Iowa Wolves

[Q-is-here]

Lip, I think Rudy may be around for a long time, as he brings something to the table that none of the others do and that's paint protection. That is something that can age pretty well, especially since he relies on positioning and sheer length versus athleticism. I could see the Wolves re-signing him.

KAT and Naz may indeed get dealt and in that case Miller and/or Minott might come in handy.

[Carlos Danger]

I just hope we see more of both Miller and Minott this season. I'm not saying regular rotations...but man it would be great to throw them more than a 3 minute bone to close out blowouts. It's just a tiny sample, but both guys at least have good stats with the big club. I know it means nothing, but it's fun to look at the per 36 numbers of both at the NBA level:

Miller: 25.7 points, 17.1 rebounds and a 28.6 PER
Minott: 22.3 points, 2.9 rebounds (yes, that's right) and 19.2 PER

Now compare that to our disappointment...
Moore Jr: 8.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and a PER of 8.6

Again, we are talking about samples of 20-50 minutes, so it's tiny. But still - fun to look at and extrapolate how that would look at a per 36 level.

Edit: looked up more stats...
Miller is currently #1 in Win Shares/48 from last year's draft class. And he's tied for 9th in VORP. Based on VORP, it looks like an overall underwhelming draft class (so far) behind Wenbenyama. Example, Keyonte George is a negative 0.3 VORP. He was the #16 pick that we sent to Utah as part of the Rudy trade. They nailed the Kessler pick the previous year, but maybe now see the other side of the draft pick luck even out.

[Monster]

I don't watch the games...I'm more of a money ball/stat watcher. And his stats are a mixed bag, so I still don't know what we've got. Examples...I filtered stats from NBA.com to show both showcase and regular season (35 games). I then advanced filtered to show only players with 10 or more games (to eliminate small sample guys). I find Miller as

#28th in PPG
#18 in Rebounds/game
Both are pretty good considering his age. But even better when I see his minutes per game are way less than the leaders (he ranks like 90th on the list in MPG)

Now the bad side...his minus seven points/game plus/minus is at the very bottom of the league...something like 398th out of 409 players in my filter. That obviously plays into what you are saying above and I do not discount that by any means. I hope we get some games with the big team where he can play extended minutes. I would like to see him play with our guys to really get a better fix on what we have there.

If you look at just his regular season stats over 14 games, he is 11th in PPG and 6th in Rebounding. And he is younger than everyone above him in both categories. Given how young he is, I think it's fair to look at his most recent chunk of games versus Regular + Showcase since he's obviously been gradually taking on a bigger role with the Iowa team and still developing, especially on offense.

His usage, 3 point shooting, and assist rate have all increased throughout the course of the G-League season. He is without question one of the most naturally talented players on a G-league court on any given night. His defensive technique is absolute shit and his effort is generally poor, but like I said, it looked better in the last game I watched.

Assuming he eventually breaks through into an NBA rotation, I think his best position PF. While he has decent height and length, he is on the thin side and is just too much of a liability to anchor an NBA defense at Center. But put him between an elite defensive Center like Rudy and wing like Jaden and may be you can hide him while featuring him on offense.

The thing is, we already have KAT and Naz. Miller brings almost nothing to the table that those two can't already do for the most part (he may ultimately be a better ball handler and passer, but that is TBD). So unless we plan on trading one of those two, it's hard to see how Miller fits with this franchise over the medium term. I do think he could have some value as a trade chip.

Rudy has one season left on his contract and a player option the next season - at most two seasons unless he is re-signed to a new deal. Naz has one season left and a player option after that - again two more seasons after this one. More importantly, I don’t see this team keeping Rudy, KAT, Jaden and Naz beyond next season. I don’t think this organization (or any organization outside of LA) can stay above the 2nd apron for more than one year. In other words, Miller and Minott are potentially important to this organization as players in a year or two, not just trade chips.

Lip you didn’t mention Kyle Anderson is a FA this year. I don’t know if the Wolves will pay to keep him or possibly find a cheap vet to help replace him if they don’t but even as soon as next year the Wolves may need some younger players to help out. I’m not really suggesting any of the young players are ready for that but there may be a need/opportunity. Reid got his opportunity his rookie year after going up drafted and ran with it and has basically continued to do so. Or on the other hand they might be used as trade chips to add to the roster.

[Q-is-here]

With Miller, Minott, and Martin not playing, DJ Carton exploded for 38 points, 8 assists, 3 steals and only 2 TOs in a 113-111 win on the road for Iowa. He was a +10 on the night.

When playing with a full lineup, Carton usually plays more like a Mike Conley or Monte Morris - deferring to other players and just being a solid game manager - in the first half and then may look a little more for his shot in the second half. It's one reason he doesn't put up gaudy stat lines. But tonight he was missing his top three scoring options so he had a green light.

This guy is going to get a shot with an NBA club. Not sure it will be us, but he deserves a chance. Has the potential to be a very solid backup PG.

[Monster]

With Miller, Minott, and Martin not playing, DJ Carton exploded for 38 points, 8 assists, 3 steals and only 2 TOs in a 113-111 win on the road for Iowa. He was a +10 on the night.

