Minnesota Sports Forum

lipoli390 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Just finished watching the game here are some thoughts.

Naz looks like a terrific find. If he gets in better shape and develops...he has some real upside. Damn I'm excited about him.

KBD got where he wanted on the court but was missing bunnies at the rim. If he makes a few of those in the middle of the game it wouldn't have been close.

Murphy continues to show he has some game at this level.

McLaughlin May sound like a lawyer but he has been impressive. Yeah he got his pocket picked but he was pretty good in this game and he gets after it on defense.

Terrell needs to quit driving the ball. Fortunately my guess is if he ever plays NBA minutes he will he spotting p from 3 not attacking off the dribble. I was impressed with his defense. The Miami guys were going off and he came in and they cooled down. 3 and D guard that can handle the ball on the perimeter can have value if the actually star in their role. That's why he looked worthwhile last season. He did that not driving into the teeth of the defense and throwing up crap or getting owned. I'm not saying he is a keeper just sayin

This was an impressive comeback for the Wolves. Herro looked like the man early on then...he looked like a man later. The Wolves got back on track and got back in the game. Martin continues to do some good work out there.

I agree with all your takes except the one on Murphy. I don't see him competing at the NBA level. He looked OK at times against summer league competition, but his lack of length and lack of athleticism will keep him out of the League.

Tell that to PJ Tucker. Of course PJ is an anomaly (so was Chuck Hayes) and I'm not suggesting Murphy will make it but like another poster said they didn't think he had a chance going to to summer league and now they think he has a chance. Murphy might actually be built better for this new NBA than Amile Jefferson was/is and weirdly Murphy's reworked shot looks a heck of a lot more intriguing than I expected after what amounts to weeks of work. Amile never took a single 3 in college. Murphy actually took them. Amile hasn't made it yet either but he also looked terrible his first summer league. I see Murphy having the rough outline of a bench "big" that can come in and do different things. I'm not betting on it happening but I think there is a chance. According to Wolfson he turned down some better opportunities to stay here because he had a good chance to make it long term with the Wolves. Which brings up a point worth mentioning somewhere.

Look at this summer league team and how not only it's put together but also how it plays. It has at most 4 "bigs" on the entire roster. Naz Reid, Murphy, KBD and that Laing dude that played at the end of one game. The other guy playing PF is Martin who has the length of a wing player. So really this whole summer league team has 2 traditionalu sized bigs and undersized big in Murphy and KBD. I think that's a sign of what we may be seeing from this franchise long forward what's more interesting is in this summer league it seems to be working. The Wolves are a talented group even with Culver and Nowell not playing but still it's pretty impressive what they are doing. This summer league team even though summer league should be taken as a grain of salt...make me think we have a front office that 1. Knows what they are doing and 2. Is actually doing something different/playing modern basketball backing up saying what they said they would do. Some of this gets back to Murphy. If he rounds out his game and can defend decently he fits all this stuff. I want to see him in Iowa with a chance to develop and it may take a while but again I can see the rough outline of a worthwhile rotation player. Are their 10 "big" guys playing in summer league that are as intriguing? 20? 30? Probably at least 20. That's why I'm not suggesting he is a priority but I'm intrigued. He seems to have a bit of that factor of just being able to play.

Grayson Allen...the first play he had that might have been dirty tonight they aren't even talking about. So that's 3 in one summer league game. I've been a Grayson Allen guy but tonight was not a good look for him. He just can't seem to help himself.

Monster - I'm with you in being impressed by the Wolves summer league squad. And I have the same sense as you that what we're seeing in this squad suggests some positive things about the new Wolves regime. The selection of players for the summer league roster, their style of play and the really good chemistry this squad has exhibited are all good signs about the quality of our front office and coaching staff. It's not definitive by any means, but it's something positive for an organization that hasn't given us a lot of positives. :)

monsterpile wrote:Grayson Allen...the first play he had that might have been dirty tonight they aren't even talking about. So that's 3 in one summer league game. I've been a Grayson Allen guy but tonight was not a good look for him. He just can't seem to help himself.

And the grizzlies added him and josh jackson this off season. So is tyus supposed to play the big brother role and babysit these 2 knuckleheads?

This broadcast crew has not gotten off to a good start but the Wolves have. I'm interested to see what Roby looks like.

I thought I had seen Greg Stiemsma in a picture during summer league mini camp but wasn't sure but he is definitely sitting behind the Wolves bench in this game.

That was one of the whackiest half court shots I have seen.

Martin continues to be impressive.

Kelan Martin continues to impress with his offense. He's made a couple of nice recoveries defensively, but boy, he finds himself out of position a lot. I can see that end could be a struggle for him. But man, his shot looks really pure.

Q12543 wrote:Kelan Martin continues to impress with his offense. He's made a couple of nice recoveries defensively, but boy, he finds himself out of position a lot. I can see that end could be a struggle for him. But man, his shot looks really pure.

That one time his man got past him and went for the dunk but he recovered and either blocked it or at least had a contest was an example of what you are saying.

McLaughlin seems like he is pretty good at ending up with a hand in the face of of his man whenever they actually get off a shot. One thing I like about him is he hasn't really forced anything. He seems like a guy that could play as a guy that would be able to play off other good players. I'm praising him and then he has another end of half blunder but I don't know how he wasn't fouled on that play.

Okogie out for the rest of the game, ankle injury.