Minnesota Sports Forum

I see Bazz playing the 4 more as a reaction to matchups. In other words, when other teams decide to go small, I can see Bazz finding himself guarding opposing small-ball 4's, while at the same time taking them to the post on offense, which is no different than what he does against conventional SFs.

As for the Wiggins/Bazz combo on the wings, I agree that it's intriguing, especially since Bjelica at the 4 can offset some of the lack of ball handling you get with those two. In that configuration, it's really Bjelica at the 2 on offense and Wiggins/Bazz playing more like forwards. Defensively, Wiggins would most likely guard the opposing SG. Again, Bazz is not a 2.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Kevin Martin makes it clear he sees himself as a starter on this team. Grrrreeeaaaaat.....................

It's simple to me. Mitchell should basically go to these two and tell them whoever defends the best throughout camp and preseason wins the starting 2.

(that being said, I still think Martin starts on day one, but we'll see).

My point is more about Martin's mindset. I have no problem with a guy thinking he should be the starter. But what he should have said is "I feel I should start, but I'm going to be happy with whatever role the head coach assigns to me. If he feels it's best for the team coming off the bench than I'm on board with that."

Instead he comes off like he's giving some sort of ultimatum. Start me or see how I'm going to act.

I hear what you're saying, cool, but I'm conflicted to some extent about Martin's attitude. On one hand, I resent the entitlement in his attitude...that he deserves the starting role just because he is Kevin Martin. But on the other hand, I like the swagger needed to make a comment like that. Ultimately it doesn't really matter what Kevin thinks...Sam is going to start and end games with who he thinks gives him the best chance of winning.

My preference? Hmm...don't know yet. I just like the fact that it seems like Sam has some intriguing combo options at the 2 wing positions with Martin, LaVine, Wiggins and Muhammad. All can score, but 3 of them didn't impress me on defense last year. Martin is the smartest defender of the three, but his effort is lacking much of the time. Muhammad is the hardest worker on the defensive side, but he so often looks like he has never been taught to play defense. LaVine has the most potential of the three to be an above average defender, but damn he is hard to watch sometimes. I'd like to see one of the emerge as a good defender to perhaps start next to Wiggins, but more importantly team with him at the end of games to protect leads. If none of the three emerges, I'm convinced we are going to see a lot of Wiggins/Prince at crunch time.

Like doper and sjm (and Britt Robson, for that matter), I'm enjoyed watching Wiggins/Muhammad team up a few times last year, and I hope we see it a lot more next year. Q is correct that Shabazz is more of a 3 than a 2, but he did play SG successfully at times in college, and I like the confidence he shows when he says he can play the 2. I also love the fact that he says he has perfected a RH jump hook over the summer...his LH hook has proven to be almost unstoppable, and if he can go either way now, his jump hook becomes even a better post move.

LST, agree with most of what you say here, but I think it DOES matter what Kevin thinks. The last thing we need is an unhappy or brooding veteran on this team in the midst of all the maturing young players. KG, Miller, and Prince are all going to be on board, Martin needs to have the same attitude.

As far as the starting debate goes, I'm going to stay consistent with what I've said many times. Give the spot to whomever deserves it the most. Don't just start Zach because he's younger and developing. But as fans of the team, I think it would be in our best interest if Zach can beat him out. If he can't, there should be some disappointment in his progress. (Hint: I don't think Kmart is a starting quality 2 on a contender)

CoolBreeze44 wrote:LST, agree with most of what you say here, but I think it DOES matter what Kevin thinks. The last thing we need is an unhappy or brooding veteran on this team in the midst of all the maturing young players. KG, Miller, and Prince are all going to be on board, Martin needs to have the same attitude.

As far as the starting debate goes, I'm going to stay consistent with what I've said many times. Give the spot to whomever deserves it the most. Don't just start Zach because he's younger and developing. But as fans of the team, I think it would be in our best interest if Zach can beat him out. If he can't, there should be some disappointment in his progress. (Hint: I don't think Kmart is a starting quality 2 on a contender)

Yeah, that makes sense, cool. I'm not a fan of brooding reserves, and even though there is a lot I like about Martin's personality, he probably is the biggest threat to fill that role. I hope not because I have said for a long time that Martin would be a potent, effective 6th man...if one of our other non-Wiggins wings can establish themselves as the clear starter.

