lipoli390 wrote:We're about to leave Vegas after 4 days of summer league basketball. We watched all three Wolves games and a ton of other games from ideal seats near the court. It was a blast.
Here are some of my main take-aways regarding the Wolves:
1. I loved the way we played with ball-movement and shot-selection we haven't seen from the Wolves or their summer league teams the past several years. It was refreshing to see the crisp, smart yet instinctive passing and shot selection that minimized long twos in favor of threes and layups/dunks. I see this style as reflective of what we can expect from the Wolves' NBA team and that's something to look forward to.
2. I really liked Paglioni as head coach. He has a great presence about him. He helped create great chemistry on the bench and on the court. Watching and listening to him up close, he struck me as really smart and a great communicator. I actually see him as a better head coach than Ryan Saunders. It will be great to have him on the bench as one of Ryan's assistants.
3. Naz Reid is an NBA player and could be a very good one. He's really big when you see him in person. He has a beautiful shot with genuine 3-point range. He could end up a steal among undrafted free agents.
4. The only keepers among the unsigned summer league players, in my view, are Martin and McLaughlin. Martin is a definite keeper in my view and should be signed to our 15th roster spot. The Wolves should also consider giving our other 2-way contract to McLaughlin. He's quick, a great ball-handler, smart and has a nice 3-point shot. But there might be other summer league players with other teams who would be better choices for that other 2-way.
5. Bates-Diop showed nice progress from last season and looks like a definite NBA rotation player who could develop into something even more than that. He's very fluid and has a terrific combination of length and skill. The guy is really long and uses his length well.
6. Okogie, one of my favorites, was a huge disappointment. I saw absolutely no progress from him over last season on the offensive end. With his physical gifts he should have dominated summer league on both ends after a full season of NBA ball with some reasonably significant minutes. I'm beginning to think this guy will never get it. But he's a terrific rebounder and I still see him becoming a stellar defender; he's already a good one. And he's still only 20 years old with only one season of NBA ball on limited minutes. Oladipo didn't mature into the player he is until his 5th season. So there's still hope. But he has a long way to go.
Some other take-aways:
1. Best player in summer league by far was Lonnie Walker IV. I have no doubt this guy is going to be a star. He was in a class by himself. Second best player by far was Zhaire Smith. He wasn't quite as impressive as Lonnie, but he looked really good. After Lonnie and Zhaire, no other player came close. What I saw in Walker and Smith was what I wanted to see in Okogie. But Okogie's performance wasn't even in the same ballpark.
2. The only team that I thought played as the Wolves as a team was the Spurs. In fact, the passing and overall teamwork I saw from the Wolves was very Spurs-like. The Spurs summer league team exhibited the same.
3. The Chinese team really executes well. They beat the Hornets by 4 points last night. We saw the game from just behind China's bench. The Chinese team is all about fundamentals. They have Zhou Qi, who plays for the Rockets. He's really long and a great shooter. They have a couple other players I think the Wolves should consider.
That's it for now. We're off to the airport.
Thanks for the reports Lip!
When you have a chance you should compare Culver and Smith's numbers at Texas Tech from their freshman seasons. It gets more interesting when you look at their totals for the season as Smith only took 40 thread compared to 144 for Culver. Z. Smith is a bit of a forgotten piece for the Sixers but I remember they were very high on him and he had a rep as being a defense first guy that could fit around other players. That floor would be helpful go a team looking to contend.
One other thing is there any thoughts you have on how various guys look physically in person?
Thanks for the tip on comparative college stats of Culver and Smith. I'll check those out. I'd forgotten that Smith played at Texas Tech. In the game we saw, Smith had a poor 1st half but looked dominant on both ends in the second half. Note that he didn't play much at all last season because of an allergic reaction and some other injury. So he was dominating in summer league without much of any NBA experience. Again, Okogie is really disappointing by comparison. Note that Smith was taken #16 and Lonnie Walker at #18. Can't help but wonder whether things would have been different if Rosas had been out PBO last summer. He showed this season his interest and savvy in moving up in the draft. It's frustrating to think that Walker was taken only two spots above our Okogie pick. So close but yet so far.
The injury Smith had was he broke his foot.
Also remember that the 6ers picked Mikal Bridges at #10 and he was their guy but the Suns for some reason really wanted him and gave up Miami's 2021 to get him with the 6ers getting Smith who they obviously also liked but was much less of a finished product. Of course that Miami pick is now with OKC. It will be interesting to see how some of the picks from that draft pan out. So far outside of the top few picks Shamet was about as promising as about any other wing type out side the top couple picks and he went #26. Smith, Walker and Porter jr are all guys that basically will be rookies this season and have varying degrees of promise. I suspect it's goikg to be a pretty solid draft class. I do think Okogie has a chance to be a real impact player because of his defense and still has some tools to work with offensively and I think he is going full force at this level to see what he can do. I'd guess he backs off when real games happen.
