Minnesota Sports Forum

crazy-canuck wrote:

Q12543 wrote:A lot of people, including a lot from the old ESPN board, thought Mayo was going to be the star and we made a huge mistake getting Love.

Back to Wiggins....His 1st to 2nd year leap as a scorer was actually quite impressive and he was really aggressive going to the hoop, drawing lots of fouls and making some monster dunks. While he wasn't going to be that jack-of-all trades superstar, he certainly seemed like a guy that could be a #1 type scoring option. And then he sort of leveled out the next year, then has only gotten less effective (in terms of volume and efficiency) since then. It's really unusual to see a guy fizzle out like this considering the lack of injuries.

Jimmy butler and thibs.

Not really. May be he felt a little more tentative going to the hoop, but not sure how they caused his 3-pt shooting not to improve, his body not to get any bigger/stronger, and his hands/handle to be horrible. Once defenses learned what direction he liked to spin and that he can't get all the way to the hoop going left, they started to guard him better. He just never adjusted or improved himself.

Q12543 wrote:

crazy-canuck wrote:

Q12543 wrote:A lot of people, including a lot from the old ESPN board, thought Mayo was going to be the star and we made a huge mistake getting Love.

Back to Wiggins....His 1st to 2nd year leap as a scorer was actually quite impressive and he was really aggressive going to the hoop, drawing lots of fouls and making some monster dunks. While he wasn't going to be that jack-of-all trades superstar, he certainly seemed like a guy that could be a #1 type scoring option. And then he sort of leveled out the next year, then has only gotten less effective (in terms of volume and efficiency) since then. It's really unusual to see a guy fizzle out like this considering the lack of injuries.

Jimmy butler and thibs.

Not really. May be he felt a little more tentative going to the hoop, but not sure how they caused his 3-pt shooting not to improve, his body not to get any bigger/stronger, and his hands/handle to be horrible. Once defenses learned what direction he liked to spin and that he can't get all the way to the hoop going left, they started to guard him better. He just never adjusted or improved himself.

I agree that he never adjusted, maybe he was unhappy, I dont know.

It wasnt until Saunders put the ball in his hands more the last 15 or so games that he looked like pre-thibs wiggs again. We basically threw away 2 years of wiggs development. If we can get pre-jimmy wiggs again with better defense, Im ok with him. Another year like he had last year, the idea of stretching him starts to become an option.

monsterpile wrote:

apollotsg wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:
Beasley was also 6'10 in college and magically shrunk 3 inches at the combine so I wouldn't really take into account any measurements he had in college. He was a specimen who just ended up being too small to play the same way in the pros.

His teammates have always called him a nut - I think he is a bit crazy based on the funny videos I have watched of him. I suspect he would be a great bench guy, just not who you build your team around because his priorities are very different from Durant (regardless of his physical comparison).

Beasley is an example of the mental aspect of potential. Several people including Jon K said he is actually well liked but...dude is different and has some weird stuff in his life. Physically the thing that held him back was he had various nagging issues. The comp for him was a Melo who also had various injuries which ai think was part of what kept his career from being more than what it was. Watching Beasley play the guy had/has skills and talent to be a star player it just never came together because of other stuff.

OJ Mayo is another interesting case of a guy that sadly things didn't end up not going well although he had some good early success in Memphis. I always felt a little confused about how he seemed to be so much more hyped than Harden and the difference in their careers ended up being pretty vast in terms of the players they would become.

Interesting observations, Monster. Beasley was physically gifted and highly skilled coming out of college. As you pointed out, Beasley is a great example of the how the body alone is not enough to be a great NBA player. Beasley is by all accounts a bit of a nut case and loves his weed. He never had the mental focus, intensity or desire to be great. As a result, his physical gifts weren't enough.

OJ Mayo is really interesting. I'm not sure what happened with him. I was never particularly high on him in college. Talking to Hoiberg before the draft, Fred told me that Mayo wasn't effective getting to the hoop and that it would be even harder for him to do that in the NBA. Fred said it was due in part to Mayo's lack of hip flexibility. Therefore, according to Fred, OJ would never be more than a spot up shooter in the NBA. Imagine how surprised I was when we drafted Mayo. I figured that Fred lost the argument internally. But it all made sense when the Wolves announced the trade for Kevin Love.