Minnesota Sports Forum

Miller was so impressive. I know its just one game but if he keeps playing this well, how do you keep him out of rotation the whole season. I'm thinking at some point during the upcoming season, this might be our best rotation:

Rudy/Naz
KAT/Miller
Jaden/SloMo
Ant/NAW
Conley/Shake

I'd think Troy Brown starts the year as a regular backup in the rotation, but man he'll have to play well to stay. Miller and Minott will be chomping at the bit to play. Though I suspect injuries will come along to resolve this.

Don’t keep us hanging FNG and Lip, how’d the squad look up close and personal?

Some quick takeaways....

- Moore Jr. really struggles to create his own shot. He's gotta hit his 3s to have a future in this league. Unfortunately he didn't do that either.

- Brandon Williams is the anti-Moore. Just too quick to guard without giving a cushion and professional bucket-getter. Interested to see more of him before handing him that open slot, but he looked good out there!

- Minott is a great chaos/open floor type player. Can't do much in the half court game unless he's cutting off actions or penetration by others. Clanked his two 3s and his form still looks off. Still not sure he can guard quicker wings, has a hard time staying square with his hips.

- Miller looked great. Just a dog out there, has his nose in everything setting screens, taking charges, making shots, getting rebounds and loose balls. Has a real solid build too with big shoulders. Like his potential to play 5 or 4.

- T. Williams made a couple of his trademark passes, but just doesn't have enough juice otherwise.

- Everyone else was pretty "meh". Thought we'd get more from DJ Carton.

- Team played hard and flew around on defense, causing an ungodly amount of turnovers by the Pelicans.

Overall, I'd give Moore Jr. a C (they did win after all and he played some nice defense), Minott a B+, and Miller an A.

WallyBall wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2023 8:50 pm Don’t keep us hanging FNG and Lip, how’d the squad look up close and personal?

Unfortunately, I didn’t make it out to Vegas this year. It’s the first Summer League I’ve missed in at least five years. So like the rest of you I watched them from the cool comfort of my basement. My assessment is the same as Q’s. There were three Wolves players who stood out and looked like potential NBA caliber players: Leonard Miller, Brandon Williams and Josh Minott.

Leonard Miller stood out the most by far in my view. I think he’s going to be special. He has a surprisingly mature game for his age. He’s clearly physically gifted, but he also showed a really high basketball IQ. I love what we saw from him today.

I was also really impressed by Brandon Williams. He reminds me a lot of Mike Conley. I remember Kevin McHale telling a small group of season ticket holders at a gathering I attended after a draft workout that Mike Conley was the fastest player with the ball in the draft. Williams is also lightening fast with the ball, which is a combination of great speed and a terrific handle. I like the way he finishes. He also make a few nice passes today. He’s a guy I’d have my eye on for the Wolves 3rd 2-way contract. I’d like to see Conley take him under his wing.

Minott scored 20 points tonight. I’d say he was the Wolves third best player tonight. Q’s right about Josh not staying square with his hips. But on raw ability, my take away is that he has the quickness to guard any position on the floor. He actually defended guards a lot in today’s game and as I saw it he displayed the quickness necessary to guard them. His issue is technique, but that’s fixable. His shooting mechanics are still lacking as Q pointed out, but he doesn’t look terrible.

I really want Trevion Williams to succeed, but I think Q’s right about him.

Nice to start Summer League with a win.

Just finished the game here are my thoughts.

Minott played SF which was interesting to see. He had a nice game doing lots of good things. I don’t think he is ready for an actual role yet but I did think he was more able to play as a SF after this game. He needs to be more disciplined on D though but it’s SL I’m cool with guys playing with energy. I also thought his shot at the FT line looked better he looked even more comfortable with that shot.

Miller looked good I liked a couple defensive possessions where he just went straight up and stoned the guy in the paint. Loved the energy and activity.

Moore…on offense he didn’t look good although he finished the game with some nice moments. Finch explained why they like him. This game he looked more like a 3 and D wing than too much more than that. His defense looked like it could be an asset. He was often matched up against Daniels who was playing some good D so that should be considered. Overall not a good game for my guy Moore.

