Minnesota Sports Forum

SP, big back to back coming up for the Wild. From the ridiculous to the sublime.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:SP, big back to back coming up for the Wild. From the ridiculous to the sublime.

It pisses me off that this will be the second time in the past few weeks that the Wild play the Hawks on the second night of a back to back with the Hawks coming in on at least three days rest. I'm not saying the NHL is rigging the schedule to favor the Hawks, but this type of unfavorable scheduling shouldn't happen in a professional league.

- Another loss. Meh.

- The Jones/Rubio is a double-edged pairing. Both are really good passers, but not great scorers. And everything is created by them... hence the 22 assists combined for them. And THREE assists combined for the other 7 players.

- Bjelica is in year 2 and he's not any better. At all. And we can't play the young card. He's simply not good enough for the first big off the bench on an NBA team.

- Towns is so good offensively. Defensively... ummm... errr... you... see... the thing is... ummm....

- 11 three point attempts. The Heat had 15 MAKES. Several people have noted the last Wiggins shot. Ahem... ahem... ahem... It's a mindset. The Wolves don't have it. It was the smart shot there.

- For the 3rd straight game, a Forward on the other team had a career high for points. I'm sure it's just a coincidence though.

- I'm losing focus on these... seems more than a bit repetitive... since 2005.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

- Bjelica is in year 2 and he's not any better. At all. And we can't play the young card. He's simply not good enough for the first big off the bench on an NBA team.

.

Lucky we already have Dieng. To bad he is starting.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:- Another loss. Meh.

- The Jones/Rubio is a double-edged pairing. Both are really good passers, but not great scorers. And everything is created by them... hence the 22 assists combined for them. And THREE assists combined for the other 7 players.

- Bjelica is in year 2 and he's not any better. At all. And we can't play the young card. He's simply not good enough for the first big off the bench on an NBA team.

- Towns is so good offensively. Defensively... ummm... errr... you... see... the thing is... ummm....

- 11 three point attempts. The Heat had 15 MAKES. Several people have noted the last Wiggins shot. Ahem... ahem... ahem... It's a mindset. The Wolves don't have it. It was the smart shot there.

- For the 3rd straight game, a Forward on the other team had a career high for points. I'm sure it's just a coincidence though.

- I'm losing focus on these... seems more than a bit repetitive... since 2005.

Marcus Morris: 36 points (averages 14 points per game)
JayMychal Green: 29 points (averages 9 points per game)
Rodney McGruder: 15 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 0 turnovers (averages 6 PPG)

Rodney effing McGruder!?!

bleedspeed177 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

- Bjelica is in year 2 and he's not any better. At all. And we can't play the young card. He's simply not good enough for the first big off the bench on an NBA team.

.

Lucky we already have Dieng. To bad he is starting.

Belly's defense is lightyears better than last year. I know his shooting percentages are down but that's mainly because he takes a lot of 3's and he isn't making them at a high rate right now.

monsterpile wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

- Bjelica is in year 2 and he's not any better. At all. And we can't play the young card. He's simply not good enough for the first big off the bench on an NBA team.

.

Lucky we already have Dieng. To bad he is starting.

Belly's defense is lightyears better than last year. I know his shooting percentages are down but that's mainly because he takes a lot of 3's and he isn't making them at a high rate right now.

A high rate would be an understatement. He's shooting 29.6%.

By the way, I can't find much for statistical evidence that he's improved defensively. He's still a poor rebounder. Still foul prone. I guess he's averaging slightly more steals.

None of that takes away from him being asked to be THE key big off the bench when he might not get off the bench for other teams. In my opinion, he does a little bit of a lot of stuff... just none of them very well. Or even at a better than average level. Or, sometimes, even slightly below average level.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

- Bjelica is in year 2 and he's not any better. At all. And we can't play the young card. He's simply not good enough for the first big off the bench on an NBA team.

.

Lucky we already have Dieng. To bad he is starting.

Belly's defense is lightyears better than last year. I know his shooting percentages are down but that's mainly because he takes a lot of 3's and he isn't making them at a high rate right now.

A high rate would be an understatement. He's shooting 29.6%.

By the way, I can't find much for statistical evidence that he's improved defensively. He's still a poor rebounder. Still foul prone. I guess he's averaging slightly more steals.

None of that takes away from him being asked to be THE key big off the bench when he might not get off the bench for other teams. In my opinion, he does a little bit of a lot of stuff... just none of them very well. Or even at a better than average level. Or, sometimes, even slightly below average level.

Yeah he is being asked to do too much right now. Having said that couldn't you say that about nearly the entire roster of guys that play?

Edit:

Abe you have been consistent on your view of Belly I respect that. The reason I responded was I feels like a little over a year and a half isn't enough for me to say the guy won't be any good. One of the things that Belly has shown improvement on is his conversion rate when driving the basketball. Last year he shot just over 40% when he drove the ball. This year it's over 50%. Last year he scored .6 points per drive. This year it's 1.5. Honestly this year he is playing more of his game that he showed in Europe than last year. He is still figuring it out. Im certainly not suggesting his upside is high but I have said for quite a while I think he can be a piece that can be plenty useful. We will see.

I'll be very succinct on this. Belly stinks.

Bjelly's value is directly tied to his ability to take and make 3's in volume. If that isn't happening, he's no better than replacement level.

Another disappointment for the Wolves on the player development front.