Minnesota Sports Forum

I'd be pretty pissed if I were the Hornets at how big Hairston got this summer. The dude bulked up to the size of a football player and now he can't shoot and he's playing pretty close to the ground. Guards shouldn't look like they could play linebacker in a pinch.

Anybody see Stanley Johnson play yesterday for the Pistons? The announcers were raving about him, although they were wrong when they kept saying he is only 18 (he actually just turned 19). His defense was extraordinary as expected, but he also added 24 points (on just 14 shots) and 9 rebounds. He had difficulty finishing at the rim during his freshman year, but the announcers yesterday were raving about his ability to finish. He clearly was the best player on the court for the second straight game. I think he is going to be terrific this year.

On the other side of the coin, Royce White has been laughably bad. He's starting for the Clippers, but I don't think he has scored yet.

longstrangetrip wrote:Anybody see Stanley Johnson play yesterday for the Pistons? The announcers were raving about him, although they were wrong when they kept saying he is only 18 (he actually just turned 19). His defense was extraordinary as expected, but he also added 24 points (on just 14 shots) and 9 rebounds. He had difficulty finishing at the rim during his freshman year, but the announcers yesterday were raving about his ability to finish. He clearly was the best player on the court for the second straight game. I think he is going to be terrific this year.

On the other side of the coin, Royce White has been laughably bad. He's starting for the Clippers, but I don't think he has scored yet.

White played 8 minutes in that game and went 0-3. Not looking good for him right now.

longstrangetrip wrote:Anybody see Stanley Johnson play yesterday for the Pistons? The announcers were raving about him, although they were wrong when they kept saying he is only 18 (he actually just turned 19). His defense was extraordinary as expected, but he also added 24 points (on just 14 shots) and 9 rebounds. He had difficulty finishing at the rim during his freshman year, but the announcers yesterday were raving about his ability to finish. He clearly was the best player on the court for the second straight game. I think he is going to be terrific this year.

On the other side of the coin, Royce White has been laughably bad. He's starting for the Clippers, but I don't think he has scored yet.

I watched that whole game. Stanley Johnson was finishing at the rim, and looked like a man amongst boys out there. With his body he was when playing against most of the competition out there. He has the makings of someone who will dominate in the SL, but will find some trouble in the real league. He shoots from in front of his face, and without much elevation. His catch and shooting is not above average yet. His dribbling is very iffy right now. Also, his post defense is elite, as well as when any player has his back turned to him, but he needs to work on his lateral quickness to stay in-front of the very quick/good ball-handlers. I expect him to become good with what he shows, but he needs to work on those 4 areas to be a sure-fire player. Ball-handling, lateral quickness, shooting above his head, catch and shoot. His passing and rebounding though are very spectacular.

longstrangetrip wrote:Anybody see Stanley Johnson play yesterday for the Pistons? The announcers were raving about him, although they were wrong when they kept saying he is only 18 (he actually just turned 19). His defense was extraordinary as expected, but he also added 24 points (on just 14 shots) and 9 rebounds. He had difficulty finishing at the rim during his freshman year, but the announcers yesterday were raving about his ability to finish. He clearly was the best player on the court for the second straight game. I think he is going to be terrific this year.

On the other side of the coin, Royce White has been laughably bad. He's starting for the Clippers, but I don't think he has scored yet.

Good for you for sticking to your guns with him. It seems you had a bit of the inside track on this kid. Hope he continues to prove his worth.

http://m.startribune.com/sports/blogs/311757201.html

There are a few more things from Jerry in the article above but here is the squad so far

ON THE WOLVES
Wolves assistant coach Ryan Saunders will coach the SL team

Here's the roster announced by the Wolves today:

