Minnesota Sports Forum

Our Iowa team might be pretty good this year! We have a new coach as well.

The Wolves have an open roster spot. I've wondered if they might keep it open for Rocco later in the year? But Juzang is making the case for taking that spot.

Those bags of chips have hardly anything in them nowadays. LOL

Juzang needs to prove the old adage that shooters forget how to shoot once they get to MN. Dante had a preseason game like this last year and had a horrible start to the season. But did shoot well after Dec.

Come on guys, lay(s) off Ant. When you go 6 for 15 and play no defense at all, why not celebrate with a post game bag of chips. In all fairness the entire starting 5 was terrible except for Julius.

But we have to start talking about Hyland and Juzang...they are collectively averaging about a point a minute through the first two games. Hyland was a fan favorite in Denver, and he's quickly becoming one here. Rob has a lot of work to do to win the backup PG role.

Clark was terrific on defense...again.

And our two 7 footers are raw, but their size is always going to be a factor. Rocco only played 3 minutes, but his impact on defense was impressive.

Fun game. Iowa Wolves fought hard to get back into the game. Juzangs shot the lights out, and likely will get the 15th roster spot.

I'm not getting to overly concerned about Rob. Early days yet. Just want to see him make the right decisions. The rest will develop with time. It is handy to have an insurance policy in Bones though. Kid plays with a chip on his shoulder. Mike looks completely washed though. That's the biggest concern. He demanded that he has the ball in his hands more this season, but I'm not sure that's a good thing.....

KiwiMatt wrote: ↑Tue Oct 07, 2025 10:02 pm Fun game. Iowa Wolves fought hard to get back into the game. Juzangs shot the lights out, and likely will get the 15th roster spot.

I'm not getting to overly concerned about Rob. Early days yet. Just want to see him make the right decisions. The rest will develop with time. It is handy to have an insurance policy in Bones though. Kid plays with a chip on his shoulder. Mike looks completely washed though. That's the biggest concern. He demanded that he has the ball in his hands more this season, but I'm not sure that's a good thing.....

Yeah, my intrigue in Bones is more about Mike than it is Rob, although Rob is starting to concern me, too.

Player rankings of the rostered non-"eight starters" group based on two pre-season games:

#9 - Jaylen Clark
#10 - Bones Hyland
#11 - Johnny Juzang
#12 - Joan Beringer
#13 - Rocco Zikarsky
#14 - Rob Dillingham

60WinTim wrote: ↑Tue Oct 07, 2025 10:04 pm

KiwiMatt wrote: ↑Tue Oct 07, 2025 10:02 pm Fun game. Iowa Wolves fought hard to get back into the game. Juzangs shot the lights out, and likely will get the 15th roster spot.

I'm not getting to overly concerned about Rob. Early days yet. Just want to see him make the right decisions. The rest will develop with time. It is handy to have an insurance policy in Bones though. Kid plays with a chip on his shoulder. Mike looks completely washed though. That's the biggest concern. He demanded that he has the ball in his hands more this season, but I'm not sure that's a good thing.....

Yeah, my intrigue in Bones is more about Mike than it is Rob, although Rob is starting to concern me, too.

I'm way more concerned about Rob. Conley was ineffective on offense tonight, but I thought his chase defense was excellent. Rob on the other hand was really bad at both ends of the court. I was optimistic about Rob coming into the season with his rookie year behind him, but he has been awful...4 for 17 shooting with 7 turnovers and 6 fouls and often lost on defense. Conversely I was not at all excited about Hyland coning into the season, but he has had two very good games now. I even liked his hustle on defense tonight, and it showed up with his 2 steals. He looks excited and involved on the bench too, while Rob looks lost and depressed.

Rob is immensely talented...just look at some of his college video. One silver lining here is that Hyland's impressive play may spur Rob into picking up his game. But right now he's in serious danger of falling behind Bones on the depth chart. He really needs a bounce back game Thursday.

Elephant/Room

Dilly looks unplayable in these first two games.

TSJ doesn't want Ant's Lays crumbz

Some troubling questions emerged from last night’s loss:

1. Will Ant ever grow up? Ant is an incredible talent who has improved his game every season. But he still has another big step to take and that next step will require a level of maturity he has yet to achieve. His lazy defense, potato chip snack and constant barking at officials last night were three signs he hasn’t turned the maturity corner yet. He still does not look like the top player on a championship team.

2. Is Rob ready to assume the starting PG duties? The answer so far is absolutely not. In fact, he doesn’t look close to ready to be our #2 PG. I still love his talent. It looks to me like he’s completely lost any confidence. Hence, he plays tentatively and that negates his quickness, which is his key attribute. Good thing we have Bones on the roster.

3. Is this team built to win a championship in today’s NBA? Last night’s game reminded me of my concern last season that this team is too slow and plodding to win a ring in today’s NBA. It made me recall why I wanted to trade either Randle or Rudy after last season. Interestingly, Randle played really well last night while Rudy was embarrassingly bad. But in my view it’s never been about the talent and productivity of either one; it’s simply about overall fit. Having Randle and Rudy on the floor with the 38 year old Conley makes us relatively slow and plodding compared to teams like OKC and Indiana.

4. Does this team have the competitive drive, intensity and mental toughness to win a championship? Apart from possibly being too slow, I was concerned last season that this team lacked consistent intensity and way too often lost because the other team out-competed us. We saw that last night. It was our pre-season home opener against the Eastern Conference Finals Pacers yet the Pacers totally out-competed us. Yes, it’s one game, but a very troubling sign. If defense is going to be our foundation, last night’s performance suggests this Timberwolves house is going to collapse.

We’ll see how this team performs the rest of the preseason. Maybe last night’s game was that one stinker that will motivate this team to turn the corner consistently going forward. But right now, I’m not feeling good about my 57-win projection and I’m wondering if we can even match our 49 wins from last season.