Q-was-here wrote:To add to the Minott hype train.....apparently he was pissed he didn't get picked in the first round and wants to take revenge on everyone that passed on him (that would include Minnesota twice if you think about it, but moving on.....).
He's clearly still growing into his body, so add him to the list of guys we have that could potentially grow into a legit starting 4 next to KAT. Vando, McDaniels, and now Minott....all on different parts of the maturity curve, but all still fairly young still. Not suggesting we don't need to still pursue a vet starting 4, but it's nice to have a pipeline of possibilities inside of the organization.
I love the fact that he's an agent of chaos in the Vando/Okogie/Corey Brewer mold. Too bad we'll never be able to play him and Vando together!
I think we're going to find that we were to quick to lump him in with Vando and Brewer. I'd say he's more Vando than Brewer, but he has a much nicer touch than Vando near the basket. He also appears to have much better hands than Vando. I'm not sure I'd peg him as a PF. He looks pretty positionless to me. Defensively, it looks like he can guard 1-4. Offensively, where he ends up will turn largely on the development of his perimeter shot. He is early in his development after only one season of college basketball at 14 minutes per game. But wow, the tools are there.
Hard to see him developing much of a shot....I mean, it's really nonexistent right now. Given his height, frame, and lack of a jumper, he seems like an athletic 4 that can guard multiple positions defensively, but essentially be a 5 on offense (like Vando).
If Vanderbilt was good at catching the ball and finishing around the hoop he would be much less of an offensive liability.
Absolutely. I use Brandon Clarke as an example of someone that can be very effective at the 4 or small-ball 5 without having any sort of outside shot. But he can catch and finish in traffic plus has a nice little close-in floater. If Vando was stronger on the catch and finish it would make a massive difference.
Clarke is who I think of more when I see Minott actually. I think Clarke a jump shot available to use just in some circumstances not really extended to the 3 point line in terms of effectiveness. Vanderbilt can not look too horrible on some catch and shoot 3's at best. No way he is gonna dribble and pull up in the midrange or something. Clarke also has some ability to dribble his way into the paint of there is a reasonable opportunity. Catch the rebound 15-17 feet out and go attack the basket yeah sure he can do that. He isn't a scorer but he has some actual offensive ability. Vanderbilt I think has some ball handling ability but I don't think he has much feel for what he could do with it. Maybe that improves but he is quite a ways from that right now. I'll take his significant leap on defense over him finding more usefulness on offense.
I just listened to the latest Dane Moore podcast with Britt Robson. Even if I don't always agree with everything they say this one as usual had some good thoughts and also some hilarious moments between Dane and Brit which made for plenty of entertainment value in a good way.
I know not everyone believes in Dane having awesome sources or whatever but he did say what he heard was is they are looking at Minott as a 2-way guy. It will be interesting to see when that is decided. Maybe they wait till after the summer league to make that decision. If you are ready to move on from Nathan Knight then drafting Minott and if they sign him to a 2-way deal is a pretty good use of an asset. Some guys aren't willing to go that route. I have a feeling (Dane pointed this out) he will be fun to watch in summer league maybe in a similar way that Isaiah Miller was last year with some insane dunks. Sidenote: I hope Miller is on the team.
Yesterday I watch Gonzaga vs Memphis game from the tourney this year. It was a fun game and I'll gone a report.
First of all Duran was fun to watch but he got in foul trouble. At least one of them was a pretty dumb foul.
All the stuff people have seen or heard about Minnott was on display in this game. He came in off the bench and immediately made an impact in a good way. The guy plays hard goes after balls and actually does stuff not just looks like he is. Of course he is a wolves freshman coming off the bench playing hard so yeah there was some bad moments like you would expect. He got faked out on the perimeter by Stawther made an incredible recovery to kinda cut him off in the paint then bit on a crafty fake. Still he moves well and isn't undisciplined all the time. There was one possession I was like wait is Minnott not in the game because it was a perfect time for him to be crashing the glass. He was not because he was the guy staying back in case there was a fast break and that was good because Gonzaga did get the ball and came down court. If he would have crashed and didn't get the ball they would have had 2 easy points. his defense was probably mostly a positive though because he was switching onto whoever and it was no problem. I haven't looked up the stats but I'm sure he did fairly well in that dept. He ended up basically stealing a couple minutes playing as a true big since everyone that was remotely big from Memphis was fouling and having to sit on the bench. He had a couple plays where he made the right play getting the ball to someone who got the open shot and scored.
In short Minnott looks like a very athletic guy that moves well like a guard but is around 6'8 with 6'11" wingspan and plays hard and fast but also seems to have some actual basketball instincts and IQ. That can be a nice combination even if he can't shoot especially if he can rebound the ball well. He could be worth drafting as an energy guy off the bench and he is likely gonna be cheap. If they could keep him for a year as a 2 way guy then sign him to one of those Sam Hinke specials like Nowell and Naz got they could have a cheap decent energy rotation guy for the last few years if his contract.
Also interesting how many of us have compared him to Vanderbilt and Connelly was in charge when Vanderbilt was acquired in the draft by the Nuggets.
It will be interesting to see Minott in summer league. Seeing him in pics next to a Kessler and Moore Jr he looks like a large hunan being. Below is an article talking with him about the draft and some praise from Larry Brown that I don't think I have read before.
If everything goes perfect, he will be pushing Kyle Anderson for backup 4 minutes in 2023-24. But yeah....a lot has to come together with this kid. He certainly has the physical tools.