If Martin was going to be pissy, wouldn't he have been pissy already? When Love left, he could have easily said goodbye too and forced his way out. Instead he completely bought into the rebuild, displayed veteran leadership, good attitude etc. He's already been a sixth man before in Oklahoma City. When that time comes for him to come off the bench, I expect Martin to remain as the respectable professional that he's been his entire career. Not fair to expect or suggest otherwise, in my opinion.

True, cam...I don't remember any issues in OkC when Martin was 6th man playing behind Sefolosha, even though he almost certainly thought he was the superior option at SG. Kevin's a smart guy, too, so I'm sure he knows that he had his most efficient shooting results that season too...45% overall and almost 43% on threes. And he's now three years older, so you would think he would be more accepting of a reserve role at 32 than he was at 29.

You look at those shooting stats in '12-13, and it's even more important to the Wolves' fortunes that one of our young wings steps up and takes away the starting job from him. I would also argue that Mitchell will be more likely than Flip to move Martin to 6th man if the situation warrants it.

longstrangetrip wrote:True, cam...I don't remember any issues in OkC when Martin was 6th man playing behind Sefolosha, even though he almost certainly thought he was the superior option at SG. Kevin's a smart guy, too, so I'm sure he knows that he had his most efficient shooting results that season too...45% overall and almost 43% on threes. And he's now three years older, so you would think he would be more accepting of a reserve role at 32 than he was at 29.

You look at those shooting stats in '12-13, and it's even more important to the Wolves' fortunes that one of our young wings steps up and takes away the starting job from him. I would also argue that Mitchell will be more likely than Flip to move Martin to 6th man if the situation warrants it.

The fact that there is even a murmur of putting Martin in a 6th man role is good news for this team. Martin is far and away our best 2, but I love that we are at a point where we're even considering other options there for the development of our players.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:LST, agree with most of what you say here, but I think it DOES matter what Kevin thinks. The last thing we need is an unhappy or brooding veteran on this team in the midst of all the maturing young players. KG, Miller, and Prince are all going to be on board, Martin needs to have the same attitude.

As far as the starting debate goes, I'm going to stay consistent with what I've said many times. Give the spot to whomever deserves it the most. Don't just start Zach because he's younger and developing. But as fans of the team, I think it would be in our best interest if Zach can beat him out. If he can't, there should be some disappointment in his progress. (Hint: I don't think Kmart is a starting quality 2 on a contender)

Agreed. No reason Martin should beat out Zach after his improvement last year. Neither one plays defense well, but Zach gets the edge in hustle/speed/dunkability

Other notes from Media Day:

- Mitchell actually did emphasize defense in his interview with Horton. Good.

- Zach added 11 lbs and weighs a tad over 190 lbs. That's a pretty big deal in my opinion. Wiggins added 4 lbs., but if he grew nearly an inch, so most of that weight would be attributed to the added height, no? I know that in watching Team Canada, he looked tall, but still pretty skinny.

- Wiggins was clearly still smarting by Canada's failure to qualify for the Olympics (for now). When Horton said he played pretty good for Canada, he replied, "not good enough". He was a bit salty in fact. I kind of like that.

- Payne worked a lot on his 3 during the offseason. Based on what he did in college and a pretty decent summer league showing (37.5%), it will be very interesting if Mitchell lets him take open 3's.

- Wiggins is kind of a dud interview. That takes nothing away from him as a player, but there isn't much marketability/PR potential there.

- Towns on the other hand absolutely has a career as an NBA analyst, color guy, or sideline reporter once his playing days are done.

- Andre Miller said one of the keys to his longevity is getting lots of rest during the summer. With all the craziness in sports these days of year-round competition and intense training (this includes high level youth teams too by the way), it was quite refreshing to hear someone harken back to an earlier time, when offseason really meant being off!

I don't mind Pek taking his time to get back, just means longer looks for Towns and then Dieng at the center spot. Pek isn't a beacon of health anyway, so we're just prolonging his next injury by another month.