Minnesota Sports Forum

Two guys picked Strawberry for their favorite ice cream: Dilly and Jesse Edwards. I sense a nice lob connection developing!

There are some post-practice interviews from the Summer League practice today. But here is the one from Chris Hine, our head coach. Q's gonna love his comment on what Minott needs to do: guard one-on-one. (he didn't mention hit a damn shot!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK267GPbdBQ

60WinTim wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 4:31 pm

- There is some buzz around us picking up Nadir Hifi, a guard that played professionally in the French league last year and did quite well.

Well, he is definitely on our Summer League team. Sure could be an audition for our last two-way contract. Having seen pro-ball over in Europe, he would add some depth to our "PG room" for the regular season.

He’s about the same size as Dilly I think.

60WinTim wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:33 pm There are some post-practice interviews from the Summer League practice today. But here is the one from Chris Hine, our head coach. Q's gonna love his comment on what Minott needs to do: guard one-on-one. (he didn't mention hit a damn shot!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK267GPbdBQ

They probably feel like his main value would be as an athletic hybrid forward that can defend, rebound, pass, and get out on the break...like a swiss-army-knife kind of player. That makes him a fringe rotation player on this team. Adding a consistent 3-ball to that would put him in contention for the 8th or 9th man.

But if he can't guard one on one, none of the other stuff matters because he's never going to be a good enough shooter, playmaker, slasher, etc.,etc. to make up for not being able to guard.

kekgeek wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2024 10:24 am Looking at the “others” on the summer league roster I’m intrigued by Nadir Hifi. 21 year old guard from France. Average 16/2/2.5 on 47/38/90 splits (around that on splits). Was the France breakout player of the year, was the last cut from the French National team and online France people are saying he gets buckets

Just saw that Kek had already called out Nadir earlier in the thread. Here's the thing on those splits...that's in barely over 20 MPG, which translates to 26 pts per 36 minutes. That makes him VERY similar to Dillingham numbers-wise as he came off the bench as a prolific and efficient scorer. He's also got the same undersized label slapped on him, which is why I suppose he went undrafted.

Now I'm really intrigued.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 7:38 am

kekgeek wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2024 10:24 am Looking at the “others” on the summer league roster I’m intrigued by Nadir Hifi. 21 year old guard from France. Average 16/2/2.5 on 47/38/90 splits (around that on splits). Was the France breakout player of the year, was the last cut from the French National team and online France people are saying he gets buckets

Just saw that Kek had already called out Nadir earlier in the thread. Here's the thing on those splits...that's in barely over 20 MPG, which translates to 26 pts per 36 minutes. That makes him VERY similar to Dillingham numbers-wise as he came off the bench as a prolific and efficient scorer. He's also got the same undersized label slapped on him, which is why I suppose he went undrafted.

Now I'm really intrigued.

The numbers are still really impressive but I believe the leagues he was playing in are not the top leagues like Real Madrid etc. That’s likely partly why he hasn’t been signed yet by an NBA team. He looks quick and very fast and looks like he has some edge to him. It’s interesting that it seems like suddenly the Wolves are like we love smaller offensively talented guards. lol

Monster wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 8:10 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 7:38 am

kekgeek wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2024 10:24 am Looking at the “others” on the summer league roster I’m intrigued by Nadir Hifi. 21 year old guard from France. Average 16/2/2.5 on 47/38/90 splits (around that on splits). Was the France breakout player of the year, was the last cut from the French National team and online France people are saying he gets buckets

Just saw that Kek had already called out Nadir earlier in the thread. Here's the thing on those splits...that's in barely over 20 MPG, which translates to 26 pts per 36 minutes. That makes him VERY similar to Dillingham numbers-wise as he came off the bench as a prolific and efficient scorer. He's also got the same undersized label slapped on him, which is why I suppose he went undrafted.

Now I'm really intrigued.

The numbers are still really impressive but I believe the leagues he was playing in are not the top leagues like Real Madrid etc. That’s likely partly why he hasn’t been signed yet by an NBA team. He looks quick and very fast and looks like he has some edge to him. It’s interesting that it seems like suddenly the Wolves are like we love smaller offensively talented guards. lol

Ya, who knows. He was in the 2023 draft so he pulled a Shved where you enter before proving anything knowing you will do undrafted so you can pretty much pick your team when you are ready. It was reported he made multiple offers for summer league. Last cut by France.


