Minnesota Sports Forum

I don't like watching Malik Beasley play basketball. He does only one thing above average... when he's playing well.

And he's not even doing that right now. And considering the type of guy he is off the court... he's a tough one to root for.

Beasley, DLO, Prince, and Beverley all below career averages in 3-pt shooting percentage this season. Team ranked 23rd overall.

Wiggins, Rubio, Tyus Jones, LaVine all shooting ABOVE their Minnesota career 3pt %.

The curse continues.....

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I don't like watching Malik Beasley play basketball. He does only one thing above average... when he's playing well.

And he's not even doing that right now. And considering the type of guy he is off the court... he's a tough one to root for.

I root for him because he always works hard, but I also think he's one of the main reasons I don't think this team makes the playoffs this season (even thought they are currently in a playin spot with bad teams behind them)...I don't think a team can be a winner with Malik Beasley getting 25-30 minutes. I focused on him a lot last night during the game, and there are a lot of things I like about him. I might argue that along with Vando and PatBev, he always puts in 100% effort on the court. Always has his game face on, and lays it all out there at both ends of the court. And I would also say that, other than KAT, he is our most reliable 3-point shooter...when he takes the open shot.

So why has a hustling guy who can shoot been a negative on/off player his entire career? Because he is a dumb basketball player. He forces shots when he doesn't have to, and that means he takes way too many shots to score the points he scores. He took 23 shots to get his 20 points last night, contrasted with Jaden who only needed 11 shots to score his 18. We all know that Malik is a better shooter than Jaden, but Jaden is much smarter about taking the right shot at the right time.

And then there is his defense. I never question his effort, but he may be the dumbest defender I have ever watched. Focus on him if you're ever at a game, and you'll see a flurry of activity that more often than not leaves him in a position on defense that makes you say WTF. He tries, but he is a terrible defender.

My hope is that he gets hot from 3-point land before the trade deadline, and that we can find someone to take that contract off our hands. Or alternatively I hope that the brilliant Monday night Nowell becomes the norm rather than the awful Tuesday night Nowell. Because if Finch continues to give 25-30 negative impact minutes to Malik Beasley, this team doesn't sniff 40 wins.

Some guys are really good at having the right "game face" and looking like they're working hard.

Others are just dumb.

Either way, the result is the same. Beasley is a bad player unless he gets hot on three pointers.

Yup, Beasley needs to get back to knocking down 3s on 39% or better shooting to become a plus bench guard in my opinion. He did just that his first couple seasons with us, but he just can't break out of his shooting slump and he's at a career low TS%. He's hurting way more than helping right now.

DLO and Beasley have shot us out of a number of games this year that turned into Ls. At least DLO has redeemed himself in other ways.

Q12543 wrote:

leado01 wrote:I have cooled on Jaden this year, but I did think he had a very complete game and was our beat player tonight.

Love Monroe's game, don't know what we can do with him

Jaden has to get back to being a respectable 3-point shooter though. He's going to have to make a higher percentage or he's just another good defender that can't shoot. Josh Okogie, Corey Brewer.....been there, done that with this franchise.

First of all I don't buy that players have to shoot over 33% from 3 to add value. Jaden will be a more complete player as he adds skills but he's already demonstrated that he can play NBA basketball.

He's finding new ways to score and we are absolutely seeing progress in his slashing game (frankly some additional strength will be needed to become a more effective slasher...and adding strength does mess with the shot somewhat).

Corey Brewer was a much better player than Josh Okogie and Corey had a good career after Minnesota (I don't know that JO will).

Jaden is already doing things that neither Corey nor Josh did. I'm not saying he's currently a starter on a contending team, but he is a value add on offense off the bench and can be plugged in as a stopper when needed. Pretty good for where we got him in the draft.

leado01 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

leado01 wrote:I have cooled on Jaden this year, but I did think he had a very complete game and was our beat player tonight.

