Minnesota Sports Forum

Monster wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 9:56 pm CJ Fulton is an interesting player. Shot the 3 reasonably well and supposed to be a smart true PG. I watched some highlights he seems like a smart player but also a baller. I wonder if he is a guy they try and get to Iowa to be the playmaker there.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:04 pm

Monster wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 9:56 pm CJ Fulton is an interesting player. Shot the 3 reasonably well and supposed to be a smart true PG. I watched some highlights he seems like a smart player but also a baller. I wonder if he is a guy they try and get to Iowa to be the playmaker there.

Kevin Hanson, the Wolves summer league coach, was asked if anyone stood out to him in practice and he mentioned CJ Fulton. The reason he stood out was because of exactly what you say above - he's a true, pass-first PG and Kevin thought that was a dying breed of player.

I actually think it was a smart move by the Wolves to bring him onto the SL squad, not because I think CJ is on a fast-track to become our 3rd PG, but because with Dillingham, Shannon, and Miller on the team we probably don't need yet another guy that needs shots. He'll be a steady hand as Dillingham's backup is my guess.

Monster wrote: ↑Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:18 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:04 pm

Monster wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 9:56 pm CJ Fulton is an interesting player. Shot the 3 reasonably well and supposed to be a smart true PG. I watched some highlights he seems like a smart player but also a baller. I wonder if he is a guy they try and get to Iowa to be the playmaker there.

Kevin Hanson, the Wolves summer league coach, was asked if anyone stood out to him in practice and he mentioned CJ Fulton. The reason he stood out was because of exactly what you say above - he's a true, pass-first PG and Kevin thought that was a dying breed of player.

I actually think it was a smart move by the Wolves to bring him onto the SL squad, not because I think CJ is on a fast-track to become our 3rd PG, but because with Dillingham, Shannon, and Miller on the team we probably don't need yet another guy that needs shots. He'll be a steady hand as Dillingham's backup is my guess.

Thanks for posting that Q.

They also have Triston Newton who can play either guard spot.

I'd expect especially once Clark TSJ and maybe even Dillingham have gotten their work in Amari Bailey might be playing a decent amount and he has some combo guard skills.

I wonder if Trevor Keels ended up on a summer league roster. He turns 22 next month. He can earn money playing basketball somewhere.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:28 pm

Monster wrote: ↑Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:18 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:04 pm

Kevin Hanson, the Wolves summer league coach, was asked if anyone stood out to him in practice and he mentioned CJ Fulton. The reason he stood out was because of exactly what you say above - he's a true, pass-first PG and Kevin thought that was a dying breed of player.

I actually think it was a smart move by the Wolves to bring him onto the SL squad, not because I think CJ is on a fast-track to become our 3rd PG, but because with Dillingham, Shannon, and Miller on the team we probably don't need yet another guy that needs shots. He'll be a steady hand as Dillingham's backup is my guess.

Thanks for posting that Q.

They also have Triston Newton who can play either guard spot.

I'd expect especially once Clark TSJ and maybe even Dillingham have gotten their work in Amari Bailey might be playing a decent amount and he has some combo guard skills.

I wonder if Trevor Keels ended up on a summer league roster. He turns 22 next month. He can earn money playing basketball somewhere.

Pre-draft article on CJ:

Remarkably, for the first time ever, there is an Irish player battling to be seen as a potential draft pick.

CJ Fulton, Ireland’s 6’ 3 point guard, has found himself on the pre-draft circuit — first with the Minnesota Timberwolves two weeks ago and now with the Denver Nuggets this week. Fulton’s ability to run a team without turning the ball over is a commodity that teams want in potential late picks.

Fulton led the entire NCAA in a critical assist-to-turnover ratio, a metric that highlights a steady point guard capable of running a team effectively.

On the pre-draft workout circuit, Fulton is locking horns with players who have been pegged for the big time their whole lives, and by all accounts of the Timberwolves workout, CJ gave as good as he got and showed that he belongs on this stage.

For Irish basketball fans, this is unprecedented in the men’s game. Susan Moran amazingly made it to the fringes of the New York Liberty in the WNBA in the early 2000s, but we’ve never had an Irish-developed men’s player even close to this level.

Monster wrote: ↑Mon Jul 07, 2025 12:01 am

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:28 pm

Monster wrote: ↑Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:18 pm

Thanks for posting that Q.

They also have Triston Newton who can play either guard spot.

I'd expect especially once Clark TSJ and maybe even Dillingham have gotten their work in Amari Bailey might be playing a decent amount and he has some combo guard skills.

I wonder if Trevor Keels ended up on a summer league roster. He turns 22 next month. He can earn money playing basketball somewhere.

Pre-draft article on CJ:

Remarkably, for the first time ever, there is an Irish player battling to be seen as a potential draft pick.

CJ Fulton, Ireland’s 6’ 3 point guard, has found himself on the pre-draft circuit — first with the Minnesota Timberwolves two weeks ago and now with the Denver Nuggets this week. Fulton’s ability to run a team without turning the ball over is a commodity that teams want in potential late picks.

Fulton led the entire NCAA in a critical assist-to-turnover ratio, a metric that highlights a steady point guard capable of running a team effectively.

On the pre-draft workout circuit, Fulton is locking horns with players who have been pegged for the big time their whole lives, and by all accounts of the Timberwolves workout, CJ gave as good as he got and showed that he belongs on this stage.

For Irish basketball fans, this is unprecedented in the men’s game. Susan Moran amazingly made it to the fringes of the New York Liberty in the WNBA in the early 2000s, but we’ve never had an Irish-developed men’s player even close to this level.

I watched the first half of an early season game against South Florida. Obviously this isn't the highest level of talent but I wanted to see some full game action from CJ.

