Minnesota Sports Forum

A lot of things to like. Something that stands out for me is how much better we look with Pek on the floor than Dieng. I have been most impressed with Pek's passing thus far!

I think LST's desire to move Pek to make room for Dieng is a bit premature... :)

Can't say I have been impressed with either, but Dieng has looked lost on the offensive end. No reason to move Pek right now, but they need to keep him healthy so we have that option later in the year if need be.

Bennett has been great so far. He's been efficient and effective. Im really impressed with the coaching job flip did for bennett. He had him shoot strictly mid range shots instead of the 3 ball. That shot is his range and being in the mid range, he has more angles to makle a hard cut towards the basket and finish as weve seen him do tonight and other times. He has the strength and athletic ability to finish and also be a factor on the offensive glass. The set role flip gave him on offense can only help him gain confidence and we can work on expanding his game in the next few seasons. With young here, we can be patient with bennett's development.

Mo has been mvp of the pre season so far. He is shooting lights out, getting teammates involved and has been a vocal leader on and off the court. Exactly the type of vet we need to mentor our rookies and even rubio.

Rubio had 3 made mid range elbow jumpers tonight. 2 of those off screens. I like to see him work on that elbow jumper. Thats a shot he could get off anytime he wants and make him much harder to guard off the pick and roll. Chris paul is a master of that elbow jumper and it could be a deadly weapon for a pg to have.

Pek is pek. He always seems to miss a couple of bunnies early and then start making them as the game goes on.

Bud shot well again. He can be an effective rotation guy if he can knock down the long ball.

I didn't see this game but a couple thoughts after reading through this thread.

Enforcer...this has been a problem for the Wolves for a while. Steimsma was the best guy at this in probably 10 years. Hollins didn't really have the girth but the guy pissed people off played with an absolute edge. Wolves fans thought he sucked I thought he was useful in a limited role and he has had no problem finding a job over the years often on playoff teams which probably adds to his usefulness. I don't know if there is an enforcer on this team but at least Dieng and Turiaf bring some legit shotblocking. Its something I'll be interested to see. Bazz seems like from his play in preseason he woukd knock someone out and not give it a second thought. Lol

Rubio shoots well from FT range so and elbow jumper might be a good spot for him to work. I used to love the FT line area its something I need to work on again as a PG and for Rubio those spots that are familiar from shooting FTs may give him success to build off. I really do have a lot of faith in Flip and his staff developing Rubio. I think one of the reasons Rubio didn't fight over screens before was Adelman's defensive philosophy asked players to do something differently. I remember in Europe and in the Olympics Rubio always seemed to know when screens were coming and in that game screens are actually tougher than in the NBA. I'm not too worried about Rubio's defense but I think there has been some issues with his man defense but I've always wondered if that was Rubio or what he was asked to do.