the NBA it's called a double dribble when you grab the ball with both hands off your dribble and then put it back on the floor. How the hell did they miss that? I guess the same way the scorers table gave Clarkson a 3 on the lakers second made basket that he shot from 19 feet.

Very impressed with Lavine, and happy to see him take a T when he clearly got fouled late in the fourth at the hoop. The guy has range out to 30 feet it seems. I still don't care for his shooting form becasue he doesn't square up well, but he seems to be reasonably consistent.

I still stand on my prediction that the rookie of the year is the player the lakers picked (Russell). The ridiculous foul calls I saw today make me think he goes to the line 10 times a game.

Randle will struggle when teams realize they just need to push him left everytime.

lipoli390 wrote:Ricky, LaVine, Wiggins, Towns and KG. That's the starting five I want to see in the regular season opener.

Yep. Or start Shabazz with Wiggins at the 2/3. Either way, it's time to throw some athletes at the competition, and make them adjust. Even Karl can run the floor. We have some insane athleticism...I almost want to rub my eyes and ask somebody "is this Wolves?"

I got seven players to talk about in order of importance.
Z. LaVine - Probably the best player on the court tonight though Clarkson on LA was also quite impressive. He should start over Martin but then again I wanted Martin traded last trade deadline.
L. Brown - Easy to point to his pts and efficiency but I was more impressed by the defense and off the ball cuts. Hope he has an improved jumper and makes the team.
A. Payne - Stats probably won't show what I seen but he looked aggressive, hungry and more confident. He still had his moments where you just don't understand what's he doing but he's looking more like a project than a busted trade :)
K. Towns - Looked like a rookie, needs more strength, had 9 fouls! Flashed nice low post move, nice outside jumper, and looks like an above average passer. I can see the long term potential and look forward to watching him grow.
T. Jones - He never really got in a groove and looked pathetic defensively which was my main concern when MN drafted him. He's really young and it was his first showing, lets give him time to develop with the other kids on this team.
O. Jeffers - I'm a fan of Jeffers, not sure he's an NBA level talent but I like him every summer league. He should have got a chance over that Killpatrick bum last year.
B. Heslip - I heard some people excited about him for summer league, but he got the DNP coaches decision. Too bad I wanted to see him for at least 10 mins or so, maybe next game.

sjm34 wrote:Tyus just lacks the speed and athleticism. He can likely make up for that on the offensive end some, but I think he is a big liability defensively.

I thought towns played pretty well considering the LA officiating. He showed versatility, but he is going to struggle defensively this season.

I really liked the highlight play where Russell dribbles up the court and spins to hit Clarkson for the wide open 3. Too bad in the NBA it's called a double dribble when you grab the ball with both hands off your dribble and then put it back on the floor. How the hell did they miss that? I guess the same way the scorers table gave Clarkson a 3 on the lakers second made basket that he shot from 19 feet.

Very impressed with Lavine, and happy to see him take a T when he clearly got fouled late in the fourth at the hoop. The guy has range out to 30 feet it seems. I still don't care for his shooting form becasue he doesn't square up well, but he seems to be reasonably consistent.

I still stand on my prediction that the rookie of the year is the player the lakers picked (Russell). The ridiculous foul calls I saw today make me think he goes to the line 10 times a game.

Randle will struggle when teams realize they just need to push him left everytime.

Randle commits an offensive foul damn near every drive too. Wonder how that push off will be called over the course of the year?

Tactical unit wrote:

sjm34 wrote:Tyus just lacks the speed and athleticism. He can likely make up for that on the offensive end some, but I think he is a big liability defensively.

I thought towns played pretty well considering the LA officiating. He showed versatility, but he is going to struggle defensively this season.

I really liked the highlight play where Russell dribbles up the court and spins to hit Clarkson for the wide open 3. Too bad in the NBA it's called a double dribble when you grab the ball with both hands off your dribble and then put it back on the floor. How the hell did they miss that? I guess the same way the scorers table gave Clarkson a 3 on the lakers second made basket that he shot from 19 feet.

Very impressed with Lavine, and happy to see him take a T when he clearly got fouled late in the fourth at the hoop. The guy has range out to 30 feet it seems. I still don't care for his shooting form becasue he doesn't square up well, but he seems to be reasonably consistent.

