Minnesota Sports Forum

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2024 8:55 pm First possession of the 4th Nix forces a terribly awkward shot up against their shot-blocking big and somehow gets it to go in. God I hate his offensive game even when it works out.

lol. It’s definitely not pretty. .

I don't want to like Leonard Miller and generally share the take here that he will not be an NBA player. His shooting form (and frankly his 3-point results last night) is terrible. And his defense is spotty at best. But then I remember that he is still only 20 and I look at his production...22 points and 13 rebounds in 30 minutes last night. And I'm reminded of what Buddy Ryan said right after he cut Cris Carter: "All he does is catch touchdowns." I'm starting to wonder if our attitude about Miller should be "all he does is make baskets and get rebounds" ?

I've been advocating for a rotation role for Clark right away. Rob hasn't looked ready at either end of the court (although I still like the pick and his ceiling) and Clark at least is ready to play NBA defense. But his performance last night was not very encouraging, His 13 minutes on the court with Edwards and Hafi essentially knocked us out of Summer League contention...he and Hafi were each a team-worst -15, and Edwards was not much better at -14. Clark needs to show some modicum of offense to earn a rotation role, and he didn't last night...0 for 3 shooting and no rebounds or assists in his 13 minutes. Very disappointing.

FNG wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2024 7:31 am I've been advocating for a rotation role for Clark right away. Rob hasn't looked ready at either end of the court (although I still like the pick and his ceiling) and Clark at least is ready to play NBA defense. But his performance last night was not very encouraging, His 13 minutes on the court with Edwards and Hafi essentially knocked us out of Summer League contention...he and Hafi were each a team-worst -15, and Edwards was not much better at -14. Clark needs to show some modicum of offense to earn a rotation role, and he didn't last night...0 for 3 shooting and no rebounds or assists in his 13 minutes. Very disappointing.

Clark and Dillingham both require patience, but for different reasons. Clark because he hadn't played organized ball for 16 months and Dillingham because he's only 19.

The good news is that in both players, you can draw a line from where they are today to something far more valuable, i.e. you can picture in your head their role and how they can be plus players. Obviously they still need to take the requisite steps to get there, but we at least know what they can become.

FNG wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2024 7:21 am I don't want to like Leonard Miller and generally share the take here that he will not be an NBA player. His shooting form (and frankly his 3-point results last night) is terrible. And his defense is spotty at best. But then I remember that he is still only 20 and I look at his production...22 points and 13 rebounds in 30 minutes last night. And I'm reminded of what Buddy Ryan said right after he cut Cris Carter: "All he does is catch touchdowns." I'm starting to wonder if our attitude about Miller should be "all he does is make baskets and get rebounds" ?

He filled up the box score in the G-League too - this is nothing new. I'd say he's closest to Naz Reid right now in terms of archetype. He seems to have the mobility and foot speed to guard a bit on the perimeter, but he gets absolutely destroyed when asked to play Center - guys rebounding over him, always out of position and fouling, doesn't always give a second effort, etc. You can hide Miller a bit more defensively if he plays PF and just let him be a "do shit" kind of player.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2024 8:16 am

FNG wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2024 7:21 am I don't want to like Leonard Miller and generally share the take here that he will not be an NBA player. His shooting form (and frankly his 3-point results last night) is terrible. And his defense is spotty at best. But then I remember that he is still only 20 and I look at his production...22 points and 13 rebounds in 30 minutes last night. And I'm reminded of what Buddy Ryan said right after he cut Cris Carter: "All he does is catch touchdowns." I'm starting to wonder if our attitude about Miller should be "all he does is make baskets and get rebounds" ?

He filled up the box score in the G-League too - this is nothing new. I'd say he's closest to Naz Reid right now in terms of archetype. He seems to have the mobility and foot speed to guard a bit on the perimeter, but he gets absolutely destroyed when asked to play Center - guys rebounding over him, always out of position and fouling, doesn't always give a second effort, etc. You can hide Miller a bit more defensively if he plays PF and just let him be a "do shit" kind of player.

Somehow I thought of Naz also when I posted...maybe he will be a Naz replacement if we need to clear some salary. Two major differences though...he'll never shoot the 3-ball like Naz, and he's a far better rebounder.

My comps for Dillingham are Rod Strickland and Kenny Anderson. Neither of those guys got appreciably bigger after entering the league, so I don't see Dilly packing on a lot of weight either. What he needs to do is be able to finish at the rim like these two guys could. Definitely something to work on.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2024 9:08 am My comps for Dillingham are Rod Strickland and Kenny Anderson. Neither of those guys got appreciably bigger after entering the league, so I don't see Dilly packing on a lot of weight either. What he needs to do is be able to finish at the rim like these two guys could. Definitely something to work on.

Pretty good comps, Cool, but also more support for my take that he won't contribute much at first. Strickland was fairly good his rookie year, but he was also 22 years old...22 vs 19 is an eternity in terms of NBA readiness. Anderson was 21, and he still was a disaster his rookie year...a true shooting percentage of 43%! Adjusting to the NBA is a challenge for most rookies, but it's an almost insurmountable challenge for a tiny 19 year old.

However, both of your comp guys ended up having long, productive NBA careers. If Rob turns out to be like them, we will be very happy that we got him at #8.

Lots of players have looked great in summer league and fizzled out, lots of players have looked terrible and have been stars in the league. They practice for a week or so together after having 4 months off since March madness. Trae Young in his first 4 summer league games was 16/66 from the field and 6/34 from 3. Curry shot 32.5% in five games, Demarcus Cousins 33.5% in 6 games, Paul George 33% in five games, Lavine, Middleton, Paul, Kemba Walker, Wall all shot in the 30s% in summer league, KAT averaged 12pts on 39% shooting in summer league. By the end of the summer league Trae Young was declared a bust, and Johnny Flynn thoroughly outplayed Curry and declared the correct pick.

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2024 9:33 am Lots of players have looked great in summer league and fizzled out, lots of players have looked terrible and have been stars in the league. They practice for a week or so together after having 4 months off since March madness. Trae Young in his first 4 summer league games was 16/66 from the field and 6/34 from 3. Curry shot 32.5% in five games, Demarcus Cousins 33.5% in 6 games, Paul George 33% in five games, Lavine, Middleton, Paul, Kemba Walker, Wall all shot in the 30s% in summer league, KAT averaged 12pts on 39% shooting in summer league. By the end of the summer league Trae Young was declared a bust, and Johnny Flynn thoroughly outplayed Curry and declared the correct pick.

Cypress, you mention Trae Young, and I think we're not mentioning him as a Rob comp enough. Both quite small defensively-challenged explosive scorers. I think Q mentioned that in his sample of freshman blue chippers, only Young averaged more points per minute than Rob, and Rob's TS% was better than Young's. Young seems to be an excellent comp for Rob...I don't know if he will be his equal on offense (although he could be), but I have some hope that he can be better on defense.

But Young is another example of why my hopes for Rob this season are low. Young had a negative 10 net rating at age 20 his initial season (compared to a negative 3 for his career), and a 53.9% TS% compared to 58.1 for his career. We may not love Rob's game this year, but I think his postive trajectory will be similar to many other undersized young PGs.