Page 4 of 6
Re: Summer League GDT 4
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:17 pm
by Q-is-here
Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:13 pm
It’s just one half of one Summer League game. I had already reached the conclusion before tonight that there’s only one NBA-ready player on the Wolves Summer League roster and his name is Brandon Williams.
Even though Brandon hasn’t had a good game so far tonight, I’ve seen enough of him in the prior three Summer League games along with highlights form his two G-League seasons and 21 games with Portland to see him as an NBA caliber PG.
I’m disappointed in Minott and Miller tonight. They’ve played horribly. But watching them and looking at their G-League stats I still see both eventually being NBA rotation players with substantial upside beyond that. They just need more post-high school experience. Miller is still 19 years old with 20 G-League games and no college experience. He averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds in those 20 games. And he has tremendous physical tools and energy. Minott is 20 years with only 9 G-League games under his belt, a few sporadic minutes with Minnesota’s NBA team, and one year of very limited play in college. He averaged over 20 points, 1.3 steals and 1.6 blocks in his 9 G-League games and was averaging 17 points and 2 blocks per game in Summer League before tonight.
So let’s all take a collective deep breath and just accept that these guys are really young and short on high-level basketball experience. We need to be patient.
I'm giving Miller a pass for all the reasons you mention. No pass for Minott. You gotta at least show improvement in one skill-set when you are literally a full-time basketball player for a year. I see nothing. In fact, he looks worse than he did last year!
Re: Summer League GDT 4
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:17 pm
by KG4Ever
I'd give Brandon Wiliams an Exhibit 10. I don't know if he's an NBA player. He's 23 playing against mostly younger guys. I'd bring him to camp and see how he does against real NBA players, then decide whether to use a 2 way on him.
Re: Summer League GDT 4
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:21 pm
by Q-is-here
KG4Ever wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:17 pm
I'd give Brandon Wiliams an Exhibit 10. I don't know if he's an NBA player. He's 23 playing against mostly younger guys. I'd bring him to camp and see how he does against real NBA players, then decide whether to use a 2 way on him.
Not a bad idea. Yeah, he could be one of these guys that just can't level up when everyone is a little bigger and a little faster which could be why he was so inefficient with Portland. But his ability to break down a defense off the dribble is something we don't have on the roster other than Ant.
Re: Summer League GDT 4
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:23 pm
by Lipoli390
KG4Ever wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:17 pm
I'd give Brandon Wiliams an Exhibit 10. I don't know if he's an NBA player. He's 23 playing against mostly younger guys. I'd bring him to camp and see how he does against real NBA players, then decide whether to use a 2 way on him.
He’s already played against really NBA players for over 20 games with Portland. Look at video from those games and you’ll see he’s an NBA player. Note also that he was a rookie at the time with only one year of college experience. His only negative in those games with Portland was his shooting efficiency - under 40% from the field. But he’s had two full G-League seasons in which he’s averaged 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists while shooting 46% from the field and 36% from behind the arc. His Summer League performances so far this week align with a much larger body of work, including games in the NBA.
Re: Summer League GDT 4
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:24 pm
by kekgeek
Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:17 pm
Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:13 pm
It’s just one half of one Summer League game. I had already reached the conclusion before tonight that there’s only one NBA-ready player on the Wolves Summer League roster and his name is Brandon Williams.
Even though Brandon hasn’t had a good game so far tonight, I’ve seen enough of him in the prior three Summer League games along with highlights form his two G-League seasons and 21 games with Portland to see him as an NBA caliber PG.
I’m disappointed in Minott and Miller tonight. They’ve played horribly. But watching them and looking at their G-League stats I still see both eventually being NBA rotation players with substantial upside beyond that. They just need more post-high school experience. Miller is still 19 years old with 20 G-League games and no college experience. He averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds in those 20 games. And he has tremendous physical tools and energy. Minott is 20 years with only 9 G-League games under his belt, a few sporadic minutes with Minnesota’s NBA team, and one year of very limited play in college. He averaged over 20 points, 1.3 steals and 1.6 blocks in his 9 G-League games and was averaging 17 points and 2 blocks per game in Summer League before tonight.
So let’s all take a collective deep breath and just accept that these guys are really young and short on high-level basketball experience. We need to be patient.
I'm giving Miller a pass for all the reasons you mention. No pass for Minott. You gotta at least show improvement in one skill-set when you are literally a full-time basketball player for a year. I see nothing. In fact, he looks worse than he did last year!
Yep. With a team with a lot of injury prone players, I would have liked our 11-14 to show something this summer. That does not mean they can’t turn into something but minott not progressing is concerning
Re: Summer League GDT 4
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:29 pm
by 60WinTim
We really don't have a very good team, do we? Seems like every team we play has a couple players that can hit a 4-pointer. We don't have that.
Re: Summer League GDT 4
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:32 pm
by Lipoli390
Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:17 pm
Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:13 pm
It’s just one half of one Summer League game. I had already reached the conclusion before tonight that there’s only one NBA-ready player on the Wolves Summer League roster and his name is Brandon Williams.
Even though Brandon hasn’t had a good game so far tonight, I’ve seen enough of him in the prior three Summer League games along with highlights form his two G-League seasons and 21 games with Portland to see him as an NBA caliber PG.
I’m disappointed in Minott and Miller tonight. They’ve played horribly. But watching them and looking at their G-League stats I still see both eventually being NBA rotation players with substantial upside beyond that. They just need more post-high school experience. Miller is still 19 years old with 20 G-League games and no college experience. He averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds in those 20 games. And he has tremendous physical tools and energy. Minott is 20 years with only 9 G-League games under his belt, a few sporadic minutes with Minnesota’s NBA team, and one year of very limited play in college. He averaged over 20 points, 1.3 steals and 1.6 blocks in his 9 G-League games and was averaging 17 points and 2 blocks per game in Summer League before tonight.
