Minnesota Sports Forum

sjm34 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

When Martin gets injured, and he will, Zach's minutes go up, Wiggins plays more 2, Shabazz and Bjelica get more time. We have depth this year. A Rubio injury is the one thing that could have us scrambling. I suggest that if Ricky gets hurt, and Jones doesn't develop, PG would be a priority for next offseason.

Two problems with that scenario. The first is that we should expect Ricky to get injured at some point, as well as several others. That is the roster that Flip has signed on with, and to expect anything other than that is insanity.

The second problem is that I am not willing to throw away another season because we lose our PG.

sjm34 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:I will leave this hear.

http://www.nba.com/2015/news/features/scott_howard_cooper/07/14/rookie-ladder-after-day-4-in-las-vegas/index.html?ls=nba:specialsfull4

If I learned one thing in Vegas, it's this...23 year old guys will generally outplay 19 year old guys. There's a big physical and emotional maturity difference, and sitting close to the action in SL really highlights this...the 19 year-olds don't look or act like the 23 year-olds up close. It's one of the main reasons SL results need to be taken with a grain of salt. It's not surprising that many 2nd rounders play better than first rounders in these early games...very few second rounders are 19 years old. Tyus Jones will be a much better pro than Joseph Young and Lorenzo Brown. Karl-Anthony Towns will be a much better pro than Tariq Black. But if you take their respective performances in a vacuum, you would come to the exact opposite conclusion.

Many people thought Jahlil Okafor would contribute right away, and they look like they may be right...he just looks and acts older than the rest of the one-and-dones. Guys like Towns, Russell, and even Jones are likely to be very good pros, but they all looked completely overmatched playing against older players in Vegas.

BTW, the same sort of logic needs to be used in evaluating Adreian Payne. Yes, he was very good in his first three games, but similar to Joseph Young, he is a man playing against boys. I'm a Payne fan and have actually liked last year's trade right from the start, but let's not get too carried away because he has been physically better than the young guys he has been matched up against.

The maturity issue is a valid point Long, but with some of these guys it goes deeper than that. I hope KAT goes the way of WIggins last year, and starts to build confidence. The one thing that makes me question that is their personalities with Wiggins being shy and somewhat of an introvert so I expected it to take some time with him.

I surprised there isn't more concern considering how many posters seem to think the wolves were going to run away with it in SL.

I have to admit that I thought we would see a little more out of KAT, but I am really shocked at what we haven't seen out of Russell. I was not a huge fan of his, and questioned whether he had the athleticism to take over in the NBA. I see him more along the lines of Evan Turner, with a better shot. From what I have watched to this point, I think NY hit it big.[/quote]

LST's point was to not make too much out of SL. And your text in bold is the antithesis of that. No way you can make valid judgments from a couple of games in the desert. I'm just enjoying the games and looking for general impressions. I'll get more focused once the real action starts.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

sjm34 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

When Martin gets injured, and he will, Zach's minutes go up, Wiggins plays more 2, Shabazz and Bjelica get more time. We have depth this year. A Rubio injury is the one thing that could have us scrambling. I suggest that if Ricky gets hurt, and Jones doesn't develop, PG would be a priority for next offseason.

Two problems with that scenario. The first is that we should expect Ricky to get injured at some point, as well as several others. That is the roster that Flip has signed on with, and to expect anything other than that is insanity.

The second problem is that I am not willing to throw away another season because we lose our PG.

SJ, there isn't a team in the league that has every position covered 3 deep. You can't have insurance against every possible outcome. The Warriors don't, neither do the Spurs, Rockets and Cavaliers (obviously). We are a 16 win team and extremely young, and yet we have outstanding depth overall. A lot is hinging on Ricky's ability to stay on the floor, but that situation isn't unique to us.

sjm34 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

sjm34 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

When Martin gets injured, and he will, Zach's minutes go up, Wiggins plays more 2, Shabazz and Bjelica get more time. We have depth this year. A Rubio injury is the one thing that could have us scrambling. I suggest that if Ricky gets hurt, and Jones doesn't develop, PG would be a priority for next offseason.

Two problems with that scenario. The first is that we should expect Ricky to get injured at some point, as well as several others. That is the roster that Flip has signed on with, and to expect anything other than that is insanity.

The second problem is that I am not willing to throw away another season because we lose our PG.

SJ, there isn't a team in the league that has every position covered 3 deep. You can't have insurance against every possible outcome. The Warriors don't, neither do the Spurs, Rockets and Cavaliers (obviously). We are a 16 win team and extremely young, and yet we have outstanding depth overall. A lot is hinging on Ricky's ability to stay on the floor, but that situation isn't unique to us.

I was hoping for 2 deep, which we don't have at PG.

What the contending teams have are solid back ups for when they sustain injuries. If you lose your first and second string players, then you have an issue.

