Minnesota Sports Forum

Rudy, Naz, KAT and Shake all impressed me today.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2023 1:44 pm

KG4Ever wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2023 1:32 pm

Leado01 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2023 1:28 pm

Moore looked ok...I still question his upside.

Miller needs a lot of footwork guidance on defense.

I actually thought Minott played up to where he should be. The 13th or 14th best player on the team.

I wouldn't lump Miller with the other two as he is a rookie, 19 years old and growing into his body after a growth spurt. I still think he's going to be a good player. Plus he displays more raw talent than Minott or Moore, who I'd be happy to trade away if we can get any kind of positive return for.

Yeah, I guess I just figured the G-League professional experience would have ironed out some of his awkwardness, so I don't quite lump him in as a typical rookie since he was literally playing professionally last season and had ample opportunity to refine some things. So I'm a bit worried about Miller.

Don't even get me started on Moore Jr. and Minott...

I don’t put any more stock in a year of G-League play than a year of college play. Miller is the equivalent of a teenager who’s had only one year of college ball, but who needs two or three years before he’s NBA ready. Miller’s late growth spurt plus his relatively late start playing basketball competitively probably combine to create a longer developmental path. I’m not counting on Miller for anything, but I still believe he could become a very good NBA player.

Minott has the equivalent of two years of college ball with minimal playing time his first year. So I’d say it’s way too early to draw any firm conclusions about his NBA prospects. I wonder what Desmond Bane would have been like if he had come to the NBA after his one year or two years of college instead of four.

Serious doubts about Moore have more merit since he’s had the equivalent of four years of college (3 years in college and 1 year of G-League). But Moore was a late bloomer in college and hasn’t had a significant sample of NBA minutes yet. So I’d say the jury’s still out on Moore, although I’d consider including him in a trade package.

Meanwhile, I see no reason to use a two-way contract slot to keep the 26 year old Matt Ryan around. He’s someone we can legitimately form final conclusions about.

2 "knee jerk and meaningless due to way too little sample size" observations after the first two games:

1) While KAT has always been an offensive force, he has only been a 25% shooter on one of the most efficient shots...the corner three. On their first offensive play, the Wolves ran a play to set up a corner three for KAT...and he made it. It would be nice to see KAT add yet another weapon to his scoring arsenal.

2) Naz Reid has emerged as an almost unstoppable scorer featuring both three point success and drives to the basket. And yet despite his offensive brilliance, due to his poor defense and lack of court vision and ball movement, Naz's on/off numbers have been consistently at or near the bottom of the team...a disastrous -8, -7 and -7 the past three seasons. That's why as much as I love Naz, I was not an advocate for resigning him at such a high salary. BUT...in the two pre-season games, Naz has put up an impressive +9 and +8. If Naz can turn his dreadful +/- experience around, we have a chance to have one of the best benches in the Association.

I warned you...totally knee-jerk.

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Oct 08, 2023 8:49 am 2 "knee jerk and meaningless due to way too little sample size" observations after the first two games:

1) While KAT has always been an offensive force, he has only been a 25% shooter on one of the most efficient shots...the corner three. On their first offensive play, the Wolves ran a play to set up a corner three for KAT...and he made it. It would be nice to see KAT add yet another weapon to his scoring arsenal.

2) Naz Reid has emerged as an almost unstoppable scorer featuring both three point success and drives to the basket. And yet despite his offensive brilliance, due to his poor defense and lack of court vision and ball movement, Naz's on/off numbers have been consistently at or near the bottom of the team...a disastrous -8, -7 and -7 the past three seasons. That's why as much as I love Naz, I was not an advocate for resigning him at such a high salary. BUT...in the two pre-season games, Naz has put up an impressive +9 and +8. If Naz can turn his dreadful +/- experience around, we have a chance to have one of the best benches in the Association.

I warned you...totally knee-jerk.

Yeah, Naz has had it tough on the On/Off stuff. Part of that is his own weaknesses, but I think part of his weakness gets further exposed by the personnel he's played with. Malik Beasley, DLO, Austin Rivers, and Jaylen Nowell aren't exactly great perimeter stoppers, so Naz ends up having to come off his guy a lot to stop dribble penetration. And even if he creates a miss, the big he was guarding tends to overwhelm him on the glass and he struggles to recover.

