Minnesota Sports Forum

Nema has discernible NBA skills that could make a difference if utilized by a coach. Bennett is a lesser Ryan Gomes type. A wallflower as Q used to say.

Next year is the make or break year for Bjelica. I chalk it up to how Pek struggled in year 1 adjusting to the game. If Nemanja can't contribute next season, pull the plug.

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:Nema has discernible NBA skills that could make a difference if utilized by a coach. Bennett is a lesser Ryan Gomes type. A wallflower as Q used to say.

Ryan Gomes reference! +1

mrhockey89 wrote:

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:Nema has discernible NBA skills that could make a difference if utilized by a coach. Bennett is a lesser Ryan Gomes type. A wallflower as Q used to say.

Ryan Gomes reference! +1

The comparison and point made is a good one but I want to give Gomes credit for actually being a productive player for a number of years in the NBA even if it was on bad teams and he started that his rookie year. Bennett (or course he was much younger coming into the league) hasn't come close to reaching the level of Gomes who was a decent success story of a 2nd round pick. I was surprised Gomes sort of faded out of the league after leaving the Wolves it was one thing Kahn actually got right was just letting him walk.

I'll admit I expected much more from Bjelica this year and really liked him coming into the year. Bjelica and the rest of the roster need a new coaching staff to help development and production more than anything.

monsterpile wrote:

mrhockey89 wrote:

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:Nema has discernible NBA skills that could make a difference if utilized by a coach. Bennett is a lesser Ryan Gomes type. A wallflower as Q used to say.

Ryan Gomes reference! +1

The comparison and point made is a good one but I want to give Gomes credit for actually being a productive player for a number of years in the NBA even if it was on bad teams and he started that his rookie year. Bennett (or course he was much younger coming into the league) hasn't come close to reaching the level of Gomes who was a decent success story of a 2nd round pick. I was surprised Gomes sort of faded out of the league after leaving the Wolves it was one thing Kahn actually got right was just letting him walk.

And I liked Gomes but I think the wallflower attitude did him in. He was almost never assertive. Kudos to him lasting as long as he did.

Gomes is one of these guys whose rookie year was his best season and then he sort of plateaued and subsequently went down hill from there. It's another cautionary tale - never assume that rookies automatically get better with time. Not all do and some actually get worse.

Mikael Gelabale might win my all-time wallflower award when it comes to former Wolves.

Q12543 wrote:Gomes is one of these guys whose rookie year was his best season and then he sort of plateaued and subsequently went down hill from there. It's another cautionary tale - never assume that rookies automatically get better with time. Not all do and some actually get worse.

Mikael Gelabale might win my all-time wallflower award when it comes to former Wolves.

If you can remember a guy's name there is no way he should win that award. Lol

Also I think it's fair to say Gomes improved or at least changed his game beyond his rookie year transitioning to a SF. He had back to back seasons shooting 37% from 3. At times when the Wolves played him against a guy like Zach Randolph I wondered if he would have been a better/more useful player if he had stayed stronger and stayed at PF. Looking back at his career after his rookie year he played near starter minutes and I think the more fair cautionary tale is to wonder if he couldn't transition to be a guy that played limited minutes even though it seemed like his game was sorta built for that. Plenty of guys with a lot more talent than Gomes have had that issue OJ Mayo vein theposter boy for that. The more I think about it the comparison of Bennett and Gomes makes more and more sense. That's pretty sad for Bennett.

monsterpile wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Gomes is one of these guys whose rookie year was his best season and then he sort of plateaued and subsequently went down hill from there. It's another cautionary tale - never assume that rookies automatically get better with time. Not all do and some actually get worse.

Mikael Gelabale might win my all-time wallflower award when it comes to former Wolves.

If you can remember a guy's name there is no way he should win that award. Lol

Heh, I remember him because of how much of a wallflower he was when he played. I came up with this made up stat: Points + Rebounds + Assists + Steals + Blocks + Turnovers and called it the "does shit" stat, which I realize also includes a negative stat (turnovers). Let's just say he had a team-low score in the "does shit" stat.

Edit: By the way, unfortunately, Wiggins would do quite poorly in this stat too if it wasn't for all those points he pours in. He really does very little else that shows up in a box score. I love "makes shit happen" guys, which is probably why I've always been an unabashed fan of Ricky Rubio and less so of Wiggins. Just my own bias at play.