Minnesota Sports Forum

60WinTim wrote:I think the "blinders on Bazz" that Lip is referring to is when Bazz gets the ball in a position to attack, there is only one action that is going to happen, and that is a scoring attempt by Bazz. You are correct that Bazz does just fine moving the ball during the "foreplay" of a possession...

Good point. I'm sure that's what Q meant. But the good news is that Bazz used to have blinders on from the moment he touched the ball. :). Seriously, he never used to pass the ball. That appears to have changed pretty dramatically. Add to that his defensive improvement and you see some very nice growth in his game.

Yes, Bazz will make the simple swing pass. He doesn't have sticky hands in the sense that he dribbles and dribbles and holds the ball for a long time. But when he has a sliver of daylight for a shot, he'll always take it. That's where his blinders come on because there is often someone else that might have an even more open shot.

In one of the two pre-season games (can't remember which), Bazz received a pass out beyond the arc. An opponent ran him off the 3-point line. He took one dribble forward and then launched a 20-foot long 2. Meanwhile, he had a team mate wide open at the top of the arc ready and waiting for a pass that never would come. The far better shot is a wide open 3 versus a long 2 off the dribble. Yes, Bazz made the shot, but it's decisions like this that sort of neutralize his overall effectiveness.

Q12543 wrote:Yes, Bazz will make the simple swing pass. He doesn't have sticky hands in the sense that he dribbles and dribbles and holds the ball for a long time. But when he has a sliver of daylight for a shot, he'll always take it. That's where his blinders come on because there is often someone else that might have an even more open shot.

In one of the two pre-season games (can't remember which), Bazz received a pass out beyond the arc. An opponent ran him off the 3-point line. He took one dribble forward and then launched a 20-foot long 2. Meanwhile, he had a team mate wide open at the top of the arc ready and waiting for a pass that never would come. The far better shot is a wide open 3 versus a long 2 off the dribble. Yes, Bazz made the shot, but it's decisions like this that sort of neutralize his overall effectiveness.

I agree that Bazz tends to do exactly what you described. But I don't think that completely neutralizes his effectiveness. He's less effective than he'd otherwise be if he'd look for teammates for better shots in those moments. There's a positive in his attack-mode aggressiveness. If he would start to pass up shots in favor of passing for a better one, he'd be starter material. But with his scoring rebounding, toughness and the development of his defense, I think he's effective as a 6th or 7th guy in our rotation feeding off of good passers like Tyus, Belly, Gorgui and even Crawford.

lipoli390 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Yes, Bazz will make the simple swing pass. He doesn't have sticky hands in the sense that he dribbles and dribbles and holds the ball for a long time. But when he has a sliver of daylight for a shot, he'll always take it. That's where his blinders come on because there is often someone else that might have an even more open shot.

In one of the two pre-season games (can't remember which), Bazz received a pass out beyond the arc. An opponent ran him off the 3-point line. He took one dribble forward and then launched a 20-foot long 2. Meanwhile, he had a team mate wide open at the top of the arc ready and waiting for a pass that never would come. The far better shot is a wide open 3 versus a long 2 off the dribble. Yes, Bazz made the shot, but it's decisions like this that sort of neutralize his overall effectiveness.

I agree that Bazz tends to do exactly what you described. But I don't think that completely neutralizes his effectiveness. He's less effective than he'd otherwise be if he'd look for teammates for better shots in those moments. There's a positive in his attack-mode aggressiveness. If he would start to pass up shots in favor of passing for a better one, he'd be starter material. But with his scoring rebounding, toughness and the development of his defense, I think he's effective as a 6th or 7th guy in our rotation feeding off of good passers like Tyus, Belly, Gorgui and even Crawford.

When does Bazz get some sort of benefit of the doubt as a scorer? This guy came off his most efficient season of his career. Last year he took over 84% of his shots from spots that are his most efficient spots for him. He took the fewest percentage of long 2's of his career. Like Lip said his attack mode is a positive although it comes with some negatives. This guy finishes at a high rate at the rim. It seemed like the last couple years he was more willing to pass out of those offensive rebound situations when he is surrounded by a crowd when he would just get the ball back up again and again. Again I am curious to see what Bazz does when he is playing with some other players that have some sort of clue about how to play instead of marginal players or super youngs (sometimes they were both!) along with the same coach and system. People have reason to be skeptical about Bazz...hopefully Bazz makes a bit more progress to help win them over.

It's funny how Bazz is a great scorer, yet the team's offensive rating is almost always below the overall team average when he's on the floor (this is the case in pretty much every season he's played I believe). Perhaps that has something to do with his inability to space the floor and find people with better shots.

Bazz has never had a positive net rating in his career and the team has always been better with him on the bench versus in the game.

While I like Bazz's hustle, toughness, and ability to make strong basket cuts, the fact of the matter he has been more of a liability to the team than an asset. Hopefully that changes this year, as I do think he made a nice step forward defensively last year (still not enough though). Offensively, I expect zero changes. He is what he is and may be with the other supporting cast that''ll work.

Q12543 wrote:It's funny how Bazz is a great scorer, yet the team's offensive rating is almost always below the overall team average when he's on the floor (this is the case in pretty much every season he's played I believe). Perhaps that has something to do with his inability to space the floor and find people with better shots.

Bazz has never had a positive net rating in his career and the team has always been better with him on the bench versus in the game.

While I like Bazz's hustle, toughness, and ability to make strong basket cuts, the fact of the matter he has been more of a liability to the team than an asset. Hopefully that changes this year, as I do think he made a nice step forward defensively last year (still not enough though). Offensively, I expect zero changes. He is what he is and may be with the other supporting cast that''ll work.

That's a fair assessment Q. I would be curious to see a breakdown of the players he has played with during his minutes the last few years. I don't think anyone should spend the time to do it because then you would want to see what bench scrubs he was playing with etc. so that's pretty deep in the weeds.

Like we both said maybe with a better supporting cast he can be part of more team success statistically. If he ACTUALLY has some legit growth in that area the Wolves will have a nice rotation player. As much faith as I have in Bazz he does still have to actually do it. I thought a couple years ago a guy like Shumpert was gonna take a bit of a step forward but really it doesn't seem like he has although I'm not sure whether his situation with the Cavs helped him get there or not. Regardless he probably isn't anything more than a low level starter. On the other hand for the Cavs a guy like T Thompson took his game to another level (became really good defensively) I don't think anyone thought he had. If Bazz can become a fairly consistent 6th man as a scorer then he could be pretty valueable for a team. The redeeming quality for him is he brings energy and effort every night. The question is can he refine his game to be more than a Corey Brewer type impact guy.