Minnesota Sports Forum

Carlos Danger wrote: ↑Thu Dec 21, 2023 8:12 am Forget about Minnesota Wolves. Iowa is the team to watch . A big blow out win last night making it three in a row.

Game story and box:

https://gleague.nba.com/game/gbo-vs-iwa ... game-story

Leonard Miller was back (apparently missed time being sick) and dropped 24 pts/10 rebounds.
Daishen Nix had 12 pts/7 assists and was a +38.
Josh Minott...8 points, 2 rebounds and 5 fouls.

I don't know too much about him, but this Trevor Keels seems to flash well in the box scores as well and had 23 points. Looking him up, I see he's a 2nd round poick from 2022 and only 20 years old. I'll keep an eye out for him too.

This will really be a fun team when Jaylen Clark starts playing in February.

Yeah, Keels is worth keeping an eye on. He was one of the highest ranked SGs coming out of college, and ended up at Duke. But after a not very good freshman season (he was expected to be a great shooter, but shot poorly at Duke), he decided to enter the draft. I had completely forgotten about him until now.

Has Lance Stephenson been getting any minutes?

60WinTim wrote: ↑Thu Dec 21, 2023 8:31 am Has Lance Stephenson been getting any minutes?

22 minutes last night and almost a triple double!

Iowa lost last night. Box score:

https://gleague.nba.com/game/iwa-vs-lin ... =box-score

Josh Minott looks like he had a good game with 21 points/12 rebounds.

Leonard Miller clearly has talent, but seems to be inconsistent. He had only 14 and 7.

Daishen Nix continues to fill up the box score with 21 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. Of course he also took 16 shots, had 5 fouls and 5 turnovers. I think he has talent, but box scores look inefficient.

Trevor Keels...I'm continuing to look at this guy more. He had a solid 15 points/4 rebounds and a team leading +6.

None of these guys are dominating or consistent, although Keels seems to be the closest with regard solid performance and good consistency.

With Towns being out, I'm really hoping we get some Garza minutes to see what that guy can do in NBA. He's clearly the one guy on the Iowa Wolves who dominates.

Thanks for the updates Carlos.

Other than Garza, Minott seems the closest to being able to contribute, but it has to be at PF, and with a mandate to inject some pace and hustle. With KAT out and the way Sacramento plays with their pace and spread offense, I might be more likely to throw Minott in for 5-10 minutes tonight.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sat Dec 23, 2023 8:02 am Thanks for the updates Carlos.

Other than Garza, Minott seems the closest to being able to contribute, but it has to be at PF, and with a mandate to inject some pace and hustle. With KAT out and the way Sacramento plays with their pace and spread offense, I might be more likely to throw Minott in for 5-10 minutes tonight.

I agree, Q. Garza is clearly the one among player our young G-League guys who strikes me as clearly ready to perform at a high level in the NBA. And I agree that, other than Garza, Minott seems closest to being ready to contribute. Watching him in the preseason and his limited regular season minutes I’ve seen some really profound improvements that will really show themselves if he gets extended minutes. One of those improvements is his passing. He’s displayed a talent for passing that I didn’t think he had in him - excellent vision, decision-making, timing and accuracy. He has also significantly improved his ability to stay in front of his man defensively. He’s not biting on pump fakes or fouling like he did when previously. I guess none of this improvement should be surprising when considering how young and inexperienced he was when the Wolves drafted him. His ball-handling also looks improved and solid for a PF. The one area that doesn’t seem to have improved is his perimeter shooting. But he still has plenty of time to improve that aspect of his game.

Right now I see him as a version of Vando - providing hustle, defense and rebounding. He’s not as good as Vando on the boards, but he’s a better shot-blocker. I agree that Minott could be particularly effective for us against the Kings.

https://youtu.be/9bLkKWFqArU?si=-YpEz1BZeWoNBA-H

This is a video purporting to highlight Leonard Miller’s 24-point performance the other night. But the players who impressed me in this recording are Josh Minott and Lance Stephenson even though neither was intended to be highlighted. You can see Minott’s passing that I alluded to in my previous post. He also has a nice steal without fouling. You can see that Lance is a man among boys. Note that Lance is playing point in these highlights, which isn’t surprising since PG has always been one of his positions. I suspect the Wolves will eventually sign Lance to fill our currently open 15th roster slot. He’s a guy who can fill in for Conley if Mike goes down for an extended time.

