Minnesota Sports Forum

Fun night tonight at Target Center. I agree generally with Long's take on the evening. I can summarize what I saw in two sentences: (1) Towns and LaVine were great. (2) Payne was horrible and it was downright painful to watch him.

Best player on the floor? No question it was Zach with Towns a close second.

As for Zach, let's remember that he averaged over 20 points per game last April. So his play tonight was in some sense a continuation of his trajectory from last season. But he has clearly improved his game since the end of last season. His ball handling was very good last season, but it looked even better tonight. He showed a nice hesitation dribble tonight and looked much more comfortable and effective driving to the hole. I've viewed him as a potential star from the moment we drafted him. What I saw tonight coupled with Zach's play the last 6 weeks of last season reinforces my view of him as a budding star.

As for Towns, he did not disappoint. He is quicker that I expected and looked stronger that you'd expect from a player at his age. He is very active, blocks out and really gets after it on the boards. I love his potential.

As for Payne, one word: yuck.

lipoli390 wrote:Fun night tonight at Target Center. I agree generally with Long's take on the evening. I can summarize what I saw in two sentences: (1) Towns and LaVine were great. (2) Payne was horrible and it was downright painful to watch him.

Best player on the floor? No question it was Zach with Towns a close second.

As for Zach, let's remember that he averaged over 20 points per game last April. So his play tonight was in some sense a continuation of his trajectory from last season. But he has clearly improved his game since the end of last season. His ball handling was very good last season, but it looked even better tonight. He showed a nice hesitation dribble tonight and looked much more comfortable and effective driving to the hole. I've viewed him as a potential star from the moment we drafted him. What I saw tonight coupled with Zach's play the last 6 weeks of last season reinforces my crew of him as a budding star.

As for Towns, he did not disappoint. He is quicker that I expected and looked stronger that you'd expect from a player at his age. He is very active, blocks out and really gets after it on the boards. I love his potential.

As for Payne, one word: yuck.

Others had some positives to say about Lorenzo Brown did you see anything that warrants mentioning?

Sucks that Payne looked bad. I want to have some hope for him as a deep bench guy. Lol

Sounds like it was a lot of fun, but let's all remember it was one scrimmage. Let's be careful about drawing conclusions from this.

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Sounds like it was a lot of fun, but let's all remember it was one scrimmage. Let's be careful about drawing conclusions from this.

You're wrong, drew, and get out of here with that stoic German practicality. I was there last night, and learned everything I need to know about this team. Towns is going to average 24 and 15, LoBrow is going to push Ricky for a starting spot, and Wiggins and Payne are going to be cut to make room for Tyler Stone. If you had been there last night, you would know this too.

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Fun night tonight at Target Center. I agree generally with Long's take on the evening. I can summarize what I saw in two sentences: (1) Towns and LaVine were great. (2) Payne was horrible and it was downright painful to watch him.

Best player on the floor? No question it was Zach with Towns a close second.

As for Zach, let's remember that he averaged over 20 points per game last April. So his play tonight was in some sense a continuation of his trajectory from last season. But he has clearly improved his game since the end of last season. His ball handling was very good last season, but it looked even better tonight. He showed a nice hesitation dribble tonight and looked much more comfortable and effective driving to the hole. I've viewed him as a potential star from the moment we drafted him. What I saw tonight coupled with Zach's play the last 6 weeks of last season reinforces my crew of him as a budding star.

As for Towns, he did not disappoint. He is quicker that I expected and looked stronger that you'd expect from a player at his age. He is very active, blocks out and really gets after it on the boards. I love his potential.

As for Payne, one word: yuck.

Others had some positives to say about Lorenzo Brown did you see anything that warrants mentioning?

Sucks that Payne looked bad. I want to have some hope for him as a deep bench guy. Lol

Monster -- Yes, Brown looked pretty good as did Jones.

longstrangetrip wrote:

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Sounds like it was a lot of fun, but let's all remember it was one scrimmage. Let's be careful about drawing conclusions from this.

You're wrong, drew, and get out of here with that stoic German practicality. I was there last night, and learned everything I need to know about this team. Towns is going to average 24 and 15, LoBrow is going to push Ricky for a starting spot, and Wiggins and Payne are going to be cut to make room for Tyler Stone. If you had been there last night, you would know this too.

Lol. Ditto! :).

Biggest alarm to me is Shabazz not playing. He is has taken on the durability of out vets Pek/Rubio/Martin.

No surprise with Payne. I hope Flip doesn't try to force he was right with this trade and if he can get value moves on. (value being anything)

Thanks for the read out on this Lip and LST. It sounds like it was a fun night.

Wiggins seems to be his own man. He's been in the spotlight since he was a 13-year old phenom and I think he's mature beyond his years, and somewhat guarded, as a result. He opted out of the dunk contest last year, which many found surprising, and I think these sorts of exhibitions aren't real high on his list of priorities, so he just deferred to others. I think this is all keeping in what appears to be a business-like approach to things.

As for Gorgui - a third year player - I have to believe he was barely going through the motions.

Summer League will be a nice opportunity to see a few of these guys in a more competitive environment.

The writer at CannisHoopus said it looked like Payne has changed his shot some, significantly reducing the long windup. Anybody notice that, or just that he still missed? :-d

SP - We'll find out tomorrow for sure on Payne's shot.....

I know, you're on the edge of your seat.