Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Saying Lavine is the worst starting PG in the league means basically nothing. I don't know why that's a consideration when evaluating where he is right now. Its like if we called up some D-league dude and started him at PG we would be evaluating him based on other starting PGs...that doesn't make much sense.

What I think about Zach is I'm impressed he doesn't look completely lost out there. I want to see him play another 3-5 games and I'll say more. Its hard to really hard to say too much in so few games especially against the level of PG he has played against. Dallas was the first game I saw him look frustrated which is kind of impressive. My stance is let's see but there have been some good sign especially at his age.

If our standards for being "impressive" are "doesn't look completely lost out there"... yikes.

I think there's a great chance that the D League has PGs better than Z. LaVine.

Agreed. I just have pretty low expectations for him this year so him getting thown in to the starting PG role and not wetting himself seems like sort of a success. Lol

monsterpile wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Saying Lavine is the worst starting PG in the league means basically nothing. I don't know why that's a consideration when evaluating where he is right now. Its like if we called up some D-league dude and started him at PG we would be evaluating him based on other starting PGs...that doesn't make much sense.

What I think about Zach is I'm impressed he doesn't look completely lost out there. I want to see him play another 3-5 games and I'll say more. Its hard to really hard to say too much in so few games especially against the level of PG he has played against. Dallas was the first game I saw him look frustrated which is kind of impressive. My stance is let's see but there have been some good sign especially at his age.

If our standards for being "impressive" are "doesn't look completely lost out there"... yikes.

I think there's a great chance that the D League has PGs better than Z. LaVine.

Agreed. I just have pretty low expectations for him this year so him getting thown in to the starting PG role and not wetting himself seems like sort of a success. Lol

Ok. Fair enough. Let's hope he shows some signs (whether at PG or the wing) of being pretty good or even better than average at a few NBA things.

monsterpile wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Saying Lavine is the worst starting PG in the league means basically nothing. I don't know why that's a consideration when evaluating where he is right now. Its like if we called up some D-league dude and started him at PG we would be evaluating him based on other starting PGs...that doesn't make much sense.

What I think about Zach is I'm impressed he doesn't look completely lost out there. I want to see him play another 3-5 games and I'll say more. Its hard to really hard to say too much in so few games especially against the level of PG he has played against. Dallas was the first game I saw him look frustrated which is kind of impressive. My stance is let's see but there have been some good sign especially at his age.

If our standards for being "impressive" are "doesn't look completely lost out there"... yikes.

I think there's a great chance that the D League has PGs better than Z. LaVine.

Agreed. I just have pretty low expectations for him this year so him getting thown in to the starting PG role and not wetting himself seems like sort of a success. Lol

Eh bringing in a guy off the street who has no idea of the playbook (Flip's is one the biggest in the league) and has an even less chemistry with his teammates then Lavine? I doubt that guy's gonna be much better

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:Abe, I have been pretty impressed with LaVine. He is not killing the team when he plays. He certainly could be more aggressive, but he doesn't have much experience. I think this is a grreat growing opportunity. This run will help him improve next offseason is my guess. I would love to see him be the primary backup when Rubio returns. Maybe we could go back to him and Mo on the court at the same time.

While I agree that it's good that he's getting run (need to figure out what they have with him)... I don't see how being the worst player who's started at PG this season for any NBA team can be impressive in any way.

I haven't seen one thing that stands out as a "Wow. He's raw but THAT is something that very few guys can do"...

Have you?

You didn't see him drive left against NO, beat his man, and then lift instantly for a dunk before Anthony Davis could get a block? That was a wow moment for me. I thought he was great against Houston. He didn't look good against NO or Dallas but how can you expect our 19 year old rookie combo guard to excel at pig when our whole team looks like shit against those 2 teams. Nobody looked good in either of those games. He's taking on more responsibility than anyone on our team and is keeping his poise. You all should relax on the d league pg talk and such. I believe he will get better and better but he can't be expected to carry this team or be ricky in 5 games. The blame is on peak and martin if anything.

Yeah I think too much is being made of a bad 2-3 game stretch. This team looked pretty competitive while Rubio was healthy, and even in the first couple games Zach started. As long as we don't mess with Zach's head, I think he is going to be fine in whatever role he ultimately lands in. He's a gym rat, and you combine that with his gifts you should get a useful player out of him.

