Minnesota Sports Forum

LaVine and Williams should see a lot of time together. Both can handle the ball. LaVine seems to feel comfortable playing with him. Both can shoot relatively well. LaVine can guard 2s while Williams stays guarding 1s. Neither of them well dip into Rubio's minutes, though. He's a lock for 30+ every night barring a blowout.

Anybody think Flip might rotate a lot of guys every other night or so to keep everyone fresh/healthy? Could be why we're keeping Barea. Him and Williams rotate nightly. LaVine, Budinger and Muhammad rotate. Lot of bodies. Keeps everyone's minutes in check and should help keep them healthy.

Also, I'm 100% on board with keeping Barea and Robinson III. I'm not a JJ fan, but I don't see the need to keep Hummel. Sorry to those who thinks he's worth keeping.

I don't think JJ is going to be on the roster by the time we open.

Camden wrote:LaVine and Williams should see a lot of time together. Both can handle the ball. LaVine seems to feel comfortable playing with him. Both can shoot relatively well. LaVine can guard 2s while Williams stays guarding 1s. Neither of them well dip into Rubio's minutes, though. He's a lock for 30+ every night barring a blowout.

Anybody think Flip might rotate a lot of guys every other night or so to keep everyone fresh/healthy? Could be why we're keeping Barea. Him and Williams rotate nightly. LaVine, Budinger and Muhammad rotate. Lot of bodies. Keeps everyone's minutes in check and should help keep them healthy.

Yes, I think Flip just about has to rotate a lot of guys for two reasons: 1) to keep everyone happy, or relatively so, and 2) to reduce wear and tear on his roster. I think teams can have 13 players on the bench this year, and assuming everyone is healthy, I expect our consensus 15th guy (Robinson or Hummel) to be in a tie just about every game. And I also think Rubio, Mo, Martin, Wiggins, Corey, Thad, Bennett, Pek and Dieng will be in the rotation most nights they are healthy. The other guys (JJ, LaVine, Bud, Ronny, and Bazz) will alternate between not suiting up, not being in the rotation, and being in the rotation. Of course injuries are part of the game, and those five "other guys" will get plenty of minutes when one of more of the core 9 guys are out.

Flip has a big challenge this year in that he has no superstars and a lot of players talented enough to be rotation players, so he's going to have to get creative in order to keep the locker room happy. The guys I am most worried about are JJ and Shabazz, as I think both of them believe they should be getting a lot a minutes and both have pouting potential.

Q-I've always felt that Wiggins had a very high floor and a somewhat low ceiling (for a #1 pick), meaning I just don't see "superstar" written on him. Kawhi Leonard perhaps, may be Paul George, but it's tough to ever see him reach the heights of elite wings like Kobe, LeBron, Wade, or Durant.

For the record, I agree, but I'd be fone with Wiggins doing for us what Leonard does for the Spures. I don't see Wiggins imprgnating any strippers, so I really don't see Paul George here.

Is the Matrix too much to ask? Ricky plays the Nash roll?

The Matrix was a much, much better rebounder than Wiggins. Wiggins probably becomes a much better shooter over his career. I like the Ariza-Batum-Leonard-George continuum for Wiggins, with Ariza being his floor and George being his ceiling. The most likely outcome is probably somewhere in between.

We need two ball handlers on the court long-term and having Lavine have some PG ability is good, but in no way do I think he should be a PG long-term. He has the size and athleticism to be a 2 so that's where we should develop him. It makes no sense to have Ricky be responsible for the entire offense all the time. That's going to lead to a lot of turnovers. Having a 2 who can spell the PG of playmaking duties is exactly what we need. I'd rather Lavine focus on being able to get his own shot rather than ask him to be a playmaker with the ball. That's what we need next to Ricky. I thought the role Lavine played next to Mo was perfect and exactly how he should be played. I don't get this board sometimes. For years we've had people saying we need another ball handler and then when we finally get one who also has the size to be a 2, they want him to be a PG instead of having the second ball handler we've always wanted. Ricky's best shooting stats also come off the catch and shoot so it makes sense to get the ball out of his hands sometimes so he is put in his best position to score while someone else runs a couple plays.

There's a reason Zach wears #8... Just sayin' :)

khans2k5 wrote:We need two ball handlers on the court long-term and having Lavine have some PG ability is good, but in no way do I think he should be a PG long-term. He has the size and athleticism to be a 2 so that's where we should develop him. It makes no sense to have Ricky be responsible for the entire offense all the time. That's going to lead to a lot of turnovers. Having a 2 who can spell the PG of playmaking duties is exactly what we need. I'd rather Lavine focus on being able to get his own shot rather than ask him to be a playmaker with the ball. That's what we need next to Ricky. I thought the role Lavine played next to Mo was perfect and exactly how he should be played. I don't get this board sometimes. For years we've had people saying we need another ball handler and then when we finally get one who also has the size to be a 2, they want him to be a PG instead of having the second ball handler we've always wanted. Ricky's best shooting stats also come off the catch and shoot so it makes sense to get the ball out of his hands sometimes so he is put in his best position to score while someone else runs a couple plays.

I agree completely, Kahns!

Has nothing to do with this thread, but I'm too lazy to make a new one.

About to watch the Kings/Nets game. First pre-season game I've gotten to watch of Stauskas, but I think I remember seeing that he had a good first game.

We all know he's one of "my guys" so I'll try my best to keep the board updated with his rookie year.