Minnesota Sports Forum

Nowell has got to translate his skill level to more consistent results though. We saw that he is perfectly capable of putting together some really nice stretches of games. But then he would have these other stretches where he'd have these terrible misses and you would never know that he was an elite college and G-league shooter. His career 3 pt% in 57 NBA games is 30%. That's pretty bad for someone billed as a shooter. I'm not counting on him after two seasons of lackluster results. Hope I'm wrong.

Q12543 wrote:Nowell has got to translate his skill level to more consistent results though. We saw that he is perfectly capable of putting together some really nice stretches of games. But then he would have these other stretches where he'd have these terrible misses and you would never know that he was an elite college and G-league shooter. His career 3 pt% in 57 NBA games is 30%. That's pretty bad for someone billed as a shooter. I'm not counting on him after two seasons of lackluster results. Hope I'm wrong.

Nowell recently said that he knows one thing he has to improve is his catch and shoot 3 point shooting. I believe he said he thinks he has improved in that area but he still feels more comfortable shooting off the dribble. I don't have the numbers but it would be interesting to see if there is any data to back up the idea that he hasn't done as well there at the NBA level.

As for whether or not we should believe in his ability going forward...the guy has played just 57 games and 910 total minutes over 2 seasons. I'd like to see him actually have some sort of consistent role to see if he actually can make shots. It might be interesting to see him McLaughlin and Reid play some minutes on the floor together since they did that in Iowa.

Q12543 wrote:Nowell has got to translate his skill level to more consistent results though. We saw that he is perfectly capable of putting together some really nice stretches of games. But then he would have these other stretches where he'd have these terrible misses and you would never know that he was an elite college and G-league shooter. His career 3 pt% in 57 NBA games is 30%. That's pretty bad for someone billed as a shooter. I'm not counting on him after two seasons of lackluster results. Hope I'm wrong.

I think it takes a lot more than a fairly sporadic 16 minutes per game for 57 games to draw any negative conclusions about a player who came to the NBA with only 2 years of college and who just turned 22.

Jaylen Nowell shot 36-107 (33.6 3P%) last year on catch-and-shoot three-point opportunities. Compare that to his 14-43 (32.6 3P%) on pull-up threes. The honest truth is that he needs to improve both of these numbers and I think he will. Nowell strikes me as a player that needs a consistent routine/role to maintain his rhythm. Frankly, he needs to be in the nightly rotation until he proves that he just can't hang. Josh Okogie's shown time and time again that he can't shoot. At this point I don't expect that to change. Jarrett Culver's issues are well-documented by now. Both players' minutes should be situational at best. There's just no reason not to let Nowell have his crack at it over an extended period of time.

Luckily, I think Nowell will earn those minutes finally and be a combo guard of sorts this season. He played about three-fourths of his minutes last year at shooting guard and the remainder at point guard. Right or wrong, there's some reason to believe that he's just as involved in the backup point guard mix as Jordan McLaughlin or McKinley Wright.

Wolfson: Sounds like JJ Culver, Jarrett's brother, is one of the #Timberwolves summer roster cuts.

Welp. I guess it runs in the family.

Camden wrote:Jaylen Nowell shot 36-107 (33.6 3P%) last year on catch-and-shoot three-point opportunities. Compare that to his 14-43 (32.6 3P%) on pull-up threes. The honest truth is that he needs to improve both of these numbers and I think he will. Nowell strikes me as a player that needs a consistent routine/role to maintain his rhythm. Frankly, he needs to be in the nightly rotation until he proves that he just can't hang. Josh Okogie's shown time and time again that he can't shoot. At this point I don't expect that to change. Jarrett Culver's issues are well-documented by now. Both players' minutes should be situational at best. There's just no reason not to let Nowell have his crack at it over an extended period of time.

Luckily, I think Nowell will earn those minutes finally and be a combo guard of sorts this season. He played about three-fourths of his minutes last year at shooting guard and the remainder at point guard. Right or wrong, there's some reason to believe that he's just as involved in the backup point guard mix as Jordan McLaughlin or McKinley Wright.

I agree, Cam. Nowell definitively needs to improve his 3-point shooting consistency off the catch and the bounce. I also agree that he needs consistent minutes in predictable role to develop. That's true of most players and appears to be a key for Nowell. He's flourished as a shooter and overall player at every level he's played when given consistent minutes in a predicable role - both years in college and in the G-League. There is ample reason to expect the same from him at the NBA level if given the same opportunity.

