Wolves at Grizz with Rubio - GDT

[Monster]

If Sam was serious about starting Zach at the 2, I sure as hell hope he was going to give it a longer trial than just 3 preseason games played without our starting point guard. I'm starting to think he has already moved away from that idea. Otherwise he should be playing a ton at that position right now, not coming off the bench to play point. But then again this is Sam Mitchell we are talking about. I don't expect many of his moves to make a whole lot of sense.

Sam should have never made that declaration so damn early. I get that he was heavily leaning that way, but he should have let things play out longer to validate his inclination before going public with it and committing. LaVine is going to get plenty of playing time either way, especially with Martin's unreliable health.

The other thing I'm scratching my head about is starting Prince at the 3. I'm not sure what the benefit of that is other than it moves Wiggins to the 2. But then why not start 'Bazz at the 3 if you want to experiment with a bigger lineup? KG,Towns, Prince, Rubio, and Wiggins might be OK defensively, but now there is a total imbalance on offense, with Wiggins being the only real scorer in this group, and as we've seen, he's struggled this pre-season.

I think Sam wanted to go all in on Zach and now he seems a bit worried about getting him going. As long and Sam doesn't stay stubborn with a lineup I am fine with him trying a few things.

IF Prince starts with Wiggins at SG I could see that making some sense as you would start solid with defense and guys that know whattheybare doing right off the bat. Prince and KG would likely sub out quickly and bring in Bjelica and another wing player. Its possible that Sam sees some matchups against some teams that altering the starting lineup my benefit everyone.

I don't care who is coaching this team it's would be tough with the vets and young talent mixed together. I am not suggesting Sam will make all the right moves I am just saying it's gonna be tricky.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

If Sam was serious about starting Zach at the 2, I sure as hell hope he was going to give it a longer trial than just 3 preseason games played without our starting point guard. I'm starting to think he has already moved away from that idea. Otherwise he should be playing a ton at that position right now, not coming off the bench to play point. But then again this is Sam Mitchell we are talking about. I don't expect many of his moves to make a whole lot of sense.

Sam should have never made that declaration so damn early. I get that he was heavily leaning that way, but he should have let things play out longer to validate his inclination before going public with it and committing. LaVine is going to get plenty of playing time either way, especially with Martin's unreliable health.

The other thing I'm scratching my head about is starting Prince at the 3. I'm not sure what the benefit of that is other than it moves Wiggins to the 2. But then why not start 'Bazz at the 3 if you want to experiment with a bigger lineup? KG,Towns, Prince, Rubio, and Wiggins might be OK defensively, but now there is a total imbalance on offense, with Wiggins being the only real scorer in this group, and as we've seen, he's struggled this pre-season.

I think Sam wanted to go all in on Zach and now he seems a bit worried about getting him going. As long and Sam doesn't stay stubborn with a lineup I am fine with him trying a few things.

IF Prince starts with Wiggins at SG I could see that making some sense as you would start solid with defense and guys that know whattheybare doing right off the bat. Prince and KG would likely sub out quickly and bring in Bjelica and another wing player. Its possible that Sam sees some matchups against some teams that altering the starting lineup my benefit everyone.

I don't care who is coaching this team it's would be tough with the vets and young talent mixed together. I am not suggesting Sam will make all the right moves I am just saying it's gonna be tricky.

Well, that's my point (bolded part above)....may be he shouldn't have gone all in on Zach like that to begin with. A pre-season game hadn't even been played yet!

And then with Prince starting, that flies in the face of Sam's overall plan of this being all about a year of development for the young guys. Prince shouldn't even really be playing unless there are injuries.

I don't know....I'm fine with Sam tinkering here and there to figure things out, but he's kind of all over the map right now. Not encouraging!

[SameOldNudityDrew]

I thought it was premature, but Sam's named Zach the starter, so I think he should stay with that to see how it pans out.

1) This is a rebuilding year.
2) All McCants references aside, Zach definitely has potential and showed real promise offensively at the 2 at the end of the year.
3) Another reason Sam should stick with Zach as the starter is to show that he means what he says and that he'll trust players working through bad stretches--both of which are important for him starting out as the coach.

I think if Zach keeps playing like this, Martin should definitely see plenty of minutes, but they should keep starting Zach for those reasons.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I thought it was premature, but Sam's named Zach the starter, so I think he should stay with that to see how it pans out.