Realistically it’s probably a nothing but I’m intrigued, there is talent all around the world would be huge if we found an under the radar player.

Monster wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 8:10 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 7:38 am

kekgeek wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2024 10:24 am Looking at the “others” on the summer league roster I’m intrigued by Nadir Hifi. 21 year old guard from France. Average 16/2/2.5 on 47/38/90 splits (around that on splits). Was the France breakout player of the year, was the last cut from the French National team and online France people are saying he gets buckets

Just saw that Kek had already called out Nadir earlier in the thread. Here's the thing on those splits...that's in barely over 20 MPG, which translates to 26 pts per 36 minutes. That makes him VERY similar to Dillingham numbers-wise as he came off the bench as a prolific and efficient scorer. He's also got the same undersized label slapped on him, which is why I suppose he went undrafted.

Now I'm really intrigued.

The numbers are still really impressive but I believe the leagues he was playing in are not the top leagues like Real Madrid etc. That’s likely partly why he hasn’t been signed yet by an NBA team. He looks quick and very fast and looks like he has some edge to him. It’s interesting that it seems like suddenly the Wolves are like we love smaller offensively talented guards. lol

Yeah, when you watch the highlights, he physically doesn't look impressive, but he's obviously very skilled.

I honestly don't know where the French league ranks these days. Historically the Spanish ACB league and Euroleague (similar to the Champions League in soccer) were considered the best leagues over there, but that's what I knew from a decade ago. Don't know how it's evolved since. One thing is for sure though - the French are churning out a lot more NBA-caliber talent than the Spanish are these days, so the French league must be pretty good (?).

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 9:02 am

Monster wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 8:10 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 7:38 am

Just saw that Kek had already called out Nadir earlier in the thread. Here's the thing on those splits...that's in barely over 20 MPG, which translates to 26 pts per 36 minutes. That makes him VERY similar to Dillingham numbers-wise as he came off the bench as a prolific and efficient scorer. He's also got the same undersized label slapped on him, which is why I suppose he went undrafted.

Now I'm really intrigued.

The numbers are still really impressive but I believe the leagues he was playing in are not the top leagues like Real Madrid etc. That’s likely partly why he hasn’t been signed yet by an NBA team. He looks quick and very fast and looks like he has some edge to him. It’s interesting that it seems like suddenly the Wolves are like we love smaller offensively talented guards. lol

Yeah, when you watch the highlights, he physically doesn't look impressive, but he's obviously very skilled.

I honestly don't know where the French league ranks these days. Historically the Spanish ACB league and Euroleague (similar to the Champions League in soccer) were considered the best leagues over there, but that's what I knew from a decade ago. Don't know how it's evolved since. One thing is for sure though - the French are churning out a lot more NBA-caliber talent than the Spanish are these days, so the French league must be pretty good (?).

I don't know how good the French league is either. I spent a bit of time trying to get a grasp on the level of competition. So the top European tournament and league play is the Euro league and Eurocup. The top 18 teams play in this tournament. Paris played in the secondary tournament called the BKT Eurocup tournament. The finalists in that tournament get an automatic bid to the Eurocup tournament the next season To add some perspective Matteo Spagnolo played in the secondary league where he performed somewhat well after a slow start. Last season he moved up to a higher level of play going against the Read Madrid type teams. PJ Dozier was playing at that level as well. So Nadir was likely playing all season against a step down in competition from the top Europe league. Maybe some of the teams he played against were pretty good but considering Paris was excellent and won their version of the Eurocup it seems likely they were one of the top teams in the competition they faced.

This isn't meant to diminish Nadir but trying to get a grasp on how to take his relative success. It not quite as much of a difference as seeing a guy put up big numbers and then realizing he was doing it in the G-league not the NBA. It might be more like if a guy was playing in a much lesser college basketball conference than the the SEC or whatever and then his team winning the NIT.

Edit: I'm not an expert whatsoever just trying to figure this out and share what I think I learned. It's more confusing than making sure you have all the g-league stats right for players! Lol

I predict Hifi will become a star. There, you heard it here first. Save this post and throw it back at me in five years.