Breakout Players for Next Year

[Lipoli390]

Yeah I don't understand the hype with Minott. He's really no different than we felt about Nowell and Okogie a couple years ago. Let's see him take a leap before we start hailing him as a future building block.

If Scoot Henderson can be haled as a future building block based on his raw talent and G-League stats, then it’s fair to do the same with Minott. Then again, no one has haled Minott as anything other Minott’s potential, which is readily apparent in his G-League numbers, his upward trajectory, praise from coaches and watching him play. Obviously TC does is high on his potential, which is why he maneuvered to draft him last season and why coaches in the organization have voiced excitement about him.

I’m not going to count on Minott for anything next season or even beyond next season. But like TC, I clearly see his considerable potential. I also see it in Miller. With so little draft capital, I’m putting some faith in TC’s eye for talent and in the development of these two talented but still young and raw prospects.

[Sundog]

I’m not ready to declare the Wolves have become deep, unless you count Minott, Moore and/or Miller. Otherwise, we’ve essentially substituted Shake for Prince, NAW for Nowell, and Troy Brown for Rivers. I think NAW is better than Nowell, but his career stats say he’s not. I see Shake and Prince as a wash. And I have no idea what to think of Brown. If this team isn’t healthier than it was last season, I’d expect the same result or worse given the significant improvement among a number of West Conference teams. So KAT has to come back and play at least 70+ games. At the same time, Ant, Jaden, Rudy, Naz and Anderson have to be at as healthy as they were last season. Note that Ant, Jaden and Rudy missed very few games last season.

I’ll stand by it, this team is already deeper than last season. Shake is a definite upgrade from Nowell, NAW/Brown together are a minor upgrade from Prince — younger, equivalent shooting, better rebounding, switchable defense… which is why TP only found a $4.5 mil one yr deal.

Then Minott/Moore returning … these guys are going to have fight their way into the floor. I think there’s a good chance that Minott does — the talent and motor is undeniable. Defense and rebounding. No idea about Moore. Miller is back to the G league for seasoning.

Of course health is an issue, as always… for the Wolves and everyone else.

[Q-is-here]

I’m not ready to declare the Wolves have become deep, unless you count Minott, Moore and/or Miller. Otherwise, we’ve essentially substituted Shake for Prince, NAW for Nowell, and Troy Brown for Rivers. I think NAW is better than Nowell, but his career stats say he’s not. I see Shake and Prince as a wash. And I have no idea what to think of Brown. If this team isn’t healthier than it was last season, I’d expect the same result or worse given the significant improvement among a number of West Conference teams. So KAT has to come back and play at least 70+ games. At the same time, Ant, Jaden, Rudy, Naz and Anderson have to be at as healthy as they were last season. Note that Ant, Jaden and Rudy missed very few games last season.

I’ll stand by it, this team is already deeper than last season. Shake is a definite upgrade from Nowell, NAW/Brown together are a minor upgrade from Prince — younger, equivalent shooting, better rebounding, switchable defense… which is why TP only found a $4.5 mil one yr deal.

Then Minott/Moore returning … these guys are going to have fight their way into the floor. I think there’s a good chance that Minott does — the talent and motor is undeniable. Defense and rebounding. No idea about Moore. Miller is back to the G league for seasoning.

Of course health is an issue, as always… for the Wolves and everyone else.

I'm not sure I'm ready to say we are deeper either. Someone will have a down year or get hurt - you can book it. For example, NAW hustles his ass off, but the second his shaky mechanics turns into his shot going cold and his passes get a little loose, he may be too much of a liability on offense to make up for his defense. There is a reason his playing time has been up and down.

What I do think is encouraging is that the front office is building a "second timeline" cadre of players with some upside to join Ant and Jaden, and we only need a couple of these guys to pop for us....Milton, Minott, Reid, Miller, Clark, NAW, Moore Jr.

[Coolbreeze44]

Yeah I don't understand the hype with Minott. He's really no different than we felt about Nowell and Okogie a couple years ago. Let's see him take a leap before we start hailing him as a future building block.

If Scoot Henderson can be haled as a future building block based on his raw talent and G-League stats, then it’s fair to do the same with Minott.

Seriously LipMaster 3000?

[WildWolf2813]

So you're saying the key to us taking a leap is Minott??? That's kind of bizarre.

I don't think simply being healthy is enough. This team when healthy still has a glass jaw, still plays down to its competition, still blows big leads and still doesn't make enough adjustments to counteract other teams.

With the guys that are here, we kinda know who they are and what they provide. Minott is the big wild card. After all, we're inevitably preparing Minott or Miller to take KAT's place. TC is making these marginal selections in the hopes that they buoy the big ticket items. Considering we've almost totally given up on Moore at this point, Minott is next.

