Minnesota Sports Forum

60WinTim wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2023 11:40 am Interesting lineup to close the quarter: Shake, Brown, SloMo, Naz, Rudy.

And Shake has been awesome!

Having SloMo means they can go really big at times since they don't really need a traditional PG on the floor, so long as at least one other guy can handle it a bit (like Shake).

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2023 11:45 am

60WinTim wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2023 11:40 am Interesting lineup to close the quarter: Shake, Brown, SloMo, Naz, Rudy.

And Shake has been awesome!

Having SloMo means they can go really big at times since they don't really need a traditional PG on the floor, so long as at least one other guy can handle it a bit (like Shake).

And then we start the 2nd quarter with a Conley/JMac backcourt...

It's nice to see KAT unafraid to let it fly, too! Although he did stick his leg out one time.

Troy Brown Jr.'s ability to be a plus rebounder from the wing position should help shore up a significant weakness from last year. Not sure about other aspects of his game though...just haven't paid much attention to him over the years.

SloMo hasn't been particularly sharp. Too much time in China?1?

Doncic can bring any well-thought out defensive scheme to its knees. He is so brilliant with the ball in his hands.

Preseason, but can we not continue to be awesome at blowing big ass leads?

Matt Ryan didn't exactly lock up that last two-way spot, did he?

60WinTim wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2023 1:35 pm Matt Ryan didn't exactly lock up that last two-way spot, did he?

I sure hope not. I'd like to see what Vit, Nix, Keels or Martin can do. Hopefully, each of them gets game time. Ryan missed every shot and he's older and I'm not seeing much developmental upside there. Waive him and let him try to impress in G League.

Always good to start things off with a win, even though it doesn't count. The big takeaway is that our starters beat their starters, which included their two best players while we were missing our best player.

NAW's 3-point shot seems to be sticking around for now. He was a very mediocre 3-point shooter until last season, where he made 38% of his 3s on Utah and Minnesota combined. Then in FIBA he made them at a 38.5% clip. And now he's off to a good start in the pre-season. It would be a huge boost if he can sustain that trend!

I didn’t watch the game, but I’m impressed by the box score stats of several key players. Great to see NAW score 11 efficient points, but even better to see that he pulled down 5 rebounds and had 2 blocks with only 1 turnover. Good to see Rudy get 3 blocks. Based on the box score, it looks like Naz picked up where he left off before his hand injury last season with 16 points, 7 rebounds, zero turnovers, only 1 foul and a +7. Shake’s shooting stats were impressive, but he ended up a -4 and committed 4 personal fouls. Garza was 6 for 13 from the field with 12 points, 6 rebounds and 1 block in only 11 minutes. That’s incredible productivity in such a small time frame. We really are loaded with talented bigs. At some point there will need to be a rebalance of the roster - even more so if Minott and/or Miller start to show some serious progress.

Overall, a good start to the preseason playing without our best player. That’s a good sign. But it’s just the first preseason game in the dessert.