Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I wonder if Wiggins and Bazz violated some team rules. Perhaps Wiggins' offense was worse and he was suspended. But that's wild speculation. More likely, Wiggins was sick or had some sort of family situation to attend to. And perhaps Bazz tweaked an ankle in shoot around.

Wiggins had an allergic reaction and Bazz had some hip tightness.

Thank you I didn't see that

Any thoughts on Butler?

monsterpile wrote:Any thoughts on Butler?

From just watching the game on TV pretty big non factor. Missed his open shots and didn't do much of any thing else of note

Just watched the replay, will add a few thoughts. Agree how big Gorgui looks. Maybe Pek rubbed off on him. Also you can see the physical development from Towns. I don't see those two being pushed around underneath like they did a lot of the time last year.

I thought Rush stepped into the starting lineup nicely. You can tell he's been around for a while. Just knew how to fill a role.

Towns is a beast. I can't believe he's on our team.

Now on to Dunn. He wasn't good by any means but I'm not too down by what I saw tonight. His first stint he played under control, had some decent passes. He had one layup goaltended that wasn't called. He competed. But he kind of reminds me of Zach (the younger version) in the shots he took. Long contested shots are never going to be his forte. His strength is getting to the hole and mid-range, not chucking from outside. Hopefully in the final pre-season game he can get some easier looks to build some confidence. If I was Thibs I would consider starting him next game and let him play with Towns, etc. Ricky is still Ricky, and if anything there is no reason to risk injuring him before the season. Ricky and Towns are simply the two guys who we cannot afford to lose for a significant amount of time. Probably the prudent thing to do is to sit both Ricky and KAT next game.

A final thought: might not be the worst thing that we didn't blow the Grizz out by 40 when we have to start the season at their gym in a week. Still, the Grizz gotta be thinking they might be in trouble opening night from what they witnessed tonight from our starters, especially the man-beast Big KAT.

I was watching the debate last night. I can tell you that we are all in big trouble - lol.

As far as the Wolves, I can only go by the box score. Here are my thoughts:

1.) Starting 5 = Wow! I'm so happy that Thibbs didn't come in and fix something that wasn't broken. A lot of people questioned Dieng last year and said he was the weak link/needed to be replaced etc. (Insert Donald Trump debate sound bite "Wrong!"). The pieces just seem to fit together right now. I hope he gets extended and sticks around with KAT.

2.) The Bench = Ick. I saw Lip's report which stated Belly played well. His stats don't look great though (I know they can be misleading). I'm very concerned that there is not enough scoring with the second unit. Bazz will be instant offense. But somebody else needs to step up i.e. Belly or Rush.

3.) Dunn. I'm disappointed he's not flashing more. He was supposed to be NBA ready as he's a little older rookie. But I'm not going to panic yet. There's an adjustment to the NBA. What we see now may not be what we see in six months. Let's try to be patient with the Rookie and direct our frustration on guys who have been here for a couple years and still stink (like Payne!).

4.) I'm wondering if there will be some changes to be the back end of our roster before the season starts. Trade or no trade, I think there might be some players released from other teams that could be improvements over guys who might fill out spots 14 and 15 on current roster. Will be interesting to watch.

Thanks lip for the lengthy report. Happy to hear nobody got hurt again.

Could we be seeing olajuwon/mutumbo all over again?

I agree there's no reason to panic over Dunn. He's a rookie and with his worth ethic and desire, he'll definitely improve. I would say, in response to Misty, that I don't see any resemblance between Dunn and the early version of Zach LaVine. Zach's shot always looked good with a beautiful consistent fluid shooting motion. Zach has always looked incredibly athletic and fluid. Dunn on the other had has a horrible, inconsistent shooting form and an overall terrible looking shot. As I've mentioned before, he's not as explosive off the floor as some seem to think and not nearly as explosive or fluid as Zach.