I still stand on my prediction that the rookie of the year is the player the lakers picked (Russell). The ridiculous foul calls I saw today make me think he goes to the line 10 times a game.

Randle will struggle when teams realize they just need to push him left everytime.

Randle commits an offensive foul damn near every drive too. Wonder how that push off will be called over the course of the year?

It won't be. He is a laker!

Think back to Kobe against Wiggins last season. Kobe must have pushed off on Wiggins three or four times in a row and still didn't get called.

Randle's a tweener. He's going to have trouble guarding 3's and 4's. He will score a little bit but I don't see much to worry about there.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I agree that Tyus did not look NBA-ready tonight. His seemingly lazy or nonchalant approach tonight was also apparent at the scrimmage, but it didn't make him look bad then since the other squad wasn't exactly defending with any gusto. It was really disappointing to see him at one point stare at a loose ball and make no effort to retrieve it while others were diving to the floor to get it. He's small, weak and pretty slow by NBA PG standards so he needs to bring it every minute he's on the court. He has very good instincts and should eventually become a decent backup NBA PG, but he has a long way to go. I hope tonight was a wake-up call for him.

Towns' passing skills are tremendous - even better than I thought. He had a nice game overall, but he can do better and I sure he will. I liked his effort.

Payne isn't the brightest bulb on the tree, but I loved his effort tonight. He had a nice 4th quarter and was a key to the Wolves win tonight. He's an effort guy with nice length and athleticism. And he has the ability to score. I might warm up to him over time. He just needs to stop trying to do more than he's capable of on the offensive side of the ball.

LaVine was terrific. He's going to be a very good possibly great player. His play tonight was just a continuation of how he played the last 4 weeks of last season when he averaged nearly 20 points per game. If he continues to play at the level he's been playing since last March/April through tonight then he has to be our starting SG when the regular season begins. Ricky, LaVine, Wiggins, Towns and KG. That's the starting five I want to see in the regular season opener.

Lip, you nailed the starting lineup - has to be. As far as Tyus goes, let's just wait a couple more games before we make any declarations. I'm sure he had some nerves contributing to his tentative play. I think he will be fine.

Tyus simply lacked effort tonight. Playing bad because of nerves is one thing, but he wasn't playing hard to make up for it. I know exactly the loose ball Lip is talking about and immediately thought about why he just looked at the ball and didn't go get it. Whenever he lost the ball he would just try to get in the way for a second and stop any further effort and gave up on the play. I'm not writing him off by any means, but his physical profile just doesn't allow anything but balls to the wall effort and concentration at all times. Tonight he just didn't look like he was playing hard. I'd rather a guy be bad while trying hard out there like Payne than someone who doesn't show any interest in being out on the court like Tyus tonight.

I just finished watching the game. I haven't read any posts or looked at the box score. Here are my thoughts

Towns showed plenty but is a young rookie. The passing was exceptional. Pretty happy overall with what I saw.

Payne. Honestly overall I liked what I saw out of him because he played hard and agggresive. He did some good things out there. He also looked bad at times but I'll take him playing hard with his physical abilities. Overall I was a little encouraged for him as a useful role player. Think a more offensively competent but less physically gifted Ryan Hollins. For most people that isn't high praise but I've always thought Hollins was useful and Payne has a chance to be a little more useful.

Jeffers. Pretty much everyone knows what this guy does and he didn it again in this game struggled a little early on.

Lavine looks of good some bad typical Lavine. More good than bad though

Brown. Overall a pretty good game. He made some bad plays but often made up for it a possession later. The team seemed better when he was in there.

Tyus made some good plays that he just didn't finish. Looked like a rookie but that lakers PG was really working hard on defense. Overall Tyus probably was underwhelming but that should be too much of a surprise.

Aska looked decent. The other big guy did some nice enough stuff off the bench as a big holding down the fort especially in the 2nd half.

lakers

Russell was ok but you can see the talent there no doubt. He didn't force things too much which I liked

Clarkson pretty good game out of him might have been the best player out there.

Randle. Showed some stuff and showed some rust and youth I still like him he has a bit of uniqueness.

For the game I liked the Wolves ended up finishing pretty strong. Payne and Towns got up some shots from distance so that's a positive. I like the double teams or traps at times on the perimeter. No Heslip but it makes sense with Lavine Tyus and Brown getting a lot of minutes.