Leonard Miller benched down in Iowa due to lack of effort. Really bad look for him (he did have 5 fouls in these clips)

https://x.com/WolvesClips/status/174094 ... 13610?s=20

To go along with this there was a writer for Canius Hoops in Leo. Who shared his texts from 2 weeks ago (he watches every Iowa game) and pretty much said Miller defensive understanding and effort is really bad right now and he has offensive upside but people saying he should be in the rotation because of clips and garbage time highlights are really wrong.

kekgeek wrote: ↑Sat Dec 30, 2023 12:32 am Leonard Miller benched down in Iowa due to lack of effort. Really bad look for him (he did have 5 fouls in these clips)

https://x.com/WolvesClips/status/174094 ... 13610?s=20

To go along with this there was a writer for Canius Hoops in Leo. Who shared his texts from 2 weeks ago (he watches every Iowa game) and pretty much said Miller defensive understanding and effort is really bad right now and he has offensive upside but people saying he should be in the rotation because of clips and garbage time highlights are really wrong.

Interesting. Was it for sure a benching? Or did he just sit with five fouls? Here's the box and game story:
https://gleague.nba.com/game/cps-vs-iwa ... =box-score

Miller had 16 points in only 17 minutes. Unfortunately also accumulated 5 fouls and only ONE rebound. Kid has talent. Starting to wonder about the drive though...

Also, just when I was starting to get excited about Trevor Keels, he throws up a 1 for 12 shooting night. Maybe he needs glasses? Ugh! The G-League guys are frustrating with inconsistency. Reminds me of the old Timberwolves (LaVine, Wiggins etc.). They flash and then they disappear.

Carlos Danger wrote: ↑Sat Dec 30, 2023 7:55 am

kekgeek wrote: ↑Sat Dec 30, 2023 12:32 am Leonard Miller benched down in Iowa due to lack of effort. Really bad look for him (he did have 5 fouls in these clips)

https://x.com/WolvesClips/status/174094 ... 13610?s=20

To go along with this there was a writer for Canius Hoops in Leo. Who shared his texts from 2 weeks ago (he watches every Iowa game) and pretty much said Miller defensive understanding and effort is really bad right now and he has offensive upside but people saying he should be in the rotation because of clips and garbage time highlights are really wrong.

Interesting. Was it for sure a benching? Or did he just sit with five fouls? Here's the box and game story:
https://gleague.nba.com/game/cps-vs-iwa ... =box-score

Miller had 16 points in only 17 minutes. Unfortunately also accumulated 5 fouls and only ONE rebound. Kid has talent. Starting to wonder about the drive though...

Also, just when I was starting to get excited about Trevor Keels, he throws up a 1 for 12 shooting night. Maybe he needs glasses? Ugh! The G-League guys are frustrating with inconsistency. Reminds me of the old Timberwolves (LaVine, Wiggins etc.). They flash and then they disappear.

Connelly hasn't been able to pull a rabbit out of the hat with these late picks over the past couple of years. Moore Jr. is an abject failure. If anything, he's actually regressed since last season. It reminds me of past Wolves prospects that seemingly never actually develop. This is before Rosas came along and pulled this franchise out of the abyss.

Miller may put up some decent counting stats, but he has one of the worst net ratings on the Iowa team, mostly because he sucks at defense.

Meanwhile over in Europe, Matteo Spagnola is sputtering along in Euroleague play. He'll probably never come over.

I still hold out some hope in Minott because he has elite athleticism and has shown some surprising development on the offensive end (mostly his passing skills, not outside shooting unfortunately). He's a better offensive/worse defensive version of Vando. He could be really useful if he either gets a lot better at guarding the perimeter and/or develops a 3-point shot. I'm not holding my breath.