Minnesota Sports Forum

thedoper wrote:

Camden wrote:Ahaha the Stauskas comments. He at least still has another year to make the game. Hopefully he gets traded.

Stauskas for Thad ??? The ultimate conundrum for Cam.

Oooooohhhhhh Cam. What do you think? Who would you take?

I'm not worried about Zach. He is overflowing with talent, loves the game and has a great work ethic. His numbers aren't particularly bad for a 19-year old rookie playing on an otherwise terrible team. To the extent he has struggled, we all know why. No one should have expected him to succeed when thrust into the role of starting PG after never playing that position in his one year of college hoops. Zach is going to be a terrific NBA player, possibly a great one. He's the least of our worries.

Truth is, this is a really exciting time to be a Wolves fan. We had 4 players in the rising stars game tonight -- more than any other team. Watching tonight's game it was apparent that Wiggins and Zach, along with Gobert, were clearly the best young players on the floor - in a class by themselves. You could argue that Oladipo was on their level and I wouldn't counter, but there was no question that Wiggins, Zach and Gobert were the cream of the crop tonight.

Wait, let's make this really interesting. Cam you have to choose which 2 man tandem you would want. Your choices are:

Tandem #1 - Nick Stauskas - Karl Towns

Tandem #2 - Stanley Johnson - Thad Young

lipoli390 wrote:I'm not worried about Zach. He is overflowing with talent, loves the game and has a great work ethic. His numbers aren't particularly bad for a 19-year old rookie playing on an otherwise terrible team. To the extent he has struggled, we all know why. No one should have expected him to succeed when thrust into the role of starting PG after never playing that position in his one year of college hoops. Zach is going to be a terrific NBA player, possibly a great one. He's the least of our worries.

Truth is, this is a really exciting time to be a Wolves fan. We had 4 players in the rising stars game tonight -- more than any other team. Watching tonight's game it was apparent that Wiggins and Zach, along with Gobert, were clearly the best young players on the floor - in a class by themselves. You could argue that Oladipo was on their level and I wouldn't counter, but there was no question that Wiggins, Zach and Gobert were the cream of the crop tonight.

Thank you Lip, great post and uplifting.

To take anything away from this game long-term is a joke. This is an exhibition with no defense. Zach would have been a great player this year if the other team just didn't care about defense most of the game. These games are all about showing off. Just take it for what it is, a fun exhibition game where our uber athletes showed off that uber athleticism.

khans2k5 wrote:To take anything away from this game long-term is a joke. This is an exhibition with no defense. Zach would have been a great player this year if the other team just didn't care about defense most of the game. These games are all about showing off. Just take it for what it is, a fun exhibition game where our uber athletes showed off that uber athleticism.

Do you honestly think ANYONE is taking anything away from this game long term? Why would you say something so stupid?

I have to agree with the theme of Lipoli's post above....that this is a glorious time to be a Wolves fan in terms of dreaming about the near term future. I just read a grading of all players in the futures game, and Wiggins and LaVine got the only A+ grades, while Bazz and Gorgui graded out well too. But there is a huge gap between the announcers' fawning over Zach last night, and his actual results this year. It's fine to dream about his great potential, but it's also okay to look objectively at how Zach performed this year:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/statistics/_/position/pg/page/2

There it is...a PER of 9, a VA of -25.2, and a ranking of 70 out of 73 point guards. Yes, you can say that Flip has him playing out of position, and I would agree. But from what I have seen from Zach, his performance wouldn't be that much better if he was getting regular minutes at SG. Zach's biggest issue isn't position...it's lack of experience and horrible shot selection. Even during last night's glorious performance, it was fitting that his first shot was a long, contested jumper.

Flip took a chance on a guy that Steve Alford didn't think was seasoned enough to play consistent minutes in the Pac 10 last year, so it's folly to think he could have played better than he has this year at the NBA level...regardless of where Flip played him. I was not on board with selecting him at 13 and have been an advocate for letting him develop this year in the D League, but I'm ready to admit I was wrong on the first comment, and perhaps even the second. Zach may be a couple years away, but the TBS guys couldn't have been more unanimous in their conclusion that he will be a star someday. Heck, Harden even said he thought Zach was ahead of Westbrook in athleticism and shooting in their rookie years. If they're all right, Flip got a steal at the end of the lottery.

So, a lot of words here to say I'm trying to jump on the LaVine bandwagon late despite his terrible numbers this season. I'm an advocate for keeping Kevin Martin with what I see as a bargain contract, and allow Zach to develop slowly as our third-string SG behind Martin and Wiggins. He's still a kid, and seems to be more excited about the dunk contest than he is about the games. But he can be something special once he grows up and learns to harness that enormous potential.

Wiggins was terrific last night. Zach and Gobert were great, but Drew was the best player on the court...effective and occasionally sensational. I also noticed how much more comfortable he appeared in the limelight last night. At the start of the season, he seemed uncomfortable in interviews and not ready for stardom. Not last night. He looked like a guy who knew he was the best player out there. There is no question that we have a superstar in the making. As he continues to become more comfortable working with Rubio, we are going to be treated to something truly special.

lipoli390 wrote:I'm not worried about Zach. He is overflowing with talent, loves the game and has a great work ethic. His numbers aren't particularly bad for a 19-year old rookie playing on an otherwise terrible team. To the extent he has struggled, we all know why. No one should have expected him to succeed when thrust into the role of starting PG after never playing that position in his one year of college hoops. Zach is going to be a terrific NBA player, possibly a great one. He's the least of our worries.

Truth is, this is a really exciting time to be a Wolves fan. We had 4 players in the rising stars game tonight -- more than any other team. Watching tonight's game it was apparent that Wiggins and Zach, along with Gobert, were clearly the best young players on the floor - in a class by themselves. You could argue that Oladipo was on their level and I wouldn't counter, but there was no question that Wiggins, Zach and Gobert were the cream of the crop tonight.

Not worried about Zach. I think he has so much potential and this year being forced to play the PG will be good for him in the long run. If he was in this years draft I am guessing he would be a top 8 pick.

If Payne was in this draft. I am not sure he is a lottery pick. (yes that trade still bugs me)

I don't get to watch many games, so watching 4 wolves last night was fun for me. At one point Dieng and Bazz missed back to back dunks (typical Wolves). But LaVine looked pretty awesome, Wiggins had some great dunks too, caught a nice alley-oop. Greek Freak was erractic, Gobert was great, Oladipo was playing too hard.

Bazz looks a lot stronger physically than most of the other skinny youngsters, he had a nice throwdown. I think he'll continue to be a good offensive rebounder, he was crashing the boards pretty good last night.