Minnesota Sports Forum

60WinTim wrote:Gee, even Mr opTIMistic thinks the Bjelica hype is running out of control! :)

Ha, you and I are being forced into the role of "voices of reason"...god help us all!

I get the enthusiasm, though, because:

1) He is a veteran pro coming off a very good EuroLeague season
2) He put up big stats against a very good Spain team, and showed some cold-bloodedness in the 4th quarter
3) He defended Dirk well in the Germany game, and hit both a key 3-pointer late in the game and the game winner.

Plus, as Lip mentioned, he is the anti-Wes Johnson...he has his game face on always when he is on the court. I posted this article a few months ago, but it explains a lot about Nemanja's character and how he became the guy he is...mandatory reading for anyone intrigued by this new T-Wolf.

http://www.canishoopus.com/2015/4/20/8452281/almost-everything-you-should-know-about-nemanja-bjelica

But since somebody needs to be the voice of reason here, let me point out some statistics that make me hold back a little before fully jumping on the bandwagon:

1) Rebounding: Posters talk about his 10 rebounds against Spain and his 8.5 per game in EuroLeague last season. But there is another side to this coin. Yesterday against Germany, he looked disinterested at times on the boards, and ended up with only 3 rebounds. And despite his 8.5 last year, his average rebounds per game for his career is only 4.7...very Thad Young like, and not what we want out of a PF. So the question is this: did he finally learn how to rebound last year and he can bring that to the NBA, or was last year an aberration and we should look at the rest of his career for evidence of what kind of rebounder he is.

2) Scoring: Again, many are excited about the 24 points he scored against Germany, and the 12.1 he averaged last season. But his scoring average is only 7.8 PPG over his 7-year pro career. The question is the same as the rebounding question: did he finally just figure out last season how to be a scorer, or was last year an aberration and we should look at the previous 6 years to see what kind of scorer he can be.

I don't see where the hype train has gotten out of control. Who has suggested Bjelica is a star in the making or anything like that? Lip? I don't think he was even going there. I think a lot of us look at him as a draw type player who will do a bunch of different things and help you win games. People rip on Thad's rebounding etc but would anyone else be thrilled to have him sighed to the wolves for say 6 million a year? Yeah I think everyone would. He can play. Will Bjelica score a bunch of points night in and out? No probably not. Do we need that? Probably not. He reminds me of Tubio a guy that just knows how to play basketball and makes plays a lot of guys don't make because of his brain and skill. We have a bunch of guys on this te like that and Bjelica may turn out to be a terrific fit and help this team quite a bit. Personally I think he reminds me of a less athletic version of Horrey with better playmaking skills. I am not suggesting he will be that good but I see some similarities to their game and movements. We don't need Bjelica to be a stud but he could be part of the answer at PF. I don't think that's a ridiculous thing to suggest.

Monster, even though I have pointed out some area of concerns for Bjelica (mostly rebounding), I actually might be the most guilty here of over-hyping when I said that he has to be considered in the running for this year's ROY...now that's hype!

But I don't think it's out of the question at all. I had the chance to see Towns, Okafor, Mudiay, Russell and Porzingis on multiple occasions in Vegas Summer League, and none of them looked nearly as NBA-ready as Bjelica. I'm not saying he has anywhere near the upside that any of these guys, but we all know how much 19-year-olds struggle in their initial year in the league, so a seasoned, skilled 28-year-old with 7 years of pro experience should be able to outplay them in their initial years. Mirotic was an ROY candidate last year, and Bjelica kicked his butt on the court a couple days ago.

Bennett continues to play out his role well for team Canada. 6 and 9 Rebs in 20 mins against Panama in a rout. Here is one of the latest articles that's positive about him with some more quotes from Triano.

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com//sports/nba/anthony-bennett-anchors-improving-canadian-basketball-team

longstrangetrip wrote:Monster, even though I have pointed out some area of concerns for Bjelica (mostly rebounding), I actually might be the most guilty here of over-hyping when I said that he has to be considered in the running for this year's ROY...now that's hype!

But I don't think it's out of the question at all. I had the chance to see Towns, Okafor, Mudiay, Russell and Porzingis on multiple occasions in Vegas Summer League, and none of them looked nearly as NBA-ready as Bjelica. I'm not saying he has anywhere near the upside that any of these guys, but we all know how much 19-year-olds struggle in their initial year in the league, so a seasoned, skilled 28-year-old with 7 years of pro experience should be able to outplay them in their initial years. Mirotic was an ROY candidate last year, and Bjelica kicked his butt on the court a couple days ago.

Ah yeah the ROY was a lot of hype. Lol I see where you are coming from there and it's not totally ridiculous.

monsterpile wrote:Bennett continues to play out his role well for team Canada. 6 and 9 Rebs in 20 mins against Panama in a rout. Here is one of the latest articles that's positive about him with some more quotes from Triano.

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com//sports/nba/anthony-bennett-anchors-improving-canadian-basketball-team

Thanks for the article, monster...good to see AB's coach is so high on him. I watched some of last night's game against Panama, and I was impressed. Although AB was not a featured part of the offense, his rebounding and defense were excellent. Panama is very physical and one of the strongest rebounding teams in the tournament, but AB was clearly the best rebounder on the floor. And his defense surprised me. He showed quick feet, defensive savvy, and as his coach mentioned, very good help defense. Most impressive was his ability to not bite on shot fakes, but to remain on his feet with his long arms extended. This resulted in a couple blocked shots and a couple charges drawn.

Wiggins was sadly invisible in the first half, but really came alive in the third quarter with 15 points. His ability to clear place with his step-back move is even more lethal than it was last year (looks like he has been working on it), and even though it generally results in a dreaded long 2, he seems to be able to hit it with some regularity. Nice to see him come out fired up after halftime.

I'm glad that the Canadian coach is watching minutes closely...it has to be grueling to be playing almost every day in that high altitude city.

Good notes, tweets, comments from these games. Bjeluca is going to be a good player for us. I'm just happy nobody has been injured yet.

I am pulling for Bjelica. Has any other reigning Euro MVP's made the move?

Rudez has barely played for Croatia but that roster is pretty good.

bleedspeed177 wrote:I am pulling for Bjelica. Has any other reigning Euro MVP's made the move?

Yep and he made the jump to the Wolves! AK lol

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euroleague_MVP