Minott isn't even going to be in the rotation to start the season. I agree he's a wild card as far as the longer term future goes, but even if he busts into the rotation this season, it's silly to suggest that he's the guy that will determine whether we get beyond the play in or not this season. I mean, really???

I don't realistically expect any of the core guys to play above their level (we kinda just hope it's enough to avoid the play-in), but who's realistically breaking out?

The only real candidates we have to "break out" are Minott, Milton or guys who will mostly either be injured (Clark) or in Iowa (Miller).

As for Minott's role in the rotation, barring an awful summer league or training camp, I wouldn't dismiss it for a couple of reasons:

1. I'm not sold on Reid taking all of the available backup PF minutes. With how injury prone KAT has become, Kyle might spend a decent enough time backing up PF anyway.

2. Kyle at SF might not perform as well.

3. I'm not sold on Troy Brown at all, so the opportunity to get those minutes behind McDaniels will be there, especially since McDaniels is still a foul machine as it is. The opportunity to break out will be there if he plays well. Short of Milton playing so well that we're comfortable with him getting as much PT as Conley, I think we know what we're getting out of everyone else. We're betting on health and chemistry with everyone else, not the idea that someone's gonna take a massive leap overall.

[Q-is-here]

I don't think simply being healthy is enough. This team when healthy still has a glass jaw, still plays down to its competition, still blows big leads and still doesn't make enough adjustments to counteract other teams.

With the guys that are here, we kinda know who they are and what they provide. Minott is the big wild card. After all, we're inevitably preparing Minott or Miller to take KAT's place. TC is making these marginal selections in the hopes that they buoy the big ticket items. Considering we've almost totally given up on Moore at this point, Minott is next.

Minott isn't even going to be in the rotation to start the season. I agree he's a wild card as far as the longer term future goes, but even if he busts into the rotation this season, it's silly to suggest that he's the guy that will determine whether we get beyond the play in or not this season. I mean, really???

I don't realistically expect any of the core guys to play above their level (we kinda just hope it's enough to avoid the play-in), but who's realistically breaking out?

The only real candidates we have to "break out" are Minott, Milton or guys who will mostly either be injured (Clark) or in Iowa (Miller).

As for Minott's role in the rotation, barring an awful summer league or training camp, I wouldn't dismiss it for a couple of reasons:

1. I'm not sold on Reid taking all of the available backup PF minutes. With how injury prone KAT has become, Kyle might spend a decent enough time backing up PF anyway.

2. Kyle at SF might not perform as well.

3. I'm not sold on Troy Brown at all, so the opportunity to get those minutes behind McDaniels will be there, especially since McDaniels is still a foul machine as it is. The opportunity to break out will be there if he plays well. Short of Milton playing so well that we're comfortable with him getting as much PT as Conley, I think we know what we're getting out of everyone else. We're betting on health and chemistry with everyone else, not the idea that someone's gonna take a massive leap overall.

I'm not sure what you mean by playing above one's level since at least two of our starters in Ant and Jaden haven't really established their level yet. So are you suggesting neither of them will improve over last year? And KAT was injured most of last season so we don't have a large sample size yet if this core group together.

Having said that, I consider myself a pretty damn good pessimist, so it probably wouldn't surprise me if we are all wringing our hands in January hoping that Josh Minott and Shake Milton will ride to the rescue when half our starting 5 are either under-achieving or injured.

[Monster]

Minott isn't even going to be in the rotation to start the season. I agree he's a wild card as far as the longer term future goes, but even if he busts into the rotation this season, it's silly to suggest that he's the guy that will determine whether we get beyond the play in or not this season. I mean, really???

I don't realistically expect any of the core guys to play above their level (we kinda just hope it's enough to avoid the play-in), but who's realistically breaking out?

The only real candidates we have to "break out" are Minott, Milton or guys who will mostly either be injured (Clark) or in Iowa (Miller).

As for Minott's role in the rotation, barring an awful summer league or training camp, I wouldn't dismiss it for a couple of reasons:

1. I'm not sold on Reid taking all of the available backup PF minutes. With how injury prone KAT has become, Kyle might spend a decent enough time backing up PF anyway.

2. Kyle at SF might not perform as well.

3. I'm not sold on Troy Brown at all, so the opportunity to get those minutes behind McDaniels will be there, especially since McDaniels is still a foul machine as it is. The opportunity to break out will be there if he plays well. Short of Milton playing so well that we're comfortable with him getting as much PT as Conley, I think we know what we're getting out of everyone else. We're betting on health and chemistry with everyone else, not the idea that someone's gonna take a massive leap overall.

