Minnesota Sports Forum

SJM -- Ricky looked bad early. Even his ball-handling was shaky early, which I've never seen from him before. But he came around later after he sat for a while following his second foul and he looked more like the old Ricky. I'm not worried about him. Lots more to Rory about with this team this season. But also a lot to be excited about. I agree with you on Wiggins having a Batum floor with enormous upside.

monsterpile wrote:I haven't seen the games and I don't know what defensive schemes the Wolves are trying to impliment but if its a legit team defense its gonna look ugly early on if everyone has to rely on particular principals of rotation etc. Guys have to learn to trust each other and know what to do. If one guy screws up everything breaks down. Flip has talked a big game on D but that's one thing I'm not really convinced about him being really good on except his idea of playing a zone which I think is a good idea. Its troublesome they let the Sixers do well though but I'm not gonna freak out too much.

Also Q thanks for being a voice of reason. I'm not nameing Williams 6th man of the year or all-star or anything I just think he is a vet combo guard that should be able to help off the bench. He is the opposite of Rubio which compliments him and actually has the skillset to score while also doing some PG stuff. He is better than JJ who I do think can still play but Williams should be a step up from even JJ's solid years. I sorta can't believe we got him to come here.

Monster, I think we'll find out once the regular season kicks in that Williams won't have much of an impact either way on our ability to exceed the Vegas over/under. I don't think he will hurt us much, but I just don't see him moving the needle the other way either. I'd call him a neutral presence at best on the court, a positive presence in the locker room.

lipoli390 wrote:SJM -- Ricky looked bad early. Even his ball-handling was shaky early, which I've never seen from him before. But he came around later after he sat for a while following his second foul and he looked more like the old Ricky. I'm not worried about him. Lots more to Rory about with this team this season. But also a lot to be excited about. I agree with you on Wiggins having a Batum floor with enormous upside.

I think Ricky looked really good in his 3rd quarter stint, where Philly tied it up after the first minute or so in and then he pretty much took over and led Minnesota to a 9-point lead before being subbed out for the rest of the game. He made a jumper, a layup, had a couple steals, and a few assists all in a 10-minute stretch. It was very impressive.

I've always felt that Wiggins had a very high floor and a somewhat low ceiling (for a #1 pick), meaning I just don't see "superstar" written on him. Kawhi Leonard perhaps, may be Paul George, but it's tough to ever see him reach the heights of elite wings like Kobe, LeBron, Wade, or Durant. He just doesn't have the handles or killer instinct offensively.

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:I haven't seen the games and I don't know what defensive schemes the Wolves are trying to impliment but if its a legit team defense its gonna look ugly early on if everyone has to rely on particular principals of rotation etc. Guys have to learn to trust each other and know what to do. If one guy screws up everything breaks down. Flip has talked a big game on D but that's one thing I'm not really convinced about him being really good on except his idea of playing a zone which I think is a good idea. Its troublesome they let the Sixers do well though but I'm not gonna freak out too much.

Also Q thanks for being a voice of reason. I'm not nameing Williams 6th man of the year or all-star or anything I just think he is a vet combo guard that should be able to help off the bench. He is the opposite of Rubio which compliments him and actually has the skillset to score while also doing some PG stuff. He is better than JJ who I do think can still play but Williams should be a step up from even JJ's solid years. I sorta can't believe we got him to come here.

Monster, I think we'll find out once the regular season kicks in that Williams won't have much of an impact either way on our ability to exceed the Vegas over/under. I don't think he will hurt us much, but I just don't see him moving the needle the other way either. I'd call him a neutral presence at best on the court, a positive presence in the locker room.

Neutral...that's a huge upgrade from JJ right? Lol How would you compare Williams impact this year to other backup combo guards from the past few years like JJ and Luke? I'd say he SHOULD be slightly better than those guys even the years they were solid for the Wolves because in the past Williams was a above average starter whereas the other guys were fringe starter as best at any point of their career. Thoughts?

Monster, I agree that Mo is an upgrade over Barea, but I would put him on pretty even footing with Ridnour (during his Minnesota years). Both excel at the 2-point mid range jumper, but Ridnour was even better at it. Mo has a bit more range, but Luke turned the ball over less. And neither are particularly great defenders. Remember that Luke rarely had the opportunity to play back-up, as injuries thrust him into the starting lineup, where he wasn't great, but he held his own on a lot of nights.

I just think folks aren't looking at Mo's production from the last couple of years and being realistic about his actual impact. He's not a bad player, but he's really not that good anymore.Patty Mills, DJ Augustin, Andre Miller, Nate Robinson, and Ramon Sessions were all better backup PGs last season than Mo. It's hard to see him as much of a competitive weapon off the bench. But yeah, he won't be terrible either.

It was the rotation on defense that made me cringe. There were way to many easy baskets at the rim which should be be fixable. I have one question, if the game is on the line, who will create his own shot and win the game?

Great game last night I like what I'm seeing so far. We aren't winning a championship this year so I'm not too worried about wins/losses, just how the team appears to be developing. Here's some observations:

The defense was not good but we clearly have players capable of playing great defense so hopefully that part comes around. You have to keep in mind last night we had 5 new guys playing, two of which were rookies. The key to team defense is playing it as a team and as much as we'd like to think everyone would be on the same page there have been many examples the first 2 games were players just aren't in sync yet. I would think our defense will improve once they've played together awhile and more of a defensive game plan put in place.

Mo Williams is going to be a huge upgrade this year. He's under control and can get other involved plus he seems to be a pretty good leader. I could see the addition of Mo leading to 5+ wins this year for two reasons. First he's better than JJ but more importantly he'll help the development of the young guys we'll be relying on off the bench. Guys like LaVine and Bennett will develop much better playing with him than they would playing with JJ.

really no mention of Flip holding out Fesenko? The guy could clearly solve our interior defensive problem but Flip REFUSES TO PLAY HIM! Clearly he must hate him for some reason

In defense of Ricky, check out his +/- number and you will see how important he is to the team. Like Lip I was surprised how shaky his ball handling was in the first half. But we know what he is, and he will be fine.

The thing about Zach to me is he looks like a point guard. I'm thinking it may be the best place for him over the long haul. He has excellent handles, dynamic quickness, and a great compete level. I'm quite frankly impressed. Flip picking at #13 made a hek of a choice.

That being said, I want to caution all of us to not make too many judgments during the preseason. The offense is usually ahead of the defense at this time of year and we just haven't had enough time to see what the defense will really be like. I like all of your general observations, but no way to make judgments at this point.

Great to have your reports back Lip

I was watching (see reading) the gamecast on BSPN. I saw a lot of updates like this:

Missed layup
Missed layup
offensive rebound
missed layup

Haha, mostly by Pek but others too. If this was a real game and we gave up 110 to the MCW and Noel-less Sixers, I would have been horrified. But hopefully Flip and Sam can fix some of that.

So some here have liked Lavine as more of a PG so far. If Flip thinks that too, then will he take time from Ricky? I'd like to see the two of them be our starting backcourt next year.