I'm hoping this year we have fewer holes in our perimeter, plus Naz will be playing a lot more 4 so he won't be as responsible for protecting the paint.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sun Oct 08, 2023 12:50 pm

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Oct 08, 2023 8:49 am 2 "knee jerk and meaningless due to way too little sample size" observations after the first two games:

1) While KAT has always been an offensive force, he has only been a 25% shooter on one of the most efficient shots...the corner three. On their first offensive play, the Wolves ran a play to set up a corner three for KAT...and he made it. It would be nice to see KAT add yet another weapon to his scoring arsenal.

2) Naz Reid has emerged as an almost unstoppable scorer featuring both three point success and drives to the basket. And yet despite his offensive brilliance, due to his poor defense and lack of court vision and ball movement, Naz's on/off numbers have been consistently at or near the bottom of the team...a disastrous -8, -7 and -7 the past three seasons. That's why as much as I love Naz, I was not an advocate for resigning him at such a high salary. BUT...in the two pre-season games, Naz has put up an impressive +9 and +8. If Naz can turn his dreadful +/- experience around, we have a chance to have one of the best benches in the Association.

I warned you...totally knee-jerk.

Yeah, Naz has had it tough on the On/Off stuff. Part of that is his own weaknesses, but I think part of his weakness gets further exposed by the personnel he's played with. Malik Beasley, DLO, Austin Rivers, and Jaylen Nowell aren't exactly great perimeter stoppers, so Naz ends up having to come off his guy a lot to stop dribble penetration. And even if he creates a miss, the big he was guarding tends to overwhelm him on the glass and he struggles to recover.

I'm hoping this year we have fewer holes in our perimeter, plus Naz will be playing a lot more 4 so he won't be as responsible for protecting the paint.

I think the Naz on/off numbers historically have been almost entirely who he’s played with in addition to the fact that he’s still young and improving.

KAT hasn’t taken many corner threes in his career because that’s not how he’s been used. He’s a 40% career 3-point shooter and overall a highly efficient scorer. So I’m sure his corner three percentage will increase if he takes more of them in the offense. But I think KAT’s more effective out high where he can drive, post up and/or facilitate. So I’m not expecting him to spot up in the corner much more than he has in the past. But who knows.

I watched the second half of Game 2 again, focus mainly on the young guys and 2-way players. As a threshold matter, the Wolves should waive Matt Ryan and give his 2-way slot to one of the other younger players in camp or some other young prospect. Matt Ryan looked terrible in both games and at age 26 what you see is all you’ll get. I also don’t see any reason to spend more time evaluating Trevor Keels. I don’t see much of a game or potential in him. Here are my thoughts on the others:

1. Luka Garza — I love this guy. Glad we were able to hold onto him. He’s easily worthy of one of our 2-way deals and I would give him our 15th roster spot if necessary.

2. Leonard Miller — He’s oozing with great potential and has developed his shot impressively since a year ago before his G-League season. But he’s very raw in many respects. He doesn’t defend well, but clearly has potential to be a very good defender. His biggest deficiency is his footwork on the offensive end. I comment on it after watching him in the Summer League this year. He got called for a number of travels in Summer League and could have (should have) been called for more and likely would have been if in the regularly season. He has a lot of really basic work to do to get this part of his game up to an NBA level. But I’m not worried given his age, lack of high-level experience and reputed worth ethic. I’m still really high on him.

3. Josh Minott — After watching him play in game 2 a second time, I don’t get Q’s negativity. Unlike Summer League, Josh looked like his was playing under control. He had several really nice put-backs, one of them on an excellent box out. He generally made good decisions and made some really nice passes. I don’t think his upside is a high as Miller’s, but it’s still high and he’s defensively closer to being NBA rotation ready than Miller. One more season of primarily G-League play will likely make him rotation worthy next season in my view.

