Minnesota Sports Forum

lipoli390 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:I've never liked Gallo, but that's three clutch shots with hands in his face. I didn't see anything wrong with KMart's defense on him there. Just gotta tip your hat to Gallo.

You win with veterans. Ironic that it took an injury to their prize rookie to get Denver back in the game. Otherwise Malone would have kept Mudiay out there, and we would have won easily.

Martin did the best he could on Gallo at the end. But he was no match for Gallo. The problem was allowing Denver to the force the switch. The real problem was Prince. He was repeatedly chasing Gallo, unable to stay with him, allowing Gallo to get his feet set and get great looks. Prince is 35 but his poor mobility makes him look 40.

What else are we going to do though? There are really only a couple defenders on this squad you can really trust and no one is perfect. Bazz cannot be trusted to guard the likes of Gallo or even Barton. So now the options get really limited: Prince? Wiggins? Martin? LaVine? Wiggins and Prince are the two best of the bunch.

Ultimately I think we need to get a better, younger version of Prince. A low usage defensive specialist that can also make wide open 3's.

Done with K-mart and Prince at this point. Move Zack into the starting lineup, let Miller and Tyus backup Ricky, and more burn for Bjelica and Bazz.

alexftbl8181 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Wig is going to be a great player, but he's not a clutch player yet. His free throw percentage drops at crunch time, and he wouldn't normally miss that open 10-footer. Gotta be patient with these kids though.

He misses shots and free throws in crunch time. He passes the ball to Martin on a 2 on 1 break. He has a poor handle for an NBA wing. I love his physical talent. But I can't say he'll be a great player. My jury is way out on him. But I am prepared to say that Towns will be a great player - mental toughness, competitive fire, high BB IQ, great complete skill set for his position. Those are the building blocks of great players.

Wiggins is 20 years old. Guy still has a little bit of time to work on his handle and free throw shooting. Need to relax

If his unclutch tendency continues it's going to become a mental issue for Wiggins just like any shot is for Rubio. The more it happens the more pressure he'll feel to fix it, and the harder it'll become to fix.

lipoli390 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Wig is going to be a great player, but he's not a clutch player yet. His free throw percentage drops at crunch time, and he wouldn't normally miss that open 10-footer. Gotta be patient with these kids though.

He misses shots and free throws in crunch time. He passes the ball to Martin on a 2 on 1 break. He has a poor handle for an NBA wing. I love his physical talent. But I can't say he'll be a great player. My jury is way out on him. But I am prepared to say that Towns will be a great player - mental toughness, competitive fire, high BB IQ, great complete skill set for his position. Those are the building blocks of great players.

I still think they are both going to be great players, but I agree that KAT becoming great is almost a certainty. He has exceeded my expectations in the first quarter of his rookie year by a large margin.

Q12543 wrote:low usage defensive specialist that can also make wide open 3's.

So in other words a player nothing like Prince?

TheSP wrote:

alexftbl8181 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Wig is going to be a great player, but he's not a clutch player yet. His free throw percentage drops at crunch time, and he wouldn't normally miss that open 10-footer. Gotta be patient with these kids though.

He misses shots and free throws in crunch time. He passes the ball to Martin on a 2 on 1 break. He has a poor handle for an NBA wing. I love his physical talent. But I can't say he'll be a great player. My jury is way out on him. But I am prepared to say that Towns will be a great player - mental toughness, competitive fire, high BB IQ, great complete skill set for his position. Those are the building blocks of great players.

Wiggins is 20 years old. Guy still has a little bit of time to work on his handle and free throw shooting. Need to relax

If his unclutch tendency continues it's going to become a mental issue for Wiggins just like any shot is for Rubio. The more it happens the more pressure he'll feel to fix it, and the harder it'll become to fix.

Wiggins mental issues are no where near the level of Rubios. Wiggins has made plenty of clutch plays so far. Let's not act like he's choking everytime at the end of games

alexftbl8181 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Wig is going to be a great player, but he's not a clutch player yet. His free throw percentage drops at crunch time, and he wouldn't normally miss that open 10-footer. Gotta be patient with these kids though.

He misses shots and free throws in crunch time. He passes the ball to Martin on a 2 on 1 break. He has a poor handle for an NBA wing. I love his physical talent. But I can't say he'll be a great player. My jury is way out on him. But I am prepared to say that Towns will be a great player - mental toughness, competitive fire, high BB IQ, great complete skill set for his position. Those are the building blocks of great players.

Wiggins is 20 years old. Guy still has a little bit of time to work on his handle and free throw shooting. Need to relax

I am relaxed. I didn't say Wiggins won't be good and I didn't even say he wouldn't be great. I was just responding to the prediction that Wiggins would be great. I think there are too many holes in his game to make that prediction. I listed some of those holes. They are as obvious as the fact that he's 20 years old - like Towns.

alexftbl8181 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Wig is going to be a great player, but he's not a clutch player yet. His free throw percentage drops at crunch time, and he wouldn't normally miss that open 10-footer. Gotta be patient with these kids though.

He misses shots and free throws in crunch time. He passes the ball to Martin on a 2 on 1 break. He has a poor handle for an NBA wing. I love his physical talent. But I can't say he'll be a great player. My jury is way out on him. But I am prepared to say that Towns will be a great player - mental toughness, competitive fire, high BB IQ, great complete skill set for his position. Those are the building blocks of great players.

Wiggins is 20 years old. Guy still has a little bit of time to work on his handle and free throw shooting. Need to relax

i am not worried about his clutch/unclutch play, in his age it is very rare to be able to close out games .. what worries me more is 3pt shot and ball handling, without 3pt shot he might be DeRozan 2.0 and with that ball handling you can put smaller good on ball defender who will not let him drive so he will be forced to shoot a ton of midrange

but i usually wait for end of third season before i evaluate youngsters :-)

Mstermisty wrote:Done with K-mart and Prince at this point. Move Zack into the starting lineup, let Miller and Tyus backup Ricky, and more burn for Bjelica and Bazz.

Plus 1

It's clear we aren't going to make the playoffs now so it's all about developing are younger guys. Playing prince 34 mins makes absolutely no sense.

longstrangetrip wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Wig is going to be a great player, but he's not a clutch player yet. His free throw percentage drops at crunch time, and he wouldn't normally miss that open 10-footer. Gotta be patient with these kids though.

He misses shots and free throws in crunch time. He passes the ball to Martin on a 2 on 1 break. He has a poor handle for an NBA wing. I love his physical talent. But I can't say he'll be a great player. My jury is way out on him. But I am prepared to say that Towns will be a great player - mental toughness, competitive fire, high BB IQ, great complete skill set for his position. Those are the building blocks of great players.

I still think they are both going to be great players, but I agree that KAT becoming great is almost a certainty. He has exceeded my expectations in the first quarter of his rookie year by a large margin.

I certainly think Wiggins has the potential to be great. But I've seen too many yellow flags that make me wonder whether he'll ever get there. Best thing he has going for him is time -- time as a 20 year old to improve his skills (ball-handling & perimeter shooting), his mental focus and his understanding of the game.