Q-was-here wrote:If everything goes perfect, he will be pushing Kyle Anderson for backup 4 minutes in 2023-24. But yeah....a lot has to come together with this kid. He certainly has the physical tools.
I think most of us can buy in that he has a legit chance to be a good defender and actually did stuff in college like rebounding too. The question is on offense can he do more than slam dunks. I did watch a very short clip of him working out before the draft that had showed maybe some promise as a ball handler. It's a workout video but it made me interested to see if he would show anything in SL another than basically the version of him at Memphis. I'm not exactly expecting a bunch of ISO possessions in SL but something other than him dribbling down the court for a fastbreak dunk will be interesting to observe. Fortunately he has enough size that I think he doesn't HAVE to be able to be a 3 point threat to be a worthwhile rotation player.
Q-was-here wrote:If everything goes perfect, he will be pushing Kyle Anderson for backup 4 minutes in 2023-24. But yeah....a lot has to come together with this kid. He certainly has the physical tools.
I think most of us can buy in that he has a legit chance to be a good defender and actually did stuff in college like rebounding too. The question is on offense can he do more than slam dunks. I did watch a very short clip of him working out before the draft that had showed maybe some promise as a ball handler. It's a workout video but it made me interested to see if he would show anything in SL another than basically the version of him at Memphis. I'm not exactly expecting a bunch of ISO possessions in SL but something other than him dribbling down the court for a fastbreak dunk will be interesting to observe. Fortunately he has enough size that I think he doesn't HAVE to be able to be a 3 point threat to be a worthwhile rotation player.
Exactly....if you enough other things well as a 4, you don't have to be a good shooter. And it's still possible to play two non-shooting bigs at the same time. The championship Warriors with Green and Looney is the latest example. And we're just talking about a future bench unit, not the starting lineup!
monsterpile wrote:It will be interesting to see Minott in summer league. Seeing him in pics next to a Kessler and Moore Jr he looks like a large hunan being. Below is an article talking with him about the draft and some praise from Larry Brown that I don't think I have read before.
I hadn't read this. I didn't realize Minott was so pissed about dropping into the 2nd round. I love that competitiveness and the chip he's carrying on his shoulder. There are a lot of super athletes like Minott playing college ball. The ones who go on to become great NBA players have an ultra-intense competitive edge. It's a good sign that Minott feels slighted because he fell into the second round after one college season as a bench player averaging 16 minutes a game. That's almost an MJ level of competitiveness. :)
I hadn't seen the seen the Larry Brown quote. That's telling. As the article notes, Larry Brown isn't known for using superlatives to praise young players. But what Larry said rings true and doesn't seem overstated. As Larry said, you draft Minott and you draft a lottery pick in two years. Larry didn't say your "might" have a lottery pick. Minott may or may not pan out. But he was definitely the right big swing with the 45th pick in the draft. I'm excited to see how he develops.
If it were up to me, I'd sign him to the same rookie deal he would have gotten if he had been the 30th pick in the draft. That would be a low-cost way to lock him up while he develops. Then I'd have him spend most of his first season in the G-League with periodic opportunities to practice with the NBA team to get a taste of NBA-level competition. Minott is the guy who could help take the sting out of losing 4 future 1st-round picks in the next 7 years.
It is Doogie going on for about and hour and a half. He gives his tidbits up front, then has a long blabbing interview with Bobby Marks and Tolliver. But he also has interviews with Moore and Minot (pre-trade Kessler, too).
Minot seems like a really smart guy and well aware of himself. Apparently he has been working on his shot! It starts at 1:23:00 and well worth the listen. (Moore starts at 1:11:20).
monsterpile wrote:It will be interesting to see Minott in summer league. Seeing him in pics next to a Kessler and Moore Jr he looks like a large hunan being. Below is an article talking with him about the draft and some praise from Larry Brown that I don't think I have read before.
I hadn't read this. I didn't realize Minott was so pissed about dropping into the 2nd round. I love that competitiveness and the chip he's carrying on his shoulder. There are a lot of super athletes like Minott playing college ball. The ones who go on to become great NBA players have an ultra-intense competitive edge. It's a good sign that Minott feels slighted because he fell into the second round after one college season as a bench player averaging 16 minutes a game. That's almost an MJ level of competitiveness. :)
I hadn't seen the seen the Larry Brown quote. That's telling. As the article notes, Larry Brown isn't known for using superlatives to praise young players. But what Larry said rings true and doesn't seem overstated. As Larry said, you draft Minott and you draft a lottery pick in two years. Larry didn't say your "might" have a lottery pick. Minott may or may not pan out. But he was definitely the right big swing with the 45th pick in the draft. I'm excited to see how he develops.
If it were up to me, I'd sign him to the same rookie deal he would have gotten if he had been the 30th pick in the draft. That would be a low-cost way to lock him up while he develops. Then I'd have him spend most of his first season in the G-League with periodic opportunities to practice with the NBA team to get a taste of NBA-level competition. Minott is the guy who could help take the sting out of losing 4 future 1st-round picks in the next 7 years.
Lip the Wolves could do what you suggested with Minott signing him to a cheap deal...a year from now off a 2-way deal if he indeed just plays in Iowa all year. That was likely the plan with Naz but in SL he played well and showed enough he was gonna be better than a 2-way deal and the Wolves took the opportunity to get him signed. So basically let's see what Minott does in SL he might earn his way into that NBA deal but either way Minott is ready to play in the G-league as Wolfson asked him about that in the podcast Tim linked in his post.