So let’s all take a collective deep breath and just accept that these guys are really young and short on high-level basketball experience. We need to be patient.
I'm giving Miller a pass for all the reasons you mention. No pass for Minott. You gotta at least show improvement in one skill-set when you are literally a full-time basketball player for a year. I see nothing. In fact, he looks worse than he did last year!
I’m not giving either one a pass. I’m just putting what we’ve seen from both of them in 3.5 Summer League games in perspective. Both have been productive in the first 3 Summer League games. Miller may not be as good as he looked the first three games and Minott is probably better. But both have put up Summer League stats in line with their G-League stats and both are still very young and inexperienced.
Yes, Minott has been a professional basketball player for a year. But I’ll reiterate the fact that he has played significant minutes in only played
9 professional games and minuscule minutes in a few NBA games since college and played very little in college. We need to have some perspective here. I’ll add that improvement is often not linear and even if it were, a 3 or 4 game sample size doesn’t tell us much. Am I disappointed in Minott so far this summer league? Absolutely, because I’ve been expecting a lot from him since he was drafted. But we’re light years away from having a solid basis for drawing anything close to definitive conclusions about Miller or Minott except that neither one is ready to play in the NBA right now.
Re: Summer League GDT 4
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:35 pm
by Q-is-here
kekgeek wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:24 pm
Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:17 pm
Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:13 pm
It’s just one half of one Summer League game. I had already reached the conclusion before tonight that there’s only one NBA-ready player on the Wolves Summer League roster and his name is Brandon Williams.
Even though Brandon hasn’t had a good game so far tonight, I’ve seen enough of him in the prior three Summer League games along with highlights form his two G-League seasons and 21 games with Portland to see him as an NBA caliber PG.
I’m disappointed in Minott and Miller tonight. They’ve played horribly. But watching them and looking at their G-League stats I still see both eventually being NBA rotation players with substantial upside beyond that. They just need more post-high school experience. Miller is still 19 years old with 20 G-League games and no college experience. He averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds in those 20 games. And he has tremendous physical tools and energy. Minott is 20 years with only 9 G-League games under his belt, a few sporadic minutes with Minnesota’s NBA team, and one year of very limited play in college. He averaged over 20 points, 1.3 steals and 1.6 blocks in his 9 G-League games and was averaging 17 points and 2 blocks per game in Summer League before tonight.
So let’s all take a collective deep breath and just accept that these guys are really young and short on high-level basketball experience. We need to be patient.
I'm giving Miller a pass for all the reasons you mention. No pass for Minott. You gotta at least show improvement in one skill-set when you are literally a full-time basketball player for a year. I see nothing. In fact, he looks worse than he did last year!
Yep. With a team with a lot of injury prone players, I would have liked our 11-14 to show something this summer. That does not mean they can’t turn into something but minott not progressing is concerning
The other implication it has is if we wanted to make a big move with Rudy or KAT, I am far less confident in "the second timeline" frontline guys being ready to fill in bigger roles.
Re: Summer League GDT 4
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:44 pm
by KG4Ever
Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:23 pm
KG4Ever wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:17 pm
I'd give Brandon Wiliams an Exhibit 10. I don't know if he's an NBA player. He's 23 playing against mostly younger guys. I'd bring him to camp and see how he does against real NBA players, then decide whether to use a 2 way on him.
He’s already played against really NBA players for over 20 games with Portland. Look at video from those games and you’ll see he’s an NBA player. Note also that he was a rookie at the time with only one year of college experience. His only negative in those games with Portland was his shooting efficiency - under 40% from the field. But he’s had two full G-League seasons in which he’s averaged 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists while shooting 46% from the field and 36% from behind the arc. His Summer League performances so far this week align with a much larger body of work, including games in the NBA.
Lip, BW wasn't even on an NBA roster last year as apparently he hadn't attracted much interest around the league after his stint in Portland so I think its debatable whether he is an NBA player. Two years ago, when he was at Portland he shot poorly and had -272 plus minus which was near the bottom of the roster. I think there are probably better options and while I did see some impressive G League play, I think that bringing him into camp for a further look makes sense. I'd like him to play for Iowa, but right now he would not be by choice for a two-way, though I'm fine with an Exhibit 10.
Re: Summer League GDT 4
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:49 pm
by Lipoli390
Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:35 pm
kekgeek wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:24 pm
Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:17 pm
I'm giving Miller a pass for all the reasons you mention. No pass for Minott. You gotta at least show improvement in one skill-set when you are literally a full-time basketball player for a year. I see nothing. In fact, he looks worse than he did last year!
Yep. With a team with a lot of injury prone players, I would have liked our 11-14 to show something this summer. That does not mean they can’t turn into something but minott not progressing is concerning
The other implication it has is if we wanted to make a big move with Rudy or KAT, I am far less confident in "the second timeline" frontline guys being ready to fill in bigger roles.
I think we’re seeing part of why TC seems committed to keeping both Rudy and KAT next season. Just watching their G-League highlights indicated to me that we couldn’t depend on Minott or Miller next season even though they both had very good G-League stats. They’re both too raw. But they’re both physically gifted and appear to have high-octane motors and lots of competitive drive. I know, so did Okogie. So no doubt both of them could end up being nothing more than shiny objects as Cool likes to say and we may find a year or two from now that there’s nothing behind the shine. But right now it’s way too early to worry about either one. Let’s see what they look like after another 20 G-League games before we start sounding any alarm bells.