Minnesota Sports Forum

Camden wrote:Also, K-Mart's really taking LaVine and Wiggins under his wing. That's good to know. I hope they go elsewhere for defensive mentoring, though.

https://twitter.com/twolvesnow/status/516653123008737281

This tweet from Andy Greder is multi-faceted. On one hand, it reinforces what most of us believe...that Adelman had lost the fire to coach and that was reflected in some of the team's play last year, and that Saunders (and Mitchell) are going to change that culture. And it's also good to hear Martin acknowledge that he will be doing things differently under Flip, and hopefully working harder.

But what kind of professional would say something like this? Paraphrasing, he's saying "Yeah, some of us realized that Rick had checked out and he and I go way back, so I was able to get away with coasting at times last year". I recognize that Martin is an exceptional offensive player, but man...what a weird guy!

I'm happy that he is reaching out to our new athletic rookie wings...it's what veterans should do. But as Cam mentioned in his post, let's hope our new guys look to others for mentoring too.

And then there is this comment from Martin:

Jon Krawczynski ?@APkrawczynski 1h6 seconds ago
Kevin Martin: "I think Wiggins is filled with Hall of Fame potential. That's why he's been hyped up since he was 16 years old."

LST, Our "watchability" ranking last year was consistently in the top 10-15 heading into the season. Bleacher report had us at #6. Grantland had us at #7, and SB Nation had us at #13. Most of us thought we had assembled a team that could compete for a playoff spot. Some of us thought we could compete for a top 4 or 5 seed in the West. There was a hell of a lot of excitement heading into last season.

I would pay no attention to what Kevin Martin says. He hasn't defended well....ever. There is no reason that he will now. He knows that he can do two things better than anyone else on the current roster and that's knock down 3-pointers and create offense. If anything, I see us having to become more dependent on his scoring prowess, which means he will have even less of a focus on defense than he did last year.

I feel confident predicting the Wolves won't make the playoffs this season. But beyond that, it's really tough to get a sense of how good this team will be. This could be a 27-win team or a 37-win team. Maybe even a 40-win team. Obviously how well the team does will depend primarily on:

1. The development of our two über-talented rookies - Wiggins and LaVine. Will they play like rookies the whole season or start to look like vets by the second half?

2. The extent of improvement in Ricky's shooting, especially finishing inside and 3-point shooting. The guy gets to the hole very effectively. Finishing on his drives as he should would be a HUGE step up in his game and would make a really big difference for the team. Hitting his threes with some regularity would be a boost in two ways - more scoring from Ricky and opening up passing lanes for Ricky to get easy shots for his teammates.

3. Flip's coaching. Flip's pre-Washington coaching career suggests he's an elite head coach. If he is, he'll get the most out of this team and really help these young guys develop sooner rather than later.

4. The extent of Improvement from Shabazz, Dieng and Bennett. Will any or all of these three take that huge step forward that a lot of the more talented 1st round picks take between their rookie and sophomore seasons?

What I don't expect to see are things from players they've never shown in 5 or more years in the League. In other words, I don't expect better defense from Martin, or better rebounding from Brewer. Nor do I expect more durability from Pekovic

Q12543 wrote:LST, Our "watchability" ranking last year was consistently in the top 10-15 heading into the season. Bleacher report had us at #6. Grantland had us at #7, and SB Nation had us at #13. Most of us thought we had assembled a team that could compete for a playoff spot. Some of us thought we could compete for a top 4 or 5 seed in the West. There was a hell of a lot of excitement heading into last season.

I agree that there was a lot of optimism last year, q, but to me it felt entirely different from this year. Like I said earlier, playoffs were never mentioned today, but most of us here were confident they would be in the top 8. But I don't think there was the sense of long-term optimism last year that I felt today. On this board, there was a lot of discussion about how Flip's off-season moves had both improved us and hamstrung us...that all the $5 million contracts he inked were going to lock us into being a lower playoff team for a long time. Yes, there was excitement about the prospect of playoff basketball, but there wasn't much optimism about the future. And the Love uncertainty was hanging heavy in the air too.

Maybe I'm projecting my feelings to the players, but I always sensed the Love factor was a negative for them too. It's not fun when your best player keeps sending out signals that he isn't happy. That's what I felt all last year, and I think the team felt it too. That's one of the reasons today felt so different and was so much fun. I got to listen to a bunch of young players who all seem happy and excited to be here.

Maybe everything unravels after 15-20 games, but I don't think so.

Dunks After Dark was fun! Might as well print our playoff tickets now...

We have a very deep team. Training camp is going to be very competitive, and I expect Martin to break down frequently. But Bud looked good, and I continue to be impressed with LaVine -- he's going to contribute THIS year.

Oh, and if there was any doubt about Wiggins starting, you can forget it. He will start, and he will be good.

Tim, you named the two people that most impressed me...LaVine and Bud. Right from the opening drill you could see that Bud was moving like he did before his knee surgeries, and he kept it up during the scrimmage too. And his 3-point touch seemed to be back too. LaVine really wowed Greg Anthony and Isiah Thomas with his athleticism and intensity...I get more excited about him every time I see him. Brewer might have scored another 51 points, but it had more to do with the lack of defense.

This scrimmage was more about fun than analysis, and NBA TV's desire to show Anthony and Thomas more than the scrimmage was a little frustrating, but here are a few other observations:

1) 3-point shooting is likely to be a challenge. Martin made most of his threes and so did Heslip, but one of them doesn't play defense and one isn't going to make the team.

2) I wanted to see more from our power forwards...both Young and Bennett showed a tendency to try to force things. But on the positive side, they are both impressively athletic. Not good tonight, but I still think we will be fine at PF

3) Dieng has come so far from a year ago...he is going to be a very good NBA center

4) Flip's energy is contagious. He showed it in his interviews and in his coaching...really fun to see. It's clear that he is going to quickly put his stamp on this team.

5) Glen Taylor is one really weird guy. His interview with Anthony/Thomas was excruciating.

Thanks for the recap LST. I didn't get to watch. Don't put too much analysis into the production or lack thereof last night. But it's good to hear Bud is looking healthy. Was he dunking too? Is he springy? Sometimes he gives me the feeling of a Jay Cutler, like he doesn't really wanna be there.

Budinger has never been a highly intense player, but if he can get back to what he was doing in Houston, it would definitely give us a boost.