Brandon Williams looked good. I had wondered if he had some sort of shot at getting a roster spot before SL but after this game he put himself in the conversation. The quickness and explosion was there and he looked like he plays D. Might have been the best player on the floor for either team.

Williams can really pass. It looks like he has slimmed down and he looked good but there were a couple plays where I was like yeah I see why physically he might not be able to play at a higher level. This roster is kinda fun with guys like him that can handle the ball and pass it from various positions.

Bowen had some nice moments. Idk why but he looks bigger than I remember but I doubt he grew. Lol

For the Pelicans Daniels D looked legit. He was good attacking the basket and he has nice length. Idk what his upside is and I’d like to have him on my roster but if he can’t make 3’s…he is a nice backup. Hawkins didn’t exactly look amazing. Hopefully he is ok. Liddell looked like the guy he was before he tore his ACL which is a good thing.

Overall a pretty good showing from the Wolves. I liked the energy and effort and they played D.

Not to be too contrarian, but I think you guys are being too hard on Wendell. He started out pretty rocky — had a hard time adjusting to having Dyson Daniels draped all over him. Daniels, let’s face it, is a fucking stud and is going to be an all star at some point. But then Moore settled down and was instrumental to the win in the second half. Good defense, led both teams in assists, went 3-4 shooting in the 4th, including two 3pt’ers.

Ok read through the thread.

Q DJ Carton didn’t wow like I think both of us may have thought but he also looked solid. I thought he did some god things as a defender. Williams clearly has a leg up on him for a roster spot though after this game.

Also another thing about Williams I thought it was interesting that he was clearly the primary PG when he was out there. He should be based on what we saw but it’s also clear they want More to be able to play some PG still. If I was the Wolbes and I thought Williams might make my roster I would want to see if he can actually play PG. game 1 looks good in that regard. I’ll say that one thing the Wolves could use on their roster is a guard that can give the wolves some juice in scoring further down the roster. Maybe Williams could be that type of guy.

The broadcast crew was driving me nuts with the “Miller was the Wolves only draft pick” Jaylen Clark was literally sitting on the bench. Yes he is not playing but they did draft him. Otherwise I thought it was great to listen to those guys it seems like they actually know the players. Steve Smith is usually pretty good and like a I say usually actually knows a lot of these players. He is basically a basketball junkie.

Lip I’m not sure Minott has the physicality to guard any permititer position in the NBA. Part of why he can’t stay square is he just doesn’t quite have that ability to move his feet quick enough. There is some awkwardness there too. This doesn’t mean he can’t play SF and switch onto guys sometimes but he isn’t a McDaniels type defender. McDaniels moves like a guard.

Sundog wrote: ↑Sat Jul 08, 2023 9:25 am Not to be too contrarian, but I think you guys are being too hard on Wendell. He started out pretty rocky — had a hard time adjusting to having Dyson Daniels draped all over him. Daniels, let’s face it, is a fucking stud and is going to be an all star at some point. But then Moore settled down and was instrumental to the win in the second half. Good defense, led both teams in assists, went 3-4 shooting in the 4th, including two 3pt’ers.

I agree, Sundog. His shot wasn’t falling until late and that colors perception. But I like the way he controlled the ball.

It’s easy to overlook the fact that Brandon Williams played 21 games in the NBA two seasons ago. His overall stats weren’t impressive, but the following highlight video shows that he’s an NBA player. I think spending the next season entirely in the G-League was great for his development. His shot looks better and his G-League stats reflect his improved shooting. I really think the Wolves should give hime their 3rd 2-way contract.

https://youtu.be/s79UZ_B7eqs

I agree, Lip! Great highlights (“Oh, he put Karl Anthony Towns on skates!”), very crafty player. Brandon seems to be the kind of mature, self-motivating player that TC loves, undrafted because of a knee that needed surgery, keeps fighting, scratching, crawling to create a place for himself in the nba.