I'm not sure what you mean by playing above one's level since at least two of our starters in Ant and Jaden haven't really established their level yet. So are you suggesting neither of them will improve over last year? And KAT was injured most of last season so we don't have a large sample size yet if this core group together.

Having said that, I consider myself a pretty damn good pessimist, so it probably wouldn't surprise me if we are all wringing our hands in January hoping that Josh Minott and Shake Milton will ride to the rescue when half our starting 5 are either under-achieving or injured.

Wild wolf what is your definition of a “break out” player?

[Lipoli390]

I’m not ready to declare the Wolves have become deep, unless you count Minott, Moore and/or Miller. Otherwise, we’ve essentially substituted Shake for Prince, NAW for Nowell, and Troy Brown for Rivers. I think NAW is better than Nowell, but his career stats say he’s not. I see Shake and Prince as a wash. And I have no idea what to think of Brown. If this team isn’t healthier than it was last season, I’d expect the same result or worse given the significant improvement among a number of West Conference teams. So KAT has to come back and play at least 70+ games. At the same time, Ant, Jaden, Rudy, Naz and Anderson have to be at as healthy as they were last season. Note that Ant, Jaden and Rudy missed very few games last season.

I’ll stand by it, this team is already deeper than last season. Shake is a definite upgrade from Nowell, NAW/Brown together are a minor upgrade from Prince — younger, equivalent shooting, better rebounding, switchable defense… which is why TP only found a $4.5 mil one yr deal.

Then Minott/Moore returning … these guys are going to have fight their way into the floor. I think there’s a good chance that Minott does — the talent and motor is undeniable. Defense and rebounding. No idea about Moore. Miller is back to the G league for seasoning.

Of course health is an issue, as always… for the Wolves and everyone else.

I'm not sure I'm ready to say we are deeper either. Someone will have a down year or get hurt - you can book it. For example, NAW hustles his ass off, but the second his shaky mechanics turns into his shot going cold and his passes get a little loose, he may be too much of a liability on offense to make up for his defense. There is a reason his playing time has been up and down.

What I do think is encouraging is that the front office is building a "second timeline" cadre of players with some upside to join Ant and Jaden, and we only need a couple of these guys to pop for us....Milton, Minott, Reid, Miller, Clark, NAW, Moore Jr.

That’s my assessment also, Q. You nailed it with your reference to TC building a second timeline by bringing in players whose ages are aligned with Ant and Jaden. TC is threading the needle between running it back as a win-now team next season with KAT and Rudy and setting the team up to win long-term down the road with Ant and Jaden. If TC were completely all-in for next season, he would have signed at least one or two veteran free agents like Eric Gordon, Pat Beverley, Josh Richardson or Torrey Craig - all of whom he could have signed for less than any of the three he signed. But TC continues to build the team with an eye towards both next season and multiple seasons thereafter.

Meanwhile, TC’s certainly hoping that NAW will be MUCH better than the career 39.7% FG shooter and 33.9% three-point shooter he’s been in 4 seasons and that Shake or Troy Brown will break out next season. Any of those things could happen, but they haven’t happened yet and TC knows it. Nevertheless, he was willing to gamble on a little less sure “win-now” depth next season to continue building for the future. I agree with his approach and think he’s done an excellent job of threading the needle in a way that sets the team up to compete at a high level next season while continuing to build towards an even better team down the road as Ant and Jaden start approaching their prime.

Health will be the key next season. If KAT, Ant or Jaden goes down for a long stretch then it’s hard to see how this team does better than last season unless one or more of our newly acquired or re-signed under-25 players suddenly emerge as more than a role player. When I look at which players among our under 25 guys could emerge as more than a role player, it’s Minott and Miller. But it’s a stretch to believe either one can emerge as early as next season. We’ll see.

Don’t get me wrong. I like the way the team is positioned now for both the short and long term, although I would have preferred the team to deal KAT or Rudy this summer. TC has put together a talented, balanced roster for both the short and long term. Now we’ll have to wait and see now it all unfolds because I don’t expect any more significant moves this summer.

[Sundog]

Great article on Minott: https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/04/i ... each-them/

Great kid, great attitude

[Q-is-here]

Great article on Minott: https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/04/i ... each-them/

Great kid, great attitude

He definitely has all the raw ingredients of becoming a plus rotation player. There is a lot to be excited about for sure, but a lot of it is going to come down to his 3-point shot. The growth in that area last season (vs. college) was encouraging, but the sample size was too small to draw any conclusions.