The announcers were local guys and they said multiple times CJ needs to take more shots when he gets into the paint. They weren't wrong although some of those times he did set up guys for points.

In the video of Kevin Hansen talking about practice that Q got the quote from Hansen compared CJ to TJ McConnell without the scoring which he said they were gonna work on with a bit of a smile. I see that comp for sure and a little bit of the bounce and flare just wen dribbling of Jason Williams. He looks plenty quick and fast to do what he needs to do offensively at least to set guys up. He isn't the biggest guy out there that's for sure but for a guy you might hope makes the NBA as a depth PG he is big enough. It was a big difficult to get a read on his defense because they had him skittering around playing back and forth between his man and being ready to double another. Idk if this means he has a higher level of ability in terms of team D or not. He definitely looked locked into what he was doing and not just standing around.

Innterms of passing yep he looks like the real deal. He is also often moving around setting screens some tough ones on guys reminding me a bit of John Stockton in that regard. He does not shy away from contact. He had a couple tough rebounds and he seems to be able to get up a bit. He had a swish on a 3 off the catch and then airballed another 3 but he was more closely guarded and his shot looks plenty good and he has shot the 3 well enough in college. He increased his value this year.

He didn't score much in college but this year he upped his shots a pretty decent amount ove this previous year. It should also be noted that there was a pretty good amount of scoring including 4 guys in double digits.

His coach this last year was Chris Mack who has plenty of Ncaa head coaching experience at Xavier and Louisville and the previous coach at Chalston was Pat Kelsy the current coach at Louisville.

I'm pretty interested to see him in SL I hope he gets some run.

FNG wrote: ↑Mon Jul 07, 2025 8:22 am

Monster wrote: ↑Mon Jul 07, 2025 12:01 am

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:28 pm

Pre-draft article on CJ:

Remarkably, for the first time ever, there is an Irish player battling to be seen as a potential draft pick.

CJ Fulton, Ireland’s 6’ 3 point guard, has found himself on the pre-draft circuit — first with the Minnesota Timberwolves two weeks ago and now with the Denver Nuggets this week. Fulton’s ability to run a team without turning the ball over is a commodity that teams want in potential late picks.

Fulton led the entire NCAA in a critical assist-to-turnover ratio, a metric that highlights a steady point guard capable of running a team effectively.

On the pre-draft workout circuit, Fulton is locking horns with players who have been pegged for the big time their whole lives, and by all accounts of the Timberwolves workout, CJ gave as good as he got and showed that he belongs on this stage.

For Irish basketball fans, this is unprecedented in the men’s game. Susan Moran amazingly made it to the fringes of the New York Liberty in the WNBA in the early 2000s, but we’ve never had an Irish-developed men’s player even close to this level.

I watched the first half of an early season game against South Florida. Obviously this isn't the highest level of talent but I wanted to see some full game action from CJ.

The announcers were local guys and they said multiple times CJ needs to take more shots when he gets into the paint. They weren't wrong although some of those times he did set up guys for points.

In the video of Kevin Hansen talking about practice that Q got the quote from Hansen compared CJ to TJ McConnell without the scoring which he said they were gonna work on with a bit of a smile. I see that comp for sure and a little bit of the bounce and flare just wen dribbling of Jason Williams. He looks plenty quick and fast to do what he needs to do offensively at least to set guys up. He isn't the biggest guy out there that's for sure but for a guy you might hope makes the NBA as a depth PG he is big enough. It was a big difficult to get a read on his defense because they had him skittering around playing back and forth between his man and being ready to double another. Idk if this means he has a higher level of ability in terms of team D or not. He definitely looked locked into what he was doing and not just standing around.

Innterms of passing yep he looks like the real deal. He is also often moving around setting screens some tough ones on guys reminding me a bit of John Stockton in that regard. He does not shy away from contact. He had a couple tough rebounds and he seems to be able to get up a bit. He had a swish on a 3 off the catch and then airballed another 3 but he was more closely guarded and his shot looks plenty good and he has shot the 3 well enough in college. He increased his value this year.

He didn't score much in college but this year he upped his shots a pretty decent amount ove this previous year. It should also be noted that there was a pretty good amount of scoring including 4 guys in double digits.

His coach this last year was Chris Mack who has plenty of Ncaa head coaching experience at Xavier and Louisville and the previous coach at Chalston was Pat Kelsy the current coach at Louisville.

I'm pretty interested to see him in SL I hope he gets some run.

He's intriguing certainly. But to provide the other side of the issue, Ben Beekken asked on his pod if there has over been a 4-year guard in the NBA who never averaged double digit points in any year in college.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Jul 07, 2025 2:54 pm Kevin Hanson just did another presser after Day 2 of practice:

- Reinforced what we already heard from Finch on Dillingham - he was more impressed last year with his defense. Wants him to be a chaser like Conley, as he will be assigned to movement shooters often.

- Didn't give the impression that they want to expand Clark's game much other than him being better as a roller off of screens, which is super niche LOL, but they think he sets good screens and it's a way to engage him on offense without just standing in the corner. But I don't get the impression they are going to experiment with him as a ball handler even if Clark was working on it this offseason.

- Really wants TJ to be a two-way player...emphasized defense with him and that they plan on giving him some tough assignments in SL to see if he is up to the task of guarding. Again, this is consistent with what Finch said at his exit interview. Also want him to show some play making chops, so they plan on doing some two-man game with him as the ball handler.

- Reinforced that Miller is a PF/big wing and bucket getter and not a Center.

- Had some good things to say about Jesse Edwards, that his body looks stronger and he's progressed nicely. (I actually like Jesse in that he is a mature, knows-his-role type of big with excellent length, but just didn't quite have the skill and coordination to do much past the G-League level...we'll see if that changes).