4. Wendell Moore — He remains a disappointment, but I saw some nice things from him in these two preseason games.

5. Tyrese Martin — I really liked the little we saw from him in the second game. He looks quick, athletic and skilled with a really nice handle.

6. Vit Krejci — He really impressed me. I was surprised by how athletic and fluid he looked. Now I understand why TC brought him to camp. It will be interesting to see how he performs the rest of the preseason. I could see Vit or Tyrese replacing Matt Ryan as our 3rd 2-way contract player.

7. Daishen Nix — He sure looks pudgy. But he also looks pretty quick and he has a really nice handle. His shot looked terrible, but it’s a very limited sample size. I want to see more.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 08, 2023 6:54 pm I watched the second half of Game 2 again, focus mainly on the young guys and 2-way players. As a threshold matter, the Wolves should waive Matt Ryan and give his 2-way slot to one of the other younger players in camp or some other young prospect. Matt Ryan looked terrible in both games and at age 26 what you see is all you’ll get. I also don’t see any reason to spend more time evaluating Trevor Keels. I don’t see much of a game or potential in him. Here are my thoughts on the others:

1. Luka Garza — I love this guy. Glad we were able to hold onto him. He’s easily worthy of one of our 2-way deals and I would give him our 15th roster spot if necessary.

2. Leonard Miller — He’s oozing with great potential and has developed his shot impressively since a year ago before his G-League season. But he’s very raw in many respects. He doesn’t defend well, but clearly has potential to be a very good defender. His biggest deficiency is his footwork on the offensive end. I comment on it after watching him in the Summer League this year. He got called for a number of travels in Summer League and could have (should have) been called for more and likely would have been if in the regularly season. He has a lot of really basic work to do to get this part of his game up to an NBA level. But I’m not worried given his age, lack of high-level experience and reputed worth ethic. I’m still really high on him.

3. Josh Minott — After watching him play in game 2 a second time, I don’t get Q’s negativity. Unlike Summer League, Josh looked like his was playing under control. He had several really nice put-backs, one of them on an excellent box out. He generally made good decisions and made some really nice passes. I don’t think his upside is a high as Miller’s, but it’s still high and he’s defensively closer to being NBA rotation ready than Miller. One more season of primarily G-League play will likely make him rotation worthy next season in my view.

4. Wendell Moore — He remains a disappointment, but I saw some nice things from him in these two preseason games.

5. Tyrese Martin — I really liked the little we saw from him in the second game. He looks quick, athletic and skilled with a really nice handle.

6. Vit Krejci — He really impressed me. I was surprised by how athletic and fluid he looked. Now I understand why TC brought him to camp. It will be interesting to see how he performs the rest of the preseason. I could see Vit or Tyrese replacing Matt Ryan as our 3rd 2-way contract player.

7. Daishen Nix — He sure looks pudgy. But he also looks pretty quick and he has a really nice handle. His shot looked terrible, but it’s a very limited sample size. I want to see more.

My impression of Minott is from watching hundreds of minutes of his play in the G-League last year and Summer League a few months ago. He does better as a PF where his terrible perimeter defense is less exposed (but his fouling isn't). Unfortunately in summer league and pre-season so far they are trying to play him as a 3. He is Nowell/Beasley-level bad when it comes to perimeter defense. He can't stay in front of anyone. I see zero chance he'll ever be an NBA rotation wing.

He MIGHT be able to make it as a PF, especially if he ever straightens out his shot. He has the height and rebounding ability of a modern day 4, but just needs to add a bit more weight and strength. But I still think he'll be a defensive liability since 4s do need to guard out on the perimeter these days.

One of my crazy hot takes is that Miller will force himself into the rotation somehow (hopefully not due to injury!) and will earn at least one vote for one of the all-rookie teams.

Miller has a chance to be a good player. It might not happen right away, but he has some tools. Minott? Sorry guys it isn't happening.

KG4Ever wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2023 12:41 pm

WildWolf2813 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2023 12:31 pm Jeez, the NBATV announcer doesn't really know any Wolves names besides Towns, Edwards and Gobert

Yeah Conley drained a three and he called him Ant. Troy Brown was Jordan Brown.

It was pretty annoying listening bf to that guy at times.