Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Jon K says signs point to Shabazz signing with someone else...no surprise to us here, even though many of us wanted him back. Bazz has always considered himself a starter (and even a potential all star!) and knows he will never be thought of that way here.

So now we are on to other pursuits. Jon said recent tryouts have included T. Robinson, A Anderson, T Burke, I Canaan, A Morrow and P Jones. Nothing to get too excited about, but some decent names to fill out a roster.

I think it's pretty clear NBA teams don't view Bazz as a possible starter. I don't have a problem with him working towards a goal but he may have to look for the best place to have him come off the bench and do something. I honestly don't see many options better than the Wolves and playing for a winner can help your stock. Oh well I wish him the best.

Yeah, I wish him well too...seems like a good guy. And I agree that the league is sending him a message that he is not an NBA starter. I don't think Bazz gets that message though. This is a guy who was considered the #1 player in the country all through his teens, and then set the all-time Pac 10 freshman scoring record. I think he truly believes that given a chance he would be a 25 PPG all-star. I think he ends up with the Lakers.

longstrangetrip wrote:

Yeah, I wish him well too...seems like a good guy. And I agree that the league is sending him a message that he is not an NBA starter. I don't think Bazz gets that message though. This is a guy who was considered the #1 player in the country all through his teens, and then set the all-time Pac 10 freshman scoring record. I think he truly believes that given a chance he would be a 25 PPG all-star. I think he ends up with the Lakers.

I agree. I think he could be a 25ppg scorer, but not sure his team would win enough for him to be an all-star.

bleedspeed177 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

Yeah, I wish him well too...seems like a good guy. And I agree that the league is sending him a message that he is not an NBA starter. I don't think Bazz gets that message though. This is a guy who was considered the #1 player in the country all through his teens, and then set the all-time Pac 10 freshman scoring record. I think he truly believes that given a chance he would be a 25 PPG all-star. I think he ends up with the Lakers.

I agree. I think he could be a 25ppg scorer, but not sure his team would win enough for him to be an all-star.

Just how bad of a team would he need to join to get to 25 ppg?

The highest he's ever averaged per 36 minutes is 21.3... and that was on a really crappy 16 - 66 team where he was fighting for shots with Chase Budinger, Robbie Hummel, Thad Young and the decaying corpse known as Nikola Pekovic.

Muhammad was actually 2nd on the team in FGA per 36 minutes. The next highest per 36 ppg is only 18.5.

Abe - I guess really bad.

bleedspeed177 wrote:Abe - I guess really bad.

G-league? :)

We know the guy can score. How many 20mpg guys basically are double digit scoring guys? What Bazz does he does it relatively efficiently but that is pretty much all he does but he plays hard. Bazz and Burke turn 25 in November.

Bazz isn't skilled enough to score much more than 20 PPG in a full time starting role. His handles are horrific, he can't go right, and he is generally terrible pulling up off the dribble. He has a nose, hunger, and tunnel-like focus on getting buckets which makes up for a lot of his limitations. Unfortunately, it comes at the price of making the extra pass and floor spacing.

Kirk Hinrich anybody?

https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/905884304374460417

MikeAz wrote:Kirk Hinrich anybody?

https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/905884304374460417

Man, we're getting pretty desperate. We are so, so thin on the wing. I consider Jamal Crawford a liability at this point in his career. Yet he is our #1 backup wing and would have to step in as a starter if either Butler or Wiggins went down! Not good!

Q12543 wrote:

MikeAz wrote:Kirk Hinrich anybody?

https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/905884304374460417

Man, we're getting pretty desperate. We are so, so thin on the wing. I consider Jamal Crawford a liability at this point in his career. Yet he is our #1 backup wing and would have to step in as a starter if either Butler or Wiggins went down! Not good!

That's a huge concern going into this season. I'm also not sold on Crawford, and in no way is he a starter on a playoff team. I was pleased that Anthony Morrow was in town yesterday for a workout, and hope we can work out a deal for him that will give us a little more SG depth.

longstrangetrip wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

MikeAz wrote:Kirk Hinrich anybody?

https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/905884304374460417

Man, we're getting pretty desperate. We are so, so thin on the wing. I consider Jamal Crawford a liability at this point in his career. Yet he is our #1 backup wing and would have to step in as a starter if either Butler or Wiggins went down! Not good!

That's a huge concern going into this season. I'm also not sold on Crawford, and in no way is he a starter on a playoff team. I was pleased that Anthony Morrow was in town yesterday for a workout, and hope we can work out a deal for him that will give us a little more SG depth.

Heinrich is a local guy and so I'm a bit of a homer about him plus the guy just always seems to know how to play. Calderon is still in the league and he has been a better shooter but Heinrich has been pretty good shooting te 3 and my guess even if he is pretty much done he would be 3x the defender Caldron is/was. He seems like a reasonable guy to being in for a workout and see where he is at.

Also you wonder if a guy like Aaron Brooks hasn't signed here because...He sees Tyus as a guy he won't be able to beat out for playing time. Players talk to each other and Brooks has played against Tyus. The word could be around the league with players (you can bet a guy like Andre Miller talks him up if anyone asks) that Tyus is good and you are gonna have to be really good to beat him out for playing time. It probably doesn't hurt his stock that his little brother committed to Duke. Of course I don't know what kind of other options a guy like Brooks has but maybe he is thinking of playing somewhere like China would be fun instead of just sitting on the bench ala Jordon Hill.