When playing with a full lineup, Carton usually plays more like a Mike Conley or Monte Morris - deferring to other players and just being a solid game manager - in the first half and then may look a little more for his shot in the second half. It's one reason he doesn't put up gaudy stat lines. But tonight he was missing his top three scoring options so he had a green light.

This guy is going to get a shot with an NBA club. Not sure it will be us, but he deserves a chance. Has the potential to be a very solid backup PG.

From what I have seen from him as you alluded to Q he has the game to be a guy willing to play a role so he isn’t a dude just balling out and then having to go to the NBA just being a guy out there. One thing I’ll mention about him for people that haven’t seen him much. He is pretty athletic vertically. He isn’t the athletic freak that Isaiah Miller is but he has some above average gifts. I think the reason he hasn’t got a shot yet in addition to not looking like the strongest guy is I do think he hasn’t been consistent and or popped enough. I think teams want to be more wowed. I also don’t know what his defense is like. I don’t think he is bad on that end but I’m not sure he would be an asset either. If that’s the case below average defending combo guards the offense needs to really pop. I like him though his 3 point shooting has come around although not at an high volume and the last 2 seasons in the g-league he has 69% TS. I think to some extent at this point he is a success story for the Iowa Wolves organization even if he never ends up playing in the NBA.

[Q-is-here]

With Miller, Minott, and Martin not playing, DJ Carton exploded for 38 points, 8 assists, 3 steals and only 2 TOs in a 113-111 win on the road for Iowa. He was a +10 on the night.

When playing with a full lineup, Carton usually plays more like a Mike Conley or Monte Morris - deferring to other players and just being a solid game manager - in the first half and then may look a little more for his shot in the second half. It's one reason he doesn't put up gaudy stat lines. But tonight he was missing his top three scoring options so he had a green light.

This guy is going to get a shot with an NBA club. Not sure it will be us, but he deserves a chance. Has the potential to be a very solid backup PG.

From what I have seen from him as you alluded to Q he has the game to be a guy willing to play a role so he isn’t a dude just balling out and then having to go to the NBA just being a guy out there. One thing I’ll mention about him for people that haven’t seen him much. He is pretty athletic vertically. He isn’t the athletic freak that Isaiah Miller is but he has some above average gifts. I think the reason he hasn’t got a shot yet in addition to not looking like the strongest guy is I do think he hasn’t been consistent and or popped enough. I think teams want to be more wowed. I also don’t know what his defense is like. I don’t think he is bad on that end but I’m not sure he would be an asset either. If that’s the case below average defending combo guards the offense needs to really pop. I like him though his 3 point shooting has come around although not at an high volume and the last 2 seasons in the g-league he has 69% TS. I think to some extent at this point he is a success story for the Iowa Wolves organization even if he never ends up playing in the NBA.

He's always had to defer to guys that were drafted or on two-way deals and it's hard to stand out when you don't carry much usage as a point guard and just sort of manage the game. But he's demonstrated that when they need offense from him he can produce at a high volume and with efficiency. And yes, he has NBA athleticism and good enough size for a PG.

I would take him over Nix every day of the week. I think he could at least carve out a niche like McLaughlin has, as a 3rd string PG that can play some backup minutes when needed.

[Q-is-here]

DJ Carton highlights from last night....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa0lEoQWlvM

[FNG]

DJ Carton highlights from last night....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa0lEoQWlvM

Thanks for that, Q...quite an impressive performance.

I have pooh poohed Carton's chances as an NBA player because of his meagre college stats. But I spent the last half hour reading about his story, and I have to admit I'm a little more intrigued now. Maybe you guys know about him. He was a 4-star recruit out of Bettendorf, Iowa. Watching some video of him in high school, he was one of the few African Americans on the court. In fact his parents are both very midwestern white (I assume he is adopted). He took a leave of absence during his freshman year at Ohio State, and later transferred to Marquette. I watched an interview with him mom (his parents seem like very smart and loving parents...DJ seems to be quite smart too). She talked about how heartbreaking it was to watch him go through his bouts of depression and eating disorder. In his final game of his freshman year, he went 17/5/4 in just 19 minutes...but his mom, who was at the game, reported that he was throwing up in a garbage can during every time out. She found out after the game that he hadn't eaten anything in 4 days. He left Ohio State after that game.

I saw a teaser of feature on him on a Bettendorf news show, but I couldn't find it. But they talked about how he eventually sought help for his mental struggles, and presumably is doing better now.

Anyway, I don't know exactly what to make of his story, but his average performance in college seems a lot more impressive when you know what this young man has been going through. Needless to say I'm going to be more interested in his performance now that I know his back story. Thanks for the updates, Carlos and Q!

[Q-is-here]

FNG, I was not familiar with DJ Carton's backstory. I had never even looked at what he did in college since he has a large body of work in the G-League and is multiple years removed from his NCAA playing days.

Thanks for sharing. It makes me want to root for him even more!

[Carlos Danger]

I'm still not finding any new information on Jaylen Clark. Basketball Reference simply states "no timetable for return" but at the time we drafted him, it was expected he'd be back to basketball activities in February. Hopefully we get some good news soon.

And not an Iowa guy, but basically part of our minor league/non Timberwolves roster, I looked up Matteo Spagnolo and see he's had a couple solid games recently:

https://www.proballers.com/basketball/p ... o-spagnolo