Monster -- It will definitely be interesting to see how last year's draft class turns out. I agree that so far Shamet was about as promising as any rookie wing, although I'd say G-Alexander was the most promising. I think those two, Lonnie Walker and Zhaire Smith will turn out to be the best from that class outside players selected in the top 5. I can see Walker and G-Alexander ending up the two best in the entire class. I agree that Okogie still has the chance to be a major impact player because of his defense (and I would add, rebounding).
As for how some guys looked physically in person, here are some of my observations.
Regarding the Wolves, Naz Reid was more impressive physically that I expected him to be even though I expected him to be big. He's massive - long and wide. Although he recorded a really high body-fat percentage at the combine (for an NBA prospect), he doesn't look fat.
And he had nice bounce off the floor. It's really exciting to think of what he can be if he trims his body fat from 14% to around 8% (the high end of the typical NBA prospect range). Then add NBA experience and good player development coaching. He's the most exciting thing for me coming out of summer league. Martin also looked physically imposing - much bigger than his bio suggests.
Regarding non-Wolves, Coby White looked thinner than he looks on TV. He has really narrow shoulders. So he's not going to be able to add much weight/strength. Not surprisingly, he looked really quick and appeared to be a better ballhandler than I thought, in spite of his odd high dribble. He also looked like a better playmaker than I thought. But my wife and I both observed that he seemed aloof from and not in tune with his teammates. And his low release on his jump shot will likely be problematic at the NBA level. I'm glad we passed on him in favor of Culver. Lonnie Walker looked really long as well as super quick. Zhou Qi is super long with a beautiful 3-point stroke. With his length, that shot is nearly unblockable. I do think the Wolves should explore his availability. How about Wiggins for Qi and salary? :)
Forgot to mention that I ran into LST at the Bellagio. As we all know, he hasn't posted in a long time after growing weary of the nasty tone exhibited by some on this board. He's optimistic about this upcoming season based on the new and better style of play we saw exhibited by our summer league squad. We both agreed we'd miss tyus. LST's wife had the same take I had on Murphy. We loved him and the way he played, but his lack of athleticism and length suggest he won't be a good player at the next level.
Good stuff Lip. Note I didn't include SGA because I said wings. I'd consider him a PG right now but really both he and Shamet could end up having positional flexibility as guards.
Glad to hear LST is doing well.
I want to see more from Murphy. Game 3 was pretty good I maybe liked some of what he did on defense as much as anything.
I try not to take too much from interview of players but what I did see of Coby White he didn't exactly seem...too smart. I wouldn't see he sounded dumb but it was a bit concerning. I keep hearing the league was really split on whether he was a SG or a PG. that's an age old question for a number of draft picks.
Watching a lot of these summer league games, the thing that really separates the good offensive NBA players and these fringe types is how they finish plays. A lot of these summer league guys have the initial burst, shake, or dribble to free themselves up, but then when they get to the next level defense or contest, they struggle to finish the play and get a bucket.
Terrell is a poster child for this. The guy is a physical specimen with plenty of size, strength, and quickness to manufacture opportunities, but then it's in that last step of the process that he looks completely clueless. I hate to say it, but Okogie isn't much better. He can get into the lane almost at will, but then does things like take off too early and miss a contested dunk or wait too long and end up charging into a stand-still defender. Frustrating to watch, because he checks the box on everything physical you would ever want in a 2-guard.
Lip's pretty much drawn the line in the sand with his take that Gersson Rosas made a mistake not trading Robert Covington to move up to draft Darius Garland.
I won't go that far, but I'll reiterate what I said on draft night. I would have stayed at 11 and taken Tyler Herro. He's going to be really, really good.
Camden0916 wrote:Lip's pretty much drawn the line in the sand with his take that Gersson Rosas made a mistake not trading Robert Covington to move up to draft Darius Garland.
I won't go that far, but I'll reiterate what I said on draft night. I would have stayed at 11 and taken Tyler Herro. He's going to be really, really good.
Cam - We could both be right. we could both be wrong and Gersson right. It hinges on how good Culver becomes. LST really likes Culver. He said he liked him earlier in the season but thought wouldn't have a chance to get him given our initial position.
So let's hope Gersson and LST turn out to be right.
Camden0916 wrote:Lip's pretty much drawn the line in the sand with his take that Gersson Rosas made a mistake not trading Robert Covington to move up to draft Darius Garland.
I won't go that far, but I'll reiterate what I said on draft night. I would have stayed at 11 and taken Tyler Herro. He's going to be really, really good.
Cam - We could both be right. we could both be wrong and Gersson right. It hinges on how good Culver becomes. LST really likes Culver. He said he liked him earlier in the season but thought wouldn't have a chance to get him given our initial position.
So let's hope Gersson and LST turn out to be right.
Did LST expand on why he liked Culver?
Did you offer him the mid-level money to get him out of retirement and back on the board's roster or is he enjoying a profitable real estate business like Magic Johnson and Kevin Martin? :)
