Minnesota Sports Forum

I saw most of the 2nd half of the Sac/GS game. Mitchell looks like a really nice player. He didn't score much in the 2nd half when I was watching but nice combination of athleticism, and skill. Surprised how smooth he was with the ball.

Duke13 wrote:I saw most of the 2nd half of the Sac/GS game. Mitchell looks like a really nice player. He didn't score much in the 2nd half when I was watching but nice combination of athleticism, and skill. Surprised how smooth he was with the ball.

Yeah, he put on a clinic in the first half with blow by drives and pull-up jumpers. I liked him a lot at Baylor and his defense truly is as good as advertised. I was surprised when Sacramento took him, though. I'm not sure what their plan is with their top-three guards.

Camden0916 wrote:Wow! Ja Morant goes to the line needing to hit three free throws with just seconds left in the game and he clanked the last one. Unbelievable! I'll take it, though!

PS: These Lakers really do look and play their age. They're slow. They're unathletic. They're sloppy. Obviously, they have a largely new roster, but they have a lot of work to do if they want to play deep into the postseason.

They remind me a lot of the 03-04 team when the brought Payton and Malone in past there primes.

Camden wrote:

Duke13 wrote:I saw most of the 2nd half of the Sac/GS game. Mitchell looks like a really nice player. He didn't score much in the 2nd half when I was watching but nice combination of athleticism, and skill. Surprised how smooth he was with the ball.

Yeah, he put on a clinic in the first half with blow by drives and pull-up jumpers. I liked him a lot at Baylor and his defense truly is as good as advertised. I was surprised when Sacramento took him, though. I'm not sure what their plan is with their top-three guards.

I'm with you guys on Mitchell- one of my favorite players in college and of course Summer League MVP!

And how about Jalen Green last night after I posted last week he wasn't my type of player. Apparently I don't like guys who put up 30 and make 8 out of 10 threes :rolls: .

Even though the Knicks lost last night, I love the way Thibs uses Derrick Rose and how Rose has embraced his role off the bench. 23 points last night in only 29 minutes. He seems to have developed a reliable 3-point shot late in his career (41% last season on admittedly few attempts, but 10 for 17 this season on more volume). Defenders have to respect his ability to get to the basket, and that will give him more open looks than most players. Hitting threes at this rate is going to make him even more dangerous. I'm loving seeing the success he's having.

Well, I feel a little better seeing that the Nuggets lost at home to Cleveland. Former Wolves Love and Rubio coming off the bench for them - that's a pretty damn good duo to have in your back pocket as a coach if your team needs a lift.

Damian Lillard only scored 12 points last night on 4-15 shooting and 0-8 from three. I'm not comparing Lillard to D'Angelo Russell, but it is conceivable that these perimeter-oriented, high usage guards just have bad games from time to time. Minnesota needs Russell to be much better moving forward as does Portland with Lillard. These guys are too talented, albeit on completely different tiers in the league, to have many more of these duds in the future.

Camden wrote:Damian Lillard only scored 12 points last night on 4-15 shooting and 0-8 from three. I'm not comparing Lillard to D'Angelo Russell, but it is conceivable that these perimeter-oriented, high usage guards just have bad games from time to time. Minnesota needs Russell to be much better moving forward as does Portland with Lillard. These guys are too talented, albeit on completely different tiers in the league, to have many more of these duds in the future.

Meh.

Not really sure what the intent here is comparing 6-time All NBA player, Dame Lillard, with one-time all star, D. Russell.

We all know even the best players have bad games or stretches. So there's no news here other than to soften the negativity toward Russell by scouring the league looking for another guard struggling. Everybody knows Lillard is a top 10 or 15 players in the league and will be fine, ultimately.

But there are still legitimate concerns whether Russell is capable of producing close to what's often expected of an all star or max player. Unlike Lillard, his track record is much more spotty, so concerns may be more legitimate.

Obviously, we'll know more in a couple of weeks. Or, a couple of months.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Camden wrote:Damian Lillard only scored 12 points last night on 4-15 shooting and 0-8 from three. I'm not comparing Lillard to D'Angelo Russell, but it is conceivable that these perimeter-oriented, high usage guards just have bad games from time to time. Minnesota needs Russell to be much better moving forward as does Portland with Lillard. These guys are too talented, albeit on completely different tiers in the league, to have many more of these duds in the future.

Meh.

Not really sure what the intent here is comparing 6-time All NBA player, Dame Lillard, with one-time all star, D. Russell.

We all know even the best players have bad games or stretches. So there's no news here other than to soften the negativity toward Russell by scouring the league looking for another guard struggling. Everybody knows Lillard is a top 10 or 15 players in the league and will be fine, ultimately.

But there are still legitimate concerns whether Russell is capable of producing close to what's often expected of an all star or max player. Unlike Lillard, his track record is much more spotty, so concerns may be more legitimate.

Obviously, we'll know more in a couple of weeks. Or, a couple of months.

Ultimately I'm measuring DLO and KAT on Net Rating this year, meaning I'm concerned less about their individual box score stats and more about overall team performance while they are on the court. Both are at a point in their career and on this team where they are expected to be leaders and make players around them better. Obviously missing a bunch of shots doesn't help the individual stats or team stats, so there is correlation between the two, but ultimately team performance comes first, followed by individual stat lines. We're only three games in, so still too early to even peek at that stat yet.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Camden wrote:Damian Lillard only scored 12 points last night on 4-15 shooting and 0-8 from three. I'm not comparing Lillard to D'Angelo Russell, but it is conceivable that these perimeter-oriented, high usage guards just have bad games from time to time. Minnesota needs Russell to be much better moving forward as does Portland with Lillard. These guys are too talented, albeit on completely different tiers in the league, to have many more of these duds in the future.

Meh.

Not really sure what the intent here is comparing 6-time All NBA player, Dame Lillard, with one-time all star, D. Russell.

We all know even the best players have bad games or stretches. So there's no news here other than to soften the negativity toward Russell by scouring the league looking for another guard struggling. Everybody knows Lillard is a top 10 or 15 players in the league and will be fine, ultimately.

But there are still legitimate concerns whether Russell is capable of producing close to what's often expected of an all star or max player. Unlike Lillard, his track record is much more spotty, so concerns may be more legitimate.

Obviously, we'll know more in a couple of weeks. Or, a couple of months.

Be honest. Do you read the entire post before responding? We're not comparing D'Angelo Russell and Damian Lillard as players. I certainly didn't when I wrote that. I also didn't "scour the league" looking for anything. I looked at the games from last night, as I usually do the following morning, and noticed an atypical box score for one of my favorite players in the league in Lillard. I drew a parallel from that realization, however. D-Lo isn't the only high usage guard getting off to a slow and bizarre (for them) start to the season. They'll both likely turn it around and resort back to their expected levels of production. The shots will go in. That's it.