Part of my thinking on Dunn is that I was never particularly high on him coming out of college although I've always liked him. Dunn might surprise me at some point, but from what I've seen so far in the NBA (a very short sample), he's looked like a potentially good, but not great player who still has a long way to go just to be good. I hope he ends up pleasantly surprising me.

Sounding like Dunn is a niche type player at a level just below Rubio as far as potential. Not good enough at anything to be more. I think he might best be served as a combo guard. He play much SG this preseason? I wonder if playing SG would help him develop.

Good report, Lip. I was at the game too and agree with your observations...I suspect the debate kept a few season ticket holders home...there was no problem hearing Thibs all night in the empty arena, although I sometimes need subtitles to understand what he's saying. Gotta love the intensity! The entry way is such an upgrade...they are much more prepared to handle big crowds now. I'm mixed on the scoreboard. My seats are low enough that I have to crane my neck to use the new scoreboard, and I don't think fans in the front 5 rows can use it at all. But the picture is unbelievably clear, and they provide multiple angles on replays...truly state of the art.

I'm one of the biggest Tyus fans on the board, but I would rank his performance equal to Dunn's last night...both were pretty ugly. There was absolutely no offensive flow when either of them was running the point, and Ricky's brilliance merely accentuates how ineffective they were. I expect poor PG play from Kris, but Tyus's performance left me with a sour taste in my mouth after three dominating quarters. I even got what I have been asking for with a Jones/Dunn backcourt pairing, but it was a disaster. I'm not giving up on that concept, but it sure was terrible last night.

My son and I commented on two transformed bodies...Gorgui and Belly. G is much bigger, as you pointed out, although he doesn't seem to have lost any quickness. He had a very efficient offensive game (19 points on 6 shots!), and his defensive brilliance extended far beyond his 4 blocked shots...just a great game. Belly is so much quicker after his 20 pound weight loss in the off season, and also didn't exhibit the hesitancy he did last year...he aggressively attacked the rim and shot whenever he was open (and once or twice when he wasn't!). He didn't shoot well, but his floor game and defense were terrific. His footwork is much improved, and his 3 steals against only 1 foul shows he's getting what NBA defense is all about. I think he is quick enough to keep up with many NBA SFs and was actually surprised Thibs didn't play him at SF with Bazz and Wig out. Instead he decided to give the 49 minutes to Rush, Murry and Butler, and they supplied just 3 rebounds between them...I think Belly is a better option.

Towns played like it was the 7th game of the championship series...so intense the entire game. My son and I were calling for Thibs to take him out because we were both worried about an injury playing the way he was. Getting to the line 17 times was his reward for his aggressiveness, and he made them all!

Some here are giving Dunn/Jones some slack because of the guys that were on the court with them, but I look at it in the opposite way...I felt both PGs were so bad that they dragged down the players on the court with them. Backup PG was a big problem last night, but if Thibs can get either to elevate their game, I'm actually not too worried about the second unit...being able to spell the starters with guys like Belly, Aldrich, Bazz and Rush is pretty comforting.

The final comment I want to make is about the defensive intensity. I was skeptical about how Thibs might improve the defense, but if last night is an example, he has already done a lot to transform them. I wouldn't have liked to be playing against our defense last night...it was hellishly disruptive. Thibs' intensity and constant harassing of the officials can be annoying (and even funny) at times, and I share Lipoli's concern that he might wear out his welcome after a while, but he sure looks like the real deal for this team right now.

bleedspeed177 wrote:Sounding like Dunn is a niche type player at a level just below Rubio as far as potential. Not good enough at anything to be more. I think he might best be served as a combo guard. He play much SG this preseason? I wonder if playing SG would help him develop.

To the best of my knowledge, bleed, last night was his first appearance at SG. He had some minutes in previous games where Thibs paired him with Lucas, but oddly it was clear that he was the PG and Lucas the SG. The Tyus/Kris pairing last night was a failure, but I hope Thibs tries it again because I still think it has some potential.