Everyone knows how high I think Wiggins' ceiling is. But he has a weakness that has to change, and change quickly. I believe its a combination of not having NBA quality lung capacity yet, and having a flawed mindset. But he needs to expend much more energy on both sides of the court if he is ever going to approach his ceiling. He needs to demand the ball more, he needs to be better on deny defense, he needs to attack the glass harder. He's just on cruise control too much of the time. But yet he seems to get really tired anyway. Even though he doesn't look out of shape, I guarantee you he is not in NBA condition. He probably needs to go see Shabazz's guy next summer. So, yes he needs to become much more visible on the court, but I'm not sure he can at this point.

I remember when Michael Thompson went from the Blazers to the Lakers. He always felt like he was a highly conditioned athlete, but discovered what that really meant when he got on the lakers conditioning program. There are different levels of conditioning in the league, and I guarantee you Andrew isn't where he needs to be. Not that it's all that uncommon for a young rookie.

I said before the draft that Wiggins doesn't have the it factor. He doesn't seem to possess the burning heart, the competitive spirit that takes over. He seems to be too nice. He wants to defer. He has the ability to be better than anyone on our team but he hasn't found that out for himself. He didn't realize it at Kansas and I doubt he does at a higher level of competition. Some people don't have the self confidence to be "the man". I don't believe he will accept that role. He projects as one hell of a #2 guy but I don't see him ever getting stern with teammates and telling them this is his team. Durant is similar in attitude. He hasn't been able to put Westbrook in his place like lebron did with wade and bosh. Westbrook has the #1 attitude with the #2 skill set on that team, Durant the opposite. Its not something you teach, or learn. Its innate. Ricky is the man for our team, and we will go as far as he goes. I don't expect much with him out.

Two things have stood out to me on Lavine. When he attacks the rim, he is actually trying to finish. He's thrown down some athletic dunks in an athletic manner that make them tough to stop based on how quickly he gets up and throws it down. That's is why I want him to attack any chance the PnR big defender gives him any kind of lane to the basket. The second is his end to end speed and the effect it has on the fast break. He is an instant fast break off any defensive rebound and actually makes some good passes when we have numbers. He also has the size and athleticism where he will be able to finish almost any fast break he wants to by going through, around or over the defender trying to stop him. Those two things make me believe he has a place in this league at least as a spark plug off the bench once he gets the confidence to truly be aggressive. That may be enough once he learns how to play D and become a more consistent jump shooter to be a worthy starting 2.

TheFuture wrote:I said before the draft that Wiggins doesn't have the it factor. He doesn't seem to possess the burning heart, the competitive spirit that takes over. He seems to be too nice. He wants to defer. He has the ability to be better than anyone on our team but he hasn't found that out for himself. He didn't realize it at Kansas and I doubt he does at a higher level of competition. Some people don't have the self confidence to be "the man". I don't believe he will accept that role. He projects as one hell of a #2 guy but I don't see him ever getting stern with teammates and telling them this is his team. Durant is similar in attitude. He hasn't been able to put Westbrook in his place like lebron did with wade and bosh. Westbrook has the #1 attitude with the #2 skill set on that team, Durant the opposite. Its not something you teach, or learn. Its innate. Ricky is the man for our team, and we will go as far as he goes. I don't expect much with him out.

Durant doesn't have that attitude? You must of missed his game last year against the Wolves

It bugs me that Flip isn't letting Lavine be the guy people thought he could be. He looked to be a scoring, dynamic, high paced guy coming out of the draft. Instead he looks super timid trying not to make mistakes, and making sure he tries to get everybody involved. He's trying to be Rubio when he should just be Westbrook

alexftbl8181 wrote:It bugs me that Flip isn't letting Lavine be the guy people thought he could be. He looked to be a scoring, dynamic, high paced guy coming out of the draft. Instead he looks super timid trying not to make mistakes, and making sure he tries to get everybody involved. He's trying to be Rubio when he should just be Westbrook

I don't think Flip had much choice. When they let Barea walk, they rolled the dice that LaVine would have to step in and play PG. I doubt anyone expected that to happen within the first month of the season. I assume part of the trade talk with Brewer is to get another PG so they can do exactly what you you are talking about - free up LaVine to look for his own shot vs. running the offense. It was just too much to put on his shoulders at this time IMO. That said, I'm sure Flip is smart enough to handle this situation, so I will just sit back and wait to see his next move.