Love Monroe's game, don't know what we can do with him

Jaden has to get back to being a respectable 3-point shooter though. He's going to have to make a higher percentage or he's just another good defender that can't shoot. Josh Okogie, Corey Brewer.....been there, done that with this franchise.

First of all I don't buy that players have to shoot over 33% from 3 to add value. Jaden will be a more complete player as he adds skills but he's already demonstrated that he can play NBA basketball.

He's finding new ways to score and we are absolutely seeing progress in his slashing game (frankly some additional strength will be needed to become a more effective slasher...and adding strength does mess with the shot somewhat).

Corey Brewer was a much better player than Josh Okogie and Corey had a good career after Minnesota (I don't know that JO will).

Jaden is already doing things that neither Corey nor Josh did. I'm not saying he's currently a starter on a contending team, but he is a value add on offense off the bench and can be plugged in as a stopper when needed. Pretty good for where we got him in the draft.

I'll agree that I think he was a good find for where we drafted him. But ultimately he's not where we need him to be if the plan is to develop him primarily as a SF. Hopefully he gets there eventually. And unless his long-term fit is to play 100% PF next to KAT (like Vando does now), he absolutely needs to develop a 3-point shot. The lack of 3 & D types on this team is probably one of the top two or three reasons its been so bad for so many years. I can literally count on two fingers the number of legit 3 & D players we've had here in the past 10+ years: Jimmy Butler and Robert Covington. That's it. Beverley would be our third such player in theory but of course he's struggling with his shot.

Now if you tell me McDaniels' future is to be a slashing starting PF that plays next to KAT, I will agree that the 3-point shot becomes less critical.

Q12543 wrote:

leado01 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

leado01 wrote:I have cooled on Jaden this year, but I did think he had a very complete game and was our beat player tonight.

Love Monroe's game, don't know what we can do with him

Jaden has to get back to being a respectable 3-point shooter though. He's going to have to make a higher percentage or he's just another good defender that can't shoot. Josh Okogie, Corey Brewer.....been there, done that with this franchise.

First of all I don't buy that players have to shoot over 33% from 3 to add value. Jaden will be a more complete player as he adds skills but he's already demonstrated that he can play NBA basketball.

He's finding new ways to score and we are absolutely seeing progress in his slashing game (frankly some additional strength will be needed to become a more effective slasher...and adding strength does mess with the shot somewhat).

Corey Brewer was a much better player than Josh Okogie and Corey had a good career after Minnesota (I don't know that JO will).

Jaden is already doing things that neither Corey nor Josh did. I'm not saying he's currently a starter on a contending team, but he is a value add on offense off the bench and can be plugged in as a stopper when needed. Pretty good for where we got him in the draft.

I'll agree that I think he was a good find for where we drafted him. But ultimately he's not where we need him to be if the plan is to develop him primarily as a SF. Hopefully he gets there eventually. And unless his long-term fit is to play 100% PF next to KAT (like Vando does now), he absolutely needs to develop a 3-point shot. The lack of 3 & D types on this team is probably one of the top two or three reasons its been so bad for so many years. I can literally count on two fingers the number of legit 3 & D players we've had here in the past 10+ years: Jimmy Butler and Robert Covington. That's it. Beverley would be our third such player in theory but of course he's struggling with his shot.

Now if you tell me McDaniels' future is to be a slashing starting PF that plays next to KAT, I will agree that the 3-point shot becomes less critical.

Saw this on Twitter to illustrate how bad the 3pt shooting was yesterday.

Timberwolves went 7 for 38 from 3 last night

17 of those attempts were "wide open"

jester1534 wrote:Saw this on Twitter to illustrate how bad the 3pt shooting was yesterday.

Timberwolves went 7 for 38 from 3 last night

17 of those attempts were "wide open"

17 more were "open" threes. The Wolves created plenty of good looks. They just couldn't knock them down.

Just to be clear Q, Jaden has a higher career 3pt percentage than Jimmy B.