1) This is a rebuilding year.
2) All McCants references aside, Zach definitely has potential and showed real promise offensively at the 2 at the end of the year.
3) Another reason Sam should stick with Zach as the starter is to show that he means what he says and that he'll trust players working through bad stretches--both of which are important for him starting out as the coach.

I think if Zach keeps playing like this, Martin should definitely see plenty of minutes, but they should keep starting Zach for those reasons.

I agree Drew. It probably does more harm than good to change course at this point. My issue is that Sam would have left himself a lot more wiggle room if he hadn't declared so early in the pre-season that Zach was his starter at the 2.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Drew and Q, I hear what you are saying about Sam sticking to his decision, but I think that ship may have sailed already. Zgoda tweeted yesterday that it looks like the Zach as starter experiment is already over.

I never understood why Sam announced so early that he was going with Zach at the 2, even if he said he had written him into the lineup in pencil not pen...never made any sense to me. I wanted Zach to win the starting job because I like the idea of Martin providing offense off the bench, but I always thought he had to earn it. It didn't make sense for Sam to publicly announce his starter after a couple good practices by Zach. We all know that Zach came into the NBA as a project, and that he probably was going to require more patience than most young players. I'm still quite high on Zach as a prospect and got as excited as anyone when the reports of his early practices were so positive. But he has been nothing short of terrible in his five pre-season games, and hopefully Sam is reconsidering his decision. I'm not at all opposed to starting Wiggins at the 2, and letting Muhammad try to win the starting 3 position...even though he has also had a poor preseason (although not nearly as poor as Zach's). I also wouldn't mind seeing if Bjelica is quick enough to guard SF's, because he certainly has the offensive game to play the 3. Prince would not be my choice to start or even get serious minutes at SF.

[60WinTim]

I think it's premature to say Sam has given up on Zach starting at SG. Other than Zgoda trying to interpret things he doesn't understand, nothing has been said to indicate Zach has lost the starting SG spot. Let's see what happens with these last two preseason games...

[thedoper]

I think it's premature to say Sam has given up on Zach starting at SG. Other than Zgoda trying to interpret things he doesn't understand, nothing has been said to indicate Zach has lost the starting SG spot. Let's see what happens with these last two preseason games...

Zgoda has got to be one of the worst beat reports I have had to endure.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Like Carlos mentioned earlier, I can't take another year of falling in the bottom 5 teams again. Play your best players, the young guys will get plenty of minutes together. If we end up a terrible team again, so be it, but don't tank, i.e., "develop our young players". C'mon Sam-have a good season!

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Like Carlos mentioned earlier, I can't take another year of falling in the bottom 5 teams again. Play your best players, the young guys will get plenty of minutes together. If we end up a terrible team again, so be it, but don't tank, i.e., "develop our young players". C'mon Sam-have a good season!

Yeah, I'm with you Lloyd. Even though I want Zach to earn the starting role, if he continues to play and shoot like he has in the preseason games to date, we can't afford to have him in the starting role if we want to have any chance of getting off to a good start. I don't want the 2016 draft thread to originate in November!

Tim and Doper, while I agree with you that Zgoda is a substandard beat writer, he has been traveling with the team and Mitchell is not the best at keeping his thoughts to himself. If Jay-Z tweeted it, I'm guessing he has had some discussion with the coaching staff about Sam's current intentions. Now, if Zach can turn it around and light it up in the final to games, he may get that starting job back.

[mjs34]

This teams biggest issue is they have no long-term plan, or at least are incapable of sticking to it. You can't build or rebuild a team in one and a half seasons, and that is what they have tried for the last decade. Bringing Adelman in was a bigger mistake than Rambis imo. We settled for a .500 ceiling team, rather than waiting it out a season or two longer and finishing the rebuild. Flip screwed up last season as well having no patience when giving up a first for Young, and then compounded the problem with the "Pain deal".

I realize that Zach is struggling, but Sam was clear that starting SG was something that could change. I think it was a motivating tool that Sam used, and nothing more.

Wiggins (as well as Zach) were posting significant numbers at the end of last season, and there is no reason not to believe that will be the case again this season. I think we are getting way too picky on some of our young guys. Based on preseason results I guess we would say Jimmy Butler isn't a starter either because he is shooting 32%, totaling 10pts in 25 minutes.

KAT has been very impressive, and has blown me away with his aggressiveness offensively. He, more than any #1 pick I have seen in the last five years, looks the part of a future superstar.

If I see Rudez getting 10-15 minutes opening night, I will start to worry more. My only concern right now is with our health.