We aren't a 16 win team when you account for the tanking (we seem to be really good at). I didn't have a problem with it considering the position we were in last season, but this team has plenty of talent to expect to win 35-45 games. You can't do that if you are depending on a third string PG when your starter goes down. Considering how many injuries we have sustained over the past couple of seasons, we should be expecting that to continue, and thus have a plan in place going into the season.

I am tired of the "we were hoping Pek would be healthy" mantra coming from this team. When you build a roster, a players ability to stay on the floor has to be a part of your thought process.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

We just used a #1 pick for a backup point guard. I'm not saying he is going to turn out to be the be-all end-all as the backup, but that's what he was drafted for. That's what we spent 3 #2 picks on. I can't see bringing another guy in to play in front of him, especially when we have Zach who is going to need some minutes at the 1.

sjm34 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

We just used a #1 pick for a backup point guard. I'm not saying he is going to turn out to be the be-all end-all as the backup, but that's what he was drafted for. That's what we spent 3 #2 picks on. I can't see bringing another guy in to play in front of him, especially when we have Zach who is going to need some minutes at the 1.

Tyus can get minutes in the D league, which I think is a much better strategy for this team. He isn't even close to being ready for a back up job in the NBA. I don't know why we spent 3 2nds on him in the first place. I think we should be filling back up roles with more ready players if we have truly made the shift to trying to get wins.

sjm34 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

We just used a #1 pick for a backup point guard. I'm not saying he is going to turn out to be the be-all end-all as the backup, but that's what he was drafted for. That's what we spent 3 #2 picks on. I can't see bringing another guy in to play in front of him, especially when we have Zach who is going to need some minutes at the 1.

Tyus can get minutes in the D league, which I think is a much better strategy for this team. He isn't even close to being ready for a back up job in the NBA. I don't know why we spent 3 2nds on him in the first place. I think we should be filling back up roles with more ready players if we have truly made the shift to trying to get wins.

sjm34 wrote:I've got a couple reactions. First, our SL coaching looked like a mess compared to other teams we played. We might as well of picked up five guys at the Y and thrown them out them without any practice. God I hope Ryan Saunders never becomes our head coach.

Towns' FG% isn't a problem for me, but his lack of D against SL talent is. My biggest concern with KAT was his mental toughness or edge, and he has done nothing to dispel that concern. I am not surprised that he couldn't duplicate the shooting he showed in his video where he took shots in the gym that were uncontested. I am surprised at the type of shots he took. His decison making will certainly need to improve.

Zach is a player that is going to need a lot of coaching. He takes a lot of unbalanced bad shots, but I do like that he looks stronger. Most of his improvement will likely come throughout the season with more playing time.

I am not surprised by Tyus mainly because I had very low expectations. I think we need to pickup a back up PG (#2) for the season. Neither Tyus or Brown are capable of stepping in if Ricky goes down.

I like what Payne has done, and think he looks the part of a back up PF, but his outside shooting is atrocious. Uncalled bank shots are shots that missed their target by 3 feet or more.

Q12543 wrote:

sjm34 wrote:I've got a couple reactions. First, our SL coaching looked like a mess compared to other teams we played. We might as well of picked up five guys at the Y and thrown them out them without any practice. God I hope Ryan Saunders never becomes our head coach.

Towns' FG% isn't a problem for me, but his lack of D against SL talent is. My biggest concern with KAT was his mental toughness or edge, and he has done nothing to dispel that concern. I am not surprised that he couldn't duplicate the shooting he showed in his video where he took shots in the gym that were uncontested. I am surprised at the type of shots he took. His decison making will certainly need to improve.

Zach is a player that is going to need a lot of coaching. He takes a lot of unbalanced bad shots, but I do like that he looks stronger. Most of his improvement will likely come throughout the season with more playing time.

I am not surprised by Tyus mainly because I had very low expectations. I think we need to pickup a back up PG (#2) for the season. Neither Tyus or Brown are capable of stepping in if Ricky goes down.

I like what Payne has done, and think he looks the part of a back up PF, but his outside shooting is atrocious. Uncalled bank shots are shots that missed their target by 3 feet or more.

Fair assessments SJM.

- On Towns, lower body strength was the one bugaboo a number of us talked about and it shows out there. Love his passing instincts. It's funny that his passing might be the most advanced part of his game right now.

- I wasn't a fan of what we did to get Tyus Jones, but he obviously deserves time. I will just say this: Given his physical stature and athletic limitations, he has very little room for error. He needs to be supremely skilled to carve out a role in this league.

- LaVine is sort of the opposite of Tyus Jones. He has supreme athletic gifts, but generally a very shaky b-ball IQ. I think playing the 2 will simplify things for LaVine and allow him to play more to his natural strengths.

- Payne can carve out a productive niche for himself by being a hustle/rebounding/nuisance PF in the mold of Kenneth Faried. But he's another guy with a weak lower body that sort of gets bounced around out there when he's playing against real men. Seem to be a theme with a number of our bigs.