2015 MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES SUMMER LEAGUE ROSTER

No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate College/From NBA Exp.
40 Ivan Aska F 6-7 230 06/26/90 Murray State/USA R
50 Kyle Barone F/C 6-10 220 09/12/89 Idaho/USA R
7 Lorenzo Brown G 6-2 175 08/26/90 North Carolina State/USA 2
3 Brady Heslip G 6-2 180 06/19/90 Baylor/Canada R
0 Othyus Jeffers G 6-5 210 08/05/85 Robert Morris University/USA 3
1 Tyus Jones G 6-2 180 05/10/96 Duke/USA R
8 Zach LaVine G 6-5 180 03/10/95 UCLA/USA 1
52 Jordan Morgan^ F 6-8 249 09/15/91 Michigan/USA R
33 Adreian Payne F/C 6-10 245 02/19/91 Michigan State/USA 1
25 Tyler Stone F 6-8 230 09/08/91 Missouri/USA R
11 Sam Thompson F 6-7 200 11/11/92 Ohio State/USA R
32 Karl-Anthony Towns F/C 6-11 250 11/15/95 Kentucky/USA R
12 C.J. Williams G 6-6 225 02/06/90 North Carolina State/USA R

monsterpile wrote:http://m.startribune.com/sports/blogs/311757201.html

There are a few more things from Jerry in the article above but here is the squad so far

ON THE WOLVES
Wolves assistant coach Ryan Saunders will coach the SL team

Here's the roster announced by the Wolves today:

2015 MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES SUMMER LEAGUE ROSTER

No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate College/From NBA Exp.
40 Ivan Aska F 6-7 230 06/26/90 Murray State/USA R
50 Kyle Barone F/C 6-10 220 09/12/89 Idaho/USA R
7 Lorenzo Brown G 6-2 175 08/26/90 North Carolina State/USA 2
3 Brady Heslip G 6-2 180 06/19/90 Baylor/Canada R
0 Othyus Jeffers G 6-5 210 08/05/85 Robert Morris University/USA 3
1 Tyus Jones G 6-2 180 05/10/96 Duke/USA R
8 Zach LaVine G 6-5 180 03/10/95 UCLA/USA 1
52 Jordan Morgan^ F 6-8 249 09/15/91 Michigan/USA R
33 Adreian Payne F/C 6-10 245 02/19/91 Michigan State/USA 1
25 Tyler Stone F 6-8 230 09/08/91 Missouri/USA R
11 Sam Thompson F 6-7 200 11/11/92 Ohio State/USA R
32 Karl-Anthony Towns F/C 6-11 250 11/15/95 Kentucky/USA R
12 C.J. Williams G 6-6 225 02/06/90 North Carolina State/USA R

Thx monster. JZ originally said Shabazz would be playing in Vegas, but that never made any sense to me and I assumed he was wrong. He, Wiggins and Dieng will be practicing and playing Wednesday night though.

Okafor looking good in his debut, if Embiid's career is truly in jeopardy than Okafor will be a solid replacement and a terrific pairing with Noel

This is the first time in a while that I can remember where the guys who should be dominating this level are. Obviously there are a lot of games to be played still but so far the names at the top of the box score are the guys who should be there for the most part.

Volans19 wrote:Okafor looking good in his debut, if Embiid's career is truly in jeopardy than Okafor will be a solid replacement and a terrific pairing with Noel

Watched all of the game. Okafor performed about how I expected. He's a borderline walking double-double machine. He just can't help but grab around 8-10 rebounds and score 18-20 PPG as long as he gets minutes. I think he also has a bit of a Pekovic effect on team rebounding in that even if he doesn't get the rebound himself, he clears out space allowing others a clear path for the ball. He doesn't pursue rebounds hard enough to ever be an elite rebounder individually.

In this particular game, he had to take 22 shots to get his 20 points, which is not very efficient. He also missed all 4 of his free throws. On the other hand, he made some really impressive shots and moves on his way to those 20 points.

Defensively, he was solid, but he wasn't exactly challenged by the type of players he'll see this fall. He has a super strong base and does a very good job just walling up on the interior. He probably got two or three blocks flat-footed by just staying down and walling up against smaller/weaker players that couldn't clear out enough space to get a shot off (not sure if they counted them all as blocks in the box score). I also thought he did a good job contesting outside shots, although he is a little slow to react. But at least he tries to get a hand up.

I'm very intrigued by the Okafor-Noel combination and I don't buy the idea that teams MUST have a floor spacer at the 4.