Camden wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Did anyone watch the Wolves summer league team exhibition thing? Here is some video from Wolfson.

https://twitter.com/kstpsports/status/1423820845777031172?s=21

Jaylen Nowell continues to impress. Really like what I've seen from him. Might be another breakout for him at some point. Once again, he might be the reason Malik Beasley gets traded for value elsewhere. We're not there yet, but it's not too crazy of a thought.

Nathan Knight might end up being more than a two-way player here. He's got more game than the typical end of the bench project.

A couple interesting discussion points here:

Nowell: There's something about him that goes beyond his stats that resonates with me. Yes, he has not shot consistently well at the NBA level, but he has at every other level...and he has shown spurts of shooting success that indicate some potential. Beasley's 3-point shooting success makes him potentially a valuable trade chip. If we could include him in a deal that brought a nice return, what is the chance that he could actually be an improvement over Beasley as a true 2-way SG?

Knight: Ok, I get that he didn't exactly play against the toughest competition in college, and that's why he wasn't drafted. But neither did CJ McCollum, and he's turned out fine. Here are Knight's per 40 numbers his senior year: 28/14.2/2.4 with 2.1 blocks. He shot 77% from the line and had an impressive TS% of 61% (and 62% for his career!). He even opened up his game and tried 3 3-pointers per game his senior year, although he only made 30.5% on them. I liked the way he handled the ball last night, and he did average over 2 assists per game for his career. Here's my question: could Knight be an undrafted diamond in the rough that ends up ahead of Vando and next to KAT in the starting lineup? I recognize it's a long shot, but let's discuss.

Good points for discussion, FNG. I'll take a first shot.

1. Nowell: I'm actually one of the bigger Beasley fans on this message board. I had my eye one him as a potential acquisition when he was in Denver and I was really happy with the deal that brought him here. I was also reluctant to deal him this offseason. He's a bona fide elite 3-point shooter, but unlike many elite 3-point shooters he's also a terrific athlete who can run the floor, finish above the rim and rebound his position. He also has some real dog in him, although perhaps a little too much when guns are around. :) At age 24 without extensive playing time thus far in his NBA career, I still see untapped upside. So it's hard for me to see Nowell as a net improvement over Beasley. However, Nowell has two things that appear to be missing from Beasley's game - lead guard skills and defensive chops. Nowell also seems to have more of a mid-range game and an all-around more versatile offensive game compared to Beasley. So it's certainly possible that Nowell could end up a better true 2-way SG. As Q has noted, Nowell still has a lot to prove. But count me among those who think that he'll succeed. And if he develops into the player I expect him to become, then I could get comfortable moving Beasley this upcoming season or next offseason.

2. Knight. I just haven't seen enough of Knight to feel confident about speculating on his potential. But based on his college stats and the videos I've watched of him, I'm really impressed by what he brings to the table. I'm pretty high on Vanderbilt and think he's just scratching the surface of his potential. So I'm not prepared to predict that Knight will overtake Vanderbilt as KAT's front-court mate. However, there's enough there in Knight's game that suggests it's not inconceivable. And knowing that Monster might be reading this, I'll point out that Knight's standing reach is 3 inches greater than Vanderbilt's. Need I say more?

I agree that Nowell has the potential to be a more well-rounded version of Beasley. But the one thing Beasley has shown since first being traded to Minnesota is the ability to be a high volume sniper that can get 3's up very fast and very accurately. I'd argue he might be in the top 15 or so of NBA shooters when looking at his combination of volume and accuracy since he joined the Wolves near the end of the 2019-20 season. He is an almost ideal 6th man and at a fair price.

Q12543 wrote:I agree that Nowell has the potential to be a more well-rounded version of Beasley. But the one thing Beasley has shown since first being traded to Minnesota is the ability to be a high volume sniper that can get 3's up very fast and very accurately. I'd argue he might be in the top 15 or so of NBA shooters when looking at his combination of volume and accuracy since he joined the Wolves near the end of the 2019-20 season. He is an almost ideal 6th man and at a fair price.

I agree with you on Beasley. My view is that Beasley is a guy to hold onto as one of our building blocks